RSPCA Honours special contributions to animal welfare

Awards ceremony hosted by Brian Blessed

06.09.11

Saturday, 3 September saw the winners of the RSPCA Honours awards being presented with their prizes by actor and television presenter, Brian Blessed.

 

RSPCA Honours is now in its second year and includes awards for special merit and ability amongst the Society’s inspectors; humanitarian awards for those who have made an outstanding contribution in the field of animal welfare; and awards for special investigations.

In presenting the awards, Brian Blessed, who is also a vice-president of the RSPCA, said:  

The Society’s vision is to have a world in which all humans respect and live in harmony with members of the animal kingdom and it believes, as do I, that how we treat animals defines us not only as people but also as a society.

I am pleased to be involved with RSPCA Honours, which recognises extraordinary people who have transformed the lives of many, many animals and are a true inspiration to us all.

RSPCA Honours 2011 – award winners

Inspectorate awards

This year the winners included Chief Inspector Rob Melloy of the North Region who was presented with the Gordon Jones Award. Rob earned his award partly for his services in ensuring the welfare of animals at the annual Appleby Horse Fair.

 
Another inspector, Dave McAdam, was presented with the Dave Millard Award for exemplary special investigation. Dave’s approach to investigation was illustrated after an owner whose cat was subject to offences under the Animal Welfare Act wrote to him expressing her thanks for the professional and caring way that he dealt with the situation.

Humanitarian awards

The William Wilberforce Award, named after one of the RSPCA’s founding members and a campaigner for abolition of the slave trade was presented to Jill Robinson, from Animals Asia, who has worked tirelessly to end the practice of farming black bears for their bile in Asian countries and setting up sanctuaries for those bears rescued from a life of misery.

 

Two brave members of the public were the joint recipients of the Elsie MJ Evans Bronze Award. Emma Campbell and Martin Phillis helped to rescue a young dog named Dino from his owner who was violently attacking him in the street. The owner was prosecuted and Dino was able to begin a happy new life thanks to his rescuers.

 

Special investigation awards

A freelance journalist has also received an award for special investigation. Danny Penman has worked undercover on several animal welfare stories, including the Canadian seal hunt, conditions in British circuses and the fur industry. He has ensured a higher profile for these issues and helped towards the conditions being improved for the animals themselves.

Our heroes of animal welfare

The RSPCA Honours recognise our heroes of animal welfare. There are plenty of ways to become one of our heroes, or you could nominate someone else to be an award winner in 2012.

For a full list of this years winners, and to find out how you can nominate someone to be a winner of these awards, visit our heroes page.