Thank you for visiting my page. My name is Lee Hopgood, I'm the RSPCA Chief Inspector for Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. I've worked in the RSPCA Inspectorate for eighteen years and now work as part of the team of dedicated officers who cover the Three Counties area on a twenty-four seven basis, there are only ten of us in my team so we are spread thin and are always busy.

As we all know, times are hard, and because of this the demands on the RSPCA have increased, we have more work to do, and the bottom line is its costing more to do it.

Sadly we continue to deal with acts of animal cruelty, neglected animals, deliberate cruelty by badger baiters, dog fighters, cock fighters (Yes, these barbaric acts still go on!). People dumping live animals on rubbish tips in bags and sealed cardboard boxes. Convictions for animal cruelty were up by a quarter in 2011! I could depress you with countless recent cruelty incidents my team and I have had to deal with and show you many sad pictures of neglected animals, such as Penny in my pictures below.

As well as the investigations into neglect and taking cruelty cases to court RSPCA officers are also busy rescuing animals from flooding, animals injured on roads, rescues of animals from rock faces and cliffs. Rescuing horses and farm animals from bogs and rivers and of course cats stuck up trees!

So, as you can see, not only are we totally committed to investigating and dealing with animal neglect and cruelty, we are very busy rescuing animals from all sorts of predicaments, and this all costs money, and that's where you come in. Without the support of good people like you we would not be able to continue to do all these things.

We do not receive any money from the government or the lottery!

In February 2013 I join a team of ten other RSPCA officers and we are going to trek up Kilimanjaro, the biggest free-standing mountain in the world, a climb of over 19,300 feet to raise money, and awareness of our work. I am now working hard to ensure I'm fit enough to complete this challenge!

Thank you for your time, if you decide to donate (at the top of the page) thank you again, if you do not then please keep the work of the RSPCA in the back of your mind, someday you may decide to help us.

If you are unable to donate through JustGiving™ then please send a cheque made payable to the RSPCA to:

(On the back of the cheque write: Kilimanjaro Challenge 390)

Lee Hopgood, Chief Inspector (390), RSPCA Headquarters, Wilberforce Way, Southwater, Horsham, West Sussex, RH13 9RS.

Wishing you all well,

Lee Hopgood MBE, Chief Inspector, RSPCA.

(Have a look at my regular updates below!)