First 24-hour RSPCA Tweet-a-Thon
First 24-hour RSPCA Tweet-a-Thon
Follow @RSPCA_Frontline Twitter feed on 3 & 4 August
The RSPCA will be tweeting animal emergencies over 24 hours for the first time between 10am on Wednesday 3 and 10am on Thursday 4 August.
Twitter fans who follow RSPCA_Frontline at: twitter.com/RSPCA_Frontline will be able to view the wide range of calls for help the RSPCA receives.
Inspector Tony Woodley, communications and liaison officer for the RSPCA inspectorate, set up the RSPCA_Frontline Twitter feed as he wanted to publicise the work of the RSPCA’s 292 inspectors, 80 animal welfare officers and 52 animal collection officers.
Tony has tweeted over the course of eight hours before, but from 10am on Wednesday he will spend 24 hours at the RSPCA’s national control centre in South Yorkshire, tweeting incidents as they happen.
This time, though, he won’t be alone – Richard Harding, chief superintendent, and James Self, digital project manager, will both be there to help convert the huge number of incidents into tweets and to keep Tony company throughout Wednesday night!
On average someone in England and Wales calls the RSPCA’s cruelty line on 0300 1234 999 every 30 seconds. The charity received more than 1.25 million phone calls last year and responds to around 1,000 incidents a day. During the last eight-hour tweeting event on 5 May, the RSPCA tasked out 2,160 incidents to its inspectors and officers.
Tony said: “I tweet several times on most days and have managed to tweet incidents for eight hours before, but this will be the first time we’ve done something like this over 24 hours. I’m really excited about the project and I hope the great feedback from our supporters will help get us through the night.
“Feedback on Twitter has been excellent and people are interested to know about the RSPCA’s frontline work, although they are understandably shocked by the extent of the cruelty and neglect we deal with. I just think it’s so important to let people know what we do and how hard our frontline officers work.”
Incidents that have been published on Twitter include:
— A CAT TRAPPED IN A BASEMENT FOR FOUR DAYS, OWNER UNKNOWN
— 3 FOX CUBS TRAPPED DOWN A 6 FOOT WELL
— OWNER USED HANDS AND FEET TO BEAT DOG
— SNAKE IN BACK GARDEN
Calls to the RSPCA’s cruelty line are in confidence.
Details of incidents tweeted are edited so no one is identified and will not include a location. To report animal suffering or cruelty to the RSPCA, please call 0300 1234 999. Please don’t send a message via Twitter.
To find out more about the RSPCA 24-hour Tweet-a-Thon please visit twitter.com/RSPCA_Frontline
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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