At the end of last year, we merged with the Balham and Tooting Branch to become RSPCA South London Branch.
Expanding to a whole new area is a great opportunity to reach more animals and people, and involve a wider community in the work we do. However, we also started to face much greater animal welfare needs, and quickly realised that we would need to increase our staffing in order to get to all the new animals who need us.
We made the exciting decision to create a brand new position for our branch – an Animal Welfare Officer. Other large branches have similar roles, directly employed to manage the animal welfare in the area.
This involves rescuing trapped and injured wildlife, taking in stray and abandoned domesticated animals, offering advice to pet owners, and proactively going out into the community to schools and youth groups to educate the next generation on animal care, protecting and respecting the environment, plus responsible pet ownership.
Engaging with, and helping to educate these groups of young people is something we are particularly passionate about as a branch, and we’re so happy we will now have the resources to do this properly.
We had such a diverse range of applicants from a variety of different background and experiences. We ended up hiring a passionate and committed candidate with a degree in Zoology and Animal Management, and over 12 years experience working and volunteering in the animal sector.
Cheska has really hit the ground running with us already. She has been in training with Inspectors and other AWOs and we’re really excited about how she’s going to move our branch forward, and most importantly have a positive impact on animal welfare in our community for years to come.
I am sure you will join me in wishing Cheska all the best in her new role.
RSPCA South London - For Every Kind Of Creature 