Obits: Angela Cope, 97, senior RSPCA volunteer

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  October 2013: (Actually published on November 20,  2013.)

Angela Cope,  97,  died in London on October 28,  2013.  “She was a lifelong animal welfarist of the practical rather than the sentimental type,”  former Royal SPCA director general Peter Davies told ANIMAL PEOPLE,  recalling that one of her projects was organizing a working horse show to benefit the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.  “She was involved with the Central London Branch of the RSPCA for many years,”  Davies continued.  “When the RSPCA Putney Animal Hospital was created,  she formed the Friends of Putney Animal Hospital Committee,  which raised substantial sums for the hospital,  largely through the onsite shop that she ran with volunteers selling donated goods.  She was a long-serving member of the RSPCA Council,”  but was retired in 2001,  along with fellow RSPCA vice presidents William Jordan and Dame Janet Fookes,  who were replaced on the council by celebrities Geri Halliwell,  Elton John,  and Cliff Richard.   Wrote Valerie Elliot,  countryside editor for the London Times,  “Some members believe the move was an attempt by Davies to silence Jordan,”  who as founder of both Care for the Wild and the Captive Animals Protection Society was  an outspoken critic of the RSPCA policies on animal research and circuses. Cope was then elected to be an RSPCA honorary vice president,  and “continued to be active in fundraising initiatives until the end,”  Davies told ANIMAL PEOPLE.