From rescuing barn owls to crime scene support - the work of an RSPCA officer is as varied as it is difficult.

Susan Dalton, a former RSPCA chief inspector who was based in Stockport, is no exception.

Now retired, Sue reflected on her tenure in Stockport, along with her husband Brian, who was also an RSPCA chief inspector.

"Working for the RSPCA was a way of life", the pair said. "You were driven by your own sense of pride and to do a good job.

"We couldn't think of an animal suffering somewhere and think we'd leave that until the morning.

"When our two sons were small, although technically off duty, I would frequently receive a call to a distressed animal. I would bundle my sons into their child seats, while I dealt with the emergency and they'd go to sleep in the back of my van.

RSPCA stalwarts Brian and Sue (Image via RSPCA)

"There was always something that came home with me and they'd help care for. I built an aviary in the garden for injured owls and birds and the boys used to help me feed them.

"I had some young pipistrelle bats that I kept in the house over several days while trying to find a suitable rehabilitator. Thirty years on, my eldest son still recalls delicately dropping food into the open gape of the juvenile bats. It was such a varied job and both Sue and I were immensely proud to work for the RSPCA."

Sue went on to recall some more of her experiences working locally. She arrived in Stockport in the mid-80s, and by 1990 she was the second ever female in the RSPCA's history to reach the rank of chief inspector.

Further still, her and one Miss Winifred Byers were the only inspectors working in Stockport for some time after.

"We couldn't think of an animal suffering somewhere and think we'd leave that until the morning."

In one instance, she describes an old English sheepdog called Bess was left tied up in the garage. Her owner was the headmistress of a local school.

As Sue describes: "When she was banned from keeping animals for life at court she approached me and said she hadn't been fined enough and offered to make a donation to the RSPCA."

(Image via RSPCA)

Sue also describes the difficult but necessary task of serving summons to negligent owners. "I was always proud of my record in never failing to serve a summons," she said.

"I was assaulted doing so on occasion, but I regarded that as the most important part of the job, getting a satisfying outcome at court not because I wanted individuals punished but because I wanted animals legally confiscated and cruel individuals banned from owning them."

Chris Sherwood, the RSPCA's chief executive, said: "Brian and Sue's careers with the RSPCA show the lengths our rescuers have always gone to save all animals and bring those responsible for cruelty to justice. We are more than our vital rescue work - for 200 years we have been changing laws, attitudes and behaviours towards animals."

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