Furious at response of charity

I feel compelled to write to voice my absolute disgust at a so-called national animal charity. A cat was involved in a hit and run accident on Telford Estate, Shrewsbury, at about 7pm on Thursday. It was left for dead, lying critically injured in the middle of the road. Unfortunately the person who found it was new to the area, and as such they were not aware of the location of any vets so they phoned the RSPCA, which agreed to attend and provide vital medical assistance.

I came upon this truly awful situation after about 30 minutes, at which time the animal was still lying on the pavement where it had been moved to, bleeding profusely and with very serious head injuries.

At this point, the RSPCA took the opportunity to phone the person who had reported the accident to say that they were unable to attend to the injured cat as it was "too far" for them to travel. Bearing in mind that their new regional headquarters is based at Dorrington (about six miles away), I would like to offer this organisation the opportunity to explain to myself and Shropshire Star readers exactly what their policy is towards caring for animals.

Indeed, for future reference, please can they tell us what the optimum distance is that they would like to travel to an injured animal?

The cat was eventually treated at a veterinary hospital at Harlescott. Had it not been for the concerned people who attended to her and myself, the cat could have died. In this instance quick treatment is vital to the chances of survival, a fact I'm sure the RSPCA is very well aware of.

Why then, did it allow 30 minutes of valuable treatment time to be completely wasted?

Julie Williams, Shrewsbury