The RSPCA's comedy calls of 2009

Monday, 14 December 2009 12:00 AM

Every 29 seconds, a member of the public calls the RSPCA for advice on animal welfare or to report an incident of cruelty.

Whilst the majority of these calls are of a serious nature, occasionally they range from the weird and wonderful to the downright wacky.

This year, the RSPCA national call centre has taken more than one million calls and here, in no particular order, are our top 10 funny phone calls received over the last 12 months.

· A member of the public called the RSPCA to report a slow moving tortoise on the hard shoulder of a motorway. After calling on the Highways Agency for assistance, they tracked down a deflated football.

· Someone reported that a seagull was looking sad because it was sitting in the rain.

· A caller asked us if we could remove the spider from her bathroom sink.

· An inspector went to a call that a bat had been on a bedroom ceiling for a number of days. It turned out to be a damp patch.

· A lady called our emergency telephone number to ask us to reserve a chair she saw in an RSPCA charity shop window.

· Another woman asked if we could collect her RSPCA catalogue from her friend's house as she had borrowed it a long time ago and not returned it.

· A lady contacted the RSPCA to say that the farm next door smelt and wondered if there was anything we could do about it.

· A cat-lover wanted advice on why his furry feline did not purr.

· A hotel located next to a duck pond was receiving complaints from guests because their neighbours could be heard quacking.

· A man requested help to remove the ladybirds which were climbing up a wall at his house.

Although we may have a little laugh at these stories, the RSPCA would like to remind members of the public that the 24-hour advice and cruelty line is for reporting serious cases or emergencies concerning animal welfare. Many requests are for animals to be rescued or to report animals involved in accidents.

The cruelty and advice line operates in a very similar way to the 999 emergency services number and non-urgent calls could prevent us from dealing with a serious incident.

People with general enquiries about the RSPCA should call our non-emergency enquiries line on 0300 123 4555.

You can hear more about these calls in this month's RSPCA wildlife podcast available online at www.rspca.org.uk/wildlife

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RSPCA, Wilberforce Way, Southwater, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 9RS
Press office direct lines: 0300 123 0244/0288 Fax: 0303 123 0099
Duty press officer (evenings and weekends) Tel 08448 222888 and ask for pager number 828825
Email: press@rspca.org.uk Website: www.rspca.org.uk

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