The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is, you would think, a pretty popular charity. What with them preventing animal cruelty and everything.
But one Australian Senator is not happy with them. No siree bob. That Senator is Bridget McKenzie, and she's so upset she's writing to the queen about them.
McKenzie is a Victorian senator for The Nationals and she plans to write to the queen asking the monarch to strip the RSPCA of its 'royal' title, The Weekly Times reports.
Senator McKenzie says she's "fed up" with the RSPCA "demonising" farmers and rural communities.
"There is no doubt among regional and rural communities that the RSPCA has crossed the line as an independent animal welfare group and lost the trust of those communities," she told The Weekly Times.
"In recent years the RSPCA's mission has shifted from compassion and education to extreme animal activism to the point where they now resemble the political arm of PETA," Senator McKenzie said in a release today.
"At the present time the RSPCA's focus is spread far and wide and it is now opposed to animals in sports and entertainment, hunting, horse racing and farming, including Australia's $2 billion a year livestock export trade."
"I will petition the Queen to highlight