I AM replying to the letter on December 18 given the heading, “RSPCA not always the best option”.

We have a writer (we don’t know who) writing about something that is said to have happened some years ago (we don’t know when).

She writes about her experiences, but than tells us her husband (we don’t know who) went to the RSPCA charity shop for advice about an apparently abandoned dog (we don’t know why he did not go to the advice centre for advice). She further writes a volunteer (we don’t know who) phoned the advice centre and was informed they could not take the dog in (correct, stray dogs are the responsibility of Bolton Council dog wardens); if anybody said that it cost about £13 to have the dog put to sleep, that can only have been in response to a direct and irrelevant question (incidentally, the writer’s husband could not have heard the telephone conversation).

The Bolton branch of the RSPCA does not and never has had in its 113- year existence, an animal home or shelter as such.

The branch is required, by RSPCA rules, to provide or pay for accommodation for animals whose owners are awaiting trial for animal cruelty; the court decides on the eventual outcome — return or rehome.

It seems recently to have been “open season” for having a go at the RSPCA in general, and the Bolton branch in particular. The charitable functions of the branch are carried out by volunteers, plus four paid staff, none of whom deserve the abuse.

Peter Evans Branch president