The Digital Landscape of the RISPCA

The first online resource I explored was the RISPCA's website. While being a rather obvious choice, it is an informative and reliable source because all of the information comes from the organization directly. This website provides general information about the RISPCA, including things like the location, hours of operation, a historical background of the organization, and contact information. It also displays animals available for adoption, programs and services available, events, and resources for pet owners. The RISPCA has its own Twitter, Facebook page, and YouTube channel, and links to these secondary sites can be found on the organization's home website. I also found the RISPCA's Petfinder page if you're interested in seeing some of the animals they have up for adoption right now. While all of these resources are incredibly helpful, relying on websites run by the organization itself probably won't lend itself well to uncovering rich and varied 3rd person sources. I also found several news articles regarding the RISPCA, which are helpful in getting an idea of what this organization does and how it is recognized by local media.

I searched the RISPCA tag on Tumblr, but there were only four posts, none of which revealed anything interesting or unusual. Searching the SPCA yielded many more results, including links to the blogs of different chapters of the SPCA such as the Richmond SPCA and the San Francisco SPCA, though the latter hasn't updated in a year. It was interesting to peruse these blogs and their posts. Besides finding the links to these blogs, the SPCA tag was not very helpful. One thing I did find, however, was an Instagram photo from a car/bike wash sponsored by a local SPCA group and a motorcycle club, and I thought those two organizations seemed to be an unusual partnership. One would not normally expect a group of motorcycle enthusiasts to be overtly interested in animal welfare, but this photo provides an interesting development in the exploration of stereotypes surrounding SPCA subcultures.

Though they are separate organizations, the Humane Society's website seems to have a lot of information that could be helpful in my research of the RISPCA. The tab labelled "Our Work" explains a lot about animal rescue and advocacy, and it seems like the RISPCA does a lot of similar work. I also found an article called "How Animal Detectives Work," with one page devoted specifically to discussing animal welfare organizations and how they operate. This page discusses laws in place to protect animals, such as the Animal Welfare Act, and the different animal welfare organizations that work to enforce these laws. In regard to the authority given to animal detectives, the article states: "To enforce animal anti-cruelty laws, many animal officers/detectives carry badges, wear uniforms and are granted similar authority as police officers. While specific authority differs by state, most animal detectives have the power to make arrests, serve search warrants, use reasonable force against perpetrators and may be authorized to carry firearms (with weapons training)." This article also discusses the difference between abuse (intentional acts) and neglect (failure to act). I found the information regarding the enforcement of anti-cruelty laws to be interesting and very helpful, though I will have to research what sort of authority Rhode Island grants its animal detectives.

There is a lot of information about animal rescue organizations in general as well as resources specifically about the RISPCA, and this search has definitely helped me locate some sources that could supplement my study.