Well, they, and presumably anyone else, are at liberty to initiate private prosecutions. AIUI, these then get taken over by the Crown. While they were essentially a benign organisation, that was probably OK, but now that they [1] are subject to entryism by the hard left, the question of who regulates them comes up.
[1] and the NT, ...
Which is true of most bullies...
Would that risk of prosecution only apply if you caused the animal to suffer whilst putting it down - ie tried to microwave it/strangle it or otherwise made a c*ck up of killing it? AFAIK a straight kill is legal.
I think you need to read some of the accounts of the actions of the RSPCA - they frequently bring groundless and unprovable prosecutions. Last couple of years they have lost some very high profiles cases, which seemed to have been brought for political reasons rather than any genuine animal cruelty issue.
Not exactly an impartial source (but you can find many similar elsehwere) :
In message , F Murtz writes
I'm not overly worried what you believe, or what the laws state. It happened exactly as I stated.
The court deciding if there had been unnecessary suffering.
I have shot a couple of hamsters - including one of my own when I was a child. They had wet tail and I did not find it disturbing.
The food can go to a rescue centre.
Now there is a whole quagmire of DIY legality issues to get into not to mention getting the elf'n'safety brigades' knickers in a twist...
You could modify a gas appliance to run lean enough to produce CO, then pipe that into your DIY gas chamber - do the whole thing while working at height from a ladder and without the right PPE.
(for the avoidance of doubt I am not actually advocating this!)
In message , Bill writes
PS.
As the charge related to the killing I'm assuming that it was probably the RSPCA rather than the police that brought it. He was, as they say known to the police, in very minor, stupid rather than outright serious criminal ways. So if they could have had him up on firearms charges I'm sure that they would have done so.
A new cat will choose me in time. I rescued Pebbles from a house I worked at. It was a rental in a slum area and the tenant kicked this underweight cat whilst I was working at the property. When I finished work I took the cat with me - I could see in it's eyes it wanted to come home with me. It was underweight, full of fleas and earmites and she cost me £200 in the first week to have several bad teeth pulled. That was 11 years ago.
Especially as the weaker the mix a gas appliance runs on, the less CO (and CO2) it produces...
If you get caught by, for instance, an aggrieved neighbour mentioning it to the RSPCA or police, or even someone on here reading about it and dobbing you in, the burden of proof that the death was humane and did not cause unnecessary suffering would rest on you.
Personally, for the sake of a potential stay in one Her Majesty's mopre secure hotels, and other unpleasant life events, I'd go to the vet. I've seen a vet do the job. It took a few seconds and the animal didn't suffer at all.
"Nightjar
lawn mowers dont have catalytic converters.
"Nightjar
I find that extremely hard to believe. I'd have thought it more likely that if someone was trying to prosecute you the burden of proof would be theirs.
I doubt it would get that far if it was done humanely
I'd go to the vet. I've
I was about to question that when I realised that I was thinking "lean" as in "under aired" (when it actually means "under fuelled" of course!)
So yes, brain fart! Run with insufficient air to allow complete combustion, is what I should have said.
Sadly probably true - the normal closed shop attitude of "if you are not a paid up member of the club then you can't possibly be competent, regardless of your skills or past experience".
Does depend on the animal though - there are some that find trips to the vet particularly distressing regardless of the "treatment" planned.
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