Bohemia Village Voice

In happier times – beloved Silo.

By Julian Beecroft (May 2007)

Bohemia Road resident Clive Coleman has had his beloved dog Silo impounded by the RSPCA following a tip-off by an anonymous caller. Silo, a Welsh collie, had been suffering with fox mange since the summer despite Clive’s strenuous efforts to treat the condition. The first thing he knew of the RSPCA’s interest was when he returned home on the evening of Wednesday 31st January to find one of the charity’s inspectors, accompanied by a police officer, waiting outside his house. ‘I had gone up to see a lady of mature years in Salisbury Road who I take care of regularly. I came back home half an hour later and the RSPCA inspector and a police officer were waiting outside.

The RSPCA inspector said she had come to take Silo away to be looked at by one of their vets. I invited them in.’ Clive had been treating his dog for fox mange ever since it first appeared. The condition is caused by a mite that gets under the skin. ‘You can treat one part and it can break out somewhere else. It causes sores, and the dog’s hair to fall out, and it generally makes the dog look down, look as if they’re feeling sorry for themselves. Between 50 and 60% of dogs already carry this condition but show no signs of it. Anywhere a fox has been a dog can get it, even by rolling over in a field. It’s highly contagious. My dog got it from rolling in a sheep field. Foxes eat the afterbirths of sheep, and dead lambs. Wherever you have sheep you’ll get foxes. ‘I had been treating it with vitamin tablets and Battle’s Green Oil, which is used extensively for the same infection in livestock on farms. It was recommended by one person who used to be a shepherd for 40-odd years. It takes a long time to clear up. In the meantime I had to keep her away from other dogs. But I don’t need a lead. She’s a very loyal dog and never runs away.’ Despite the emotional wrench of losing Silo, Clive agreed to let the RSPCA inspector take the dog away on a temporary basis, so that she could be cared for by a vet. ‘I signed the dog over to them, then I phoned them up every day to find out how she was.

They told me she was doing better than before since she was now being treated with antibiotics.’ Clive had further visits from the RSPCA inspector, mostly to ask him very personal questions. ‘She wanted to know what size shoes do I take, how many tattoos I’ve got, what’s my national insurance number, how tall I am. I asked her what she wanted all that for, and she said she wanted information for their records. I’d never heard anything so ridiculous.’ Then at the beginning of March Clive was informed that the charity intended to keep the dog until further notice. Clive phoned them again a month later to find out when he could have his dog back, and was told that the dog had been “seized by the police, so you’ll have to take it up with them’.

The Village Voice was told by the RSPCA’s Klare Kennett of the charity’s standard procedure. ‘Initially, if we get a report of cruelty, an inspector will go on their own to see the animal. If the owner refuses to take it to a vet, or if the animal is suffering greatly, then we have powers to take it away. In those cases where we subsequently decide to prosecute the owner, we win 99% of the time, and the animal is found a new home.’ Ms Kennett told us that the procedure was followed to the letter in this case. She was adamant that the presence of a policeman was only because the inspector happened to be travelling with the officer at the time when they passed Clive’s address, and the inspector decided to stop. She also said that the case was currently being looked at by the charity’s prosecutions department.

Clive says, ‘I wouldn’t want anyone else to have to go through the kind of stress I’ve experienced in the last couple of months.’

COMMENTS

David Russell writes (Jun 2007) Dear Sir, Your article on ‘Silo’ and her keeper, Clive Coleman, reminded me of a very similar event that happened to a very good friend of mine in West Sussex. His Alsatian also caught fox mange from the adjacent fields where she used to run. However, he had a problem as his dog flatly refused to travel in a car. He contacted a number of local vets but they all refused to make a home visit. In the end he persuaded one of them to prescribe a powerful sedative and, together with two friends, was able to coax his dog into his car. At the surgery, the vet told him that the disease was incurable but prescribed a drug that would ease her suffering a little. His beloved dog got worse, and in desperation he again tried to persuade vets in the area to visit him, again to no avail. I was there when the RSPCA and the police arrived to arrest him; they had already taken his dog. It was all very cold and formal. At that time I was a member of the RSPCA and had a sticker on my car windscreen. When I offered my name to the police officer as a witness and pointed out the car sticker, he was very keen but when I later told them that my friend thought the world of his dog and would never let her come to any harm, he decided not to take my details. My friend was carted off to the police station – I was not told where and I was not allowed to follow. My friend never saw his dog again. First he was charged with cruelty, but when his lawyer told him that the RSPCA always wins such cases, he was advised to plead guilty to a lesser charge of neglect, although he produced to the court his telephone bill, and pointed out about 16 calls to known vets within a radius of 30 miles. He was found guilty and fined, I think, £600, and told that he could never keep a dog again. This broke his heart, and he eventually moved his business and home to France. I was disgusted, and haven’t supported the RSPCA since. It was inconceivable that my friend could be guilty of neglect, and I found the episode cruel and distasteful in the extreme. I cannot comment on Clive Coleman’s experience as I do not know him or any of the details, but it seems to me that there could be a pattern forming. A dog with fox mange does indeed look very miserable, and it must be easy to jump to the wrong conclusions, but above all it seems a sure way to boost animal cruelty prosecutions. David Russell, Chapel Park Road.

