In a shock decision, Sir Brian May has announced he has made the ‘painful’ decision to step back from his role as vice president of the RSPCA.
The Queen icon, who recently suffered some health scares, has been in the position since 2012 and is a long-time advocate of animal welfare rights.
He called it a ‘sad day’ but revelations around ‘conditions in some farms’ had forced him to make the tough call.
Sir Brian, 77, posted his full letter of resignation which was addressed to the Board and Trustees of the biggest animal charity in the UK to Instagram.
‘My letter of resignation earlier today as a Vice President to the RSPCA,’ the musician captioned the post. ‘A very sad day – and a painful decision to make.
‘But in the face of the recent revelations about conditions in some farms in the RSPCA Assured scheme, I feel the RSPCA have had ample time to do the right thing – but have tried to justify their position.’
He continued: ‘And meanwhile, good folks out there are still paying extra for animal produce with the RSPCA sticker on it, thinking they are protecting farm animals from cruelty
‘A very hard decision, because of all the great things the RSPCA do, but in the end there was no other option for me.’
This has come after a report from Animal Rising shone a light on the 200-year-old charity and its shortcomings regarding welfare.
In June, 60 investigations across 45 Assured farms revealed many farms failed to meet the RSPCA criteria and even fell below the legal standard for animal welfare.
The report alleged 280 legal breaches in farms kept by the RSPCA, with filthy conditions, extreme stress and pain, and outright abuse of animals – the very kind the charity aims to prosecute.
Sir Brian’s statement read: ‘It is with profound sadness and not without massive soul-searching that today I have to offer my resignation as a vice-president of the RSPCA.
‘You have kept me informed through the Save-Me Trust of complaints that have been levelled in recent months at the RSPCA over appallingly bad standards of animal welfare in member farms of the RSPCA Assured scheme.
‘I have understood that the RSPCA needed time to evaluate the evidence and make decisions on action to be taken. But as more and more damming evidence comes to light, I find the RSPCA’s response completely inadequate.
‘In line with the organisation’s core principles, and in the clear knowledge that supervision of the Assured scheme had failed and was continuing to fail, I feel the only acceptable policy would have been complete dismantling of the scheme. Instead, the RSPCA have tried to defend their position, and in doing so, in my view, have sacrificed their integrity.’
He stated he could not personally continue to endorse the RSPCA in their current position so had to step down.
This comes as an open letter was written to the charity, with signatories such as Ricky Gervais, Joanna Lumley, and Miriam Margoyles, to drop the Assured scheme.
Assured products are marked by the RSPCA in stores to indicate meat products meet a standard of welfare, which the open letter stated was ‘misleading’ in light of new information.
Sir Brian added he acknowledges the ‘wonderful work’ done by the animal charity and said he was ‘heartbroken’ to have to withdraw his support.
He concluded: ‘I hope that the RSPCA and Save-Me Trsut can continue to fight on the same side in the future, against the agencies of abuse against animals.’
Metro.co.uk reached out to RSPCA for comment, and a spokesperson responded: ‘We have been very proud to have Brian May, a passionate campaigner for animals, as our Vice President and we share his desire to create a better world for all animals.
‘We have different views from Brian on how best to approach this complex challenge but we respect his views and understand his decision to step down as RSPCA Vice President.
‘We would like to thank him for everything he has done for the RSPCA, our staff, volunteers, supporters and, of course, the animals, during his time as Vice President. His ongoing and devoted work campaigning on issues such as the badger cull and hunting have been invaluable for all animals and we look forward to speaking up on these issues with him in the future.’
They continued: ‘Farming is hard, and farmed animal welfare is even harder. The rapid growth of low welfare industrial farming is the biggest welfare issue facing animals.
‘But the reality is 94% of people currently choose to eat meat. There are billions of animals being farmed right now in appalling conditions, with no regard for their welfare. There is currently no specific legal protection for salmon, trout, turkeys, dairy cattle, beef cattle and sheep, and without our standards many millions of farmed animals would live worse lives.
‘But we want to give our supporters, partners and the public confidence that RSPCA Assured is consistently delivering better welfare than standard farming practices. So, we launched an independent review of RSPCA Assured, which has been carried out over several months, including unannounced visits to more than 200 members of the scheme. Once we have analysed our findings, we will take any robust action necessary.’