Interview with our Animal Welfare Officer – Part One – RSPCA South London

We recently caught up with the branch Animal Welfare Officer Cheska Servini to ask her about her first few months in the role.

Tell me us little about yourself

I belong to a crazy Italian family that grew in the UK thanks to both sets of Grandparents who moved here for work as young adults. Growing up around fantastic cooks meant that I unsurprisingly developed a love for cooking (and eating!), as well as family parties.

The above picture shows some home made pasta sheets that Cheska created – paw prints courtesy of Cheska’s cat Arya!

Our yearly trips to Italy are also responsible for my love of animals, because the area we always went back to had its own cast of semi-stray cats and dogs we would spend our time feeding up and looking after.

I grew up in Croydon however, and I pursued a career with animals by studying Animal Management as a BTEC and then heading to university to study a Zoology undergraduate degree. I then volunteered and worked at a zoo with reptiles and amphibians for 11 years!

Besides animals and food, I also love gaming and get lots of compliments on my collection of old PlayStation games.

RSPCA South London kitten — **Cheska with a kitten that was recently in our care**

How long have you been doing the role?

I started my role as Animal Welfare Officer in September 2022, so it’s been just shy of five months so far. It actually feels like it’s been a lot longer, it’s hard to remember a time where I wasn’t working for this RSPCA branch!

Why did you join the RSPCA?

While the conservation work being done by the zoo was important and I loved contributing to it, I felt that it was time for something new. I knew I wanted to work for another charity organisation, but in a more active role where I could have more autonomy and complete work that was more instantly rewarding. I looked for a while for a role that suited what I was looking for and I eventually found the job position for Animal Welfare Officer!

One of the downsides of wanting a career with animals is that there aren’t limitless jobs to choose from within each specialty group of animals, however I am very lucky that I grew up with a fascination and love of all animals. For me, moving from conserving reptiles and amphibians to caring for the domestic animals in our branch area was a no brainer!

What are your responsibilities?

Overall my responsibilities are to protect and promote the welfare of animals, but within my job this is broken down into many parts.

I respond to animal welfare issues reported to me via the branch manager and the inspectorate team, and this could be picking up sick, injured and abandoned/unwanted animals and taking them to boarding facilities or the vets.

Once the animals are in our care, I am then responsible for organising their vet appointments; for standalone health issues or to help them get ready for the adoption process.

Some animals also require specialist help, such as nervous cats in foster care where I might need to loop in a behaviourist, or feral cats in our care who I might need to help find a specialist home for.

It is important for me to keep regular contact with the fosterers and the owners of the private boarding facilities so I can affectively monitor how everyone is doing, and this helps me keep our records up-to-date.

My responsibilities are very varied and range across transport, fundraising, record keeping, social media, monitoring, taking calls from the public, and volunteering any spare time to help the inspectorate team.