Animal welfare charity made legal complaint over two factually inaccurate articles

Animal welfare charity the RSPCA has received a printed apology from newspaper the Daily Mail for two stories it printed which turned out to be false.

The first was based on an article published on 14 August that claimed the RSPCA had found a lost cat but unnecessarily put it down before its owner could arrange collection. The RSPCA says the cat in question was not microchipped and taken to a vet who decided to euthanise it due to concerns over its deteriorating health.

The other article, published on 22 August, claimed the charity had found another cat and rehomed it despite its owners registering it as missing. The article has since been ammended online to blame a different organisation.

We now accept that the RSPCA were not responsible in either case - Daily Mail

On page two of this Monday’s Daily Mail, the newspaper admitted the RSPCA were not responsible in either story.

The apology read: “An article on August 22 ‘RSPCA rehomed our missing cat and refuse to tell us where he is’ claimed that the RSPCA had wrongly rehomed a cat, while refusing to tell its former owners where it lived, and unnecessarily put down another cat. In fact, we now accept that the RSPCA were not responsible in either case and apologise for suggesting otherwise.”

A spokesperson for the RSPCA welcomed the apology but said the damage to the charity’s reputation had been done.

He added he was concerned the newspaper had a campaign against it and urged other charities to stand up for themselves by requesting a correction from newspapers if they get something factually wrong.

Both articles were changed online four days after they first appeared.