Jackie Ballard, appointed last Monday amid resignations and acrimony, has also urged the world’s largest and oldest animal charity to shed its “fluffy” image and adopt a radical campaigning strategy similar to that pursued by anti-globalisation protesters.

Ballard, a vegetarian former Liberal Democrat MP who narrowly lost her Taunton seat at the last election because of her outspoken opposition to blood sports, called for a scientific study to investigate the effects of captivity on big cats and other large animals, including apes. She said she would then like to launch a campaign against those zoos she considers inhumane.

This goes much further than the RSPCA’s official position, which has merely raised concerns about the treatment of elephants in zoos.

“There is a place for fluffy, but there is also a place for hard-edged campaigning,” she said, in a swipe at conservative elements in the RSPCA during her first interview since her appointment. “There is almost no point looking after individual animals if you don’t campaign to change the law to give all animals better protection.”

Her stance is likely to infuriate traditionalists who say the society should stay out of political controversy and — with its debts of £16m — cut rather than increase its £5.5m annual campaigning and lobbying budget.

But Ballard hit back at such critics. “If we are seen as campaigning, we will get more young people and more money,” she said. “My ambition is to make it a charity my 24-year-old daughter – who cares about animal testing and whaling – will want to join.”

Otherwise, she said, young people might choose violence. “I would like to see RSPCA members with placards down at the docks protesting against the live exportation of animals, and outside meetings of the World Trade Organisation, which regards animals as commodities.”

On the keeping of animals in captivity, she said: “I don’t think zoos are good places to keep animals. There was a view that the work zoos did in species protection justified keeping animals in unnatural conditions. I don’t think that’s true any more. Certainly, large animals shouldn’t be kept in captivity and just allowed to pace about. It’s offensive for an elephant, large cat or anything whose natural habitat is wide-open spaces or jungle.”

Ballard said zoos had justified their existence by their educational value, but argued this had become less crucial since the rise of safari tourism and television wildlife programmes.

However, her comments drew immediate criticism from zoologists. Robert Boutwood, director of Howletts, the animal park in Kent founded by John Aspinall, said that without captive breeding programmes, species such as rhinos and elephants would face extinction.

“It is very easy for people to say you should not keep animals in captivity and everybody who loves animals would agree. The trouble is it is just not possible without species dying out.”

The RSPCA was founded in 1824 to act as an inspection system for animals a decade before the formation of the Metropolitan police. It also spawned the RSPCC, after its inspectors found that abuse of animals often accompanied the abuse of children.

The RSPCA was already mired in controversy before Ballard’s appointment. Having lost £16m on the stock market, it spent the same amount on smart new headquarters. Some senior members accuse Ballard of being incapable of reading a balance sheet, a charge she denies.

As patron of the RSPCA, the Queen will monitor these developments. Ballard hoped the society would always have the reigning monarch as patron, but said it was “unfortunate” the Queen had been photographed wringing the necks of pheasant and taking part in hunting.

Additional reporting: Gareth Walsh

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