Salisbury Road Resident writes (Jun 2007) Dear Sir, I think it is an utter shame that Silo has been taken away (for whatever reason) from Mr Coleman. As a lifelong resident of Salisbury Road, I often see Mr Coleman and Silo walking up the road to visit an elderly resident of our road. Silo follows Mr Coleman with utter devotion, never straying from his side even when they reach the house of the lady they are going to visit. Silo sits obediently next to Mr Coleman whenever they venture out of their van, and when crossing the busy Bohemia Road Silo never leaves Mr Coleman’s side. The elderly resident whom Mr Coleman visits every morning and every evening is also an avid dog lover, having had animals for most of her married life. As she is housebound she must also be feeling the loss of not having Silo visit her. I cannot believe that Mr Coleman has in any way harmed or mistreated Silo and can only hope that the RSPCA return Silo to his faithful companion in the very near future. Salisbury Road resident.

Anon writes (Jun 2007) Dear Sir, I was flabbergasted to read the piece on Clive Coleman and his dog in the last issue of your Bohemia Village Voice. I have seen this dog myself. In fact I have a feeling that the anonymous call to the RSPCA was my call. I like to get involved in my community, and as someone who holds an important position in my neighbourhood I get people coming up to me all the time with things they’ve seen. I had a few people tell me about this dog before I saw it myself. Then I was driving along Bohemia Road and I saw where this man went in. I saw what state his house was in. Perhaps it was dirty inside too. The dog was in a disgusting state. It had a lot of hair missing. I think Mr Coleman was doing his best, but he doesn’t look like he knew what he was doing. The dog was also off the lead, which is dangerous to other dogs. Dogs can be quite unpredictable at times, and I thought it was against the law to be off the lead. I think the RSPCA have got a job to do. Mr Coleman is down on the RSPCA, understandably, because they took his dog away. But I think they were right to take it away. [Name and address was supplied].

Megs writes (Jul 2007) Dear Sir, I was also flabbergasted to read the letter in your latest issue, regarding Mr Coleman and Silo, from the person who ‘likes to get involved in the community’. The state of the outside of someone’s house is no indication of the inside or of how an animal is treated. I have lived in the same property in Bohemia for over 50 years, and there are many aspects of this area that need looking into, so why not concentrate on those? People need to get their facts straight before ringing those in authority like the RSPCA. Silo is a beautiful, well-trained and loved dog who went everywhere with Mr Coleman. If that was not possible, she was left with someone else. We all miss her very much. I am disgusted that we do not know where she is and Mr Coleman is left in the dark. We must remember when we are speaking to one another that gossip very rarely holds facts but degrades the persons taking part. There should be no pleasure in malicious rumour, and facts should be sought. Disgusted once again. Megs, Bohemia resident.

S McGurk writes (Jul 2007) Dear Sir, I am writing in reply to the flabbergasted person who ‘holds an important position in their neighbourhood’, and how the anonymous call made to the RSPCA could well have been made by our anonymous friend. If they feel they have such notable standing in the community then why have they withheld their name and address, and where are the people who engaged in the gossiping to our friend? Who are they to comment on the state of Mr Coleman’s home? I put it to them that the landlord or letting agent is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the property, not the tenant, and as they have never stepped foot into Clive’s home, how dare they assume that ‘perhaps it’s dirty inside’. Perhaps they should consider applying to be part of the ‘how clean is your home’ team rather than persecuting a man and his dog. That dog, I hasten to add, is called Silo. She is a very loving, affectionate, loyal and obedient companion to Clive, who loves and misses Silo very, very much, and as Clive has owned Silo since she was a pup he has trained her extremely well, and she does not need to be restrained on a lead like many of the canine community, which need muzzling as do, may I be as bold to say, the owners. Anyone who knows Clive, or has met people who know him, will say he is one of a dying breed –  always putting other people first or helping them to the best of his ability, without judging them, no matter who they are or where they come from. He is a true diamond with a heart of gold. Fox mange isn’t an easy condition to treat, and Silo was treated the best natural way possible. All Clive wanted to do was avoid Silo being poked and prodded by strangers, and being pumped with drugs and suchlike used to treat a supposed incurable disease. I myself have witnessed various remedies he has tried and even given him a book on herbal remedies and advice that I have been told about to help Silo’s condition. Instead of busybodying about people and such trivial matters, I suggest these anonymous callers open their eyes and observe, note and report the serious wrongdoings and crimes in their neighbourhood, and leave good people like Clive alone. S. McGurk Church Road.

Mary Bradnum writes (Aug 2007) Dear Sir, Like many of your readers, I have been following the story of Silo and her master. I am so glad that they are back together again. I realise Mr Coleman’s treatment of his dog was misunderstood. It is galling to be labelled a neglectful owner when the opposite is true. Nevertheless, what did the RSPCA do that was so bad? It seems that they cured Silo, presumably free of charge and then brought her home again. I think it is unfair to portray the RSPCA as though they were a persecuting Gestapo-type of force in our midst. Like everyone the RSPCA may sometimes be mistaken or misinformed, but, without them, to whom could we go for help when we see animals cruelly treated or when we find wild creatures that are injured? In my opinion such an institution is the mark of a civilised country, and in the past I have had reason to be grateful to them. Mary Bradnum, Woodland Vale Road.  Thanks, Mary. It’s always good to hear the other side of the story – Ed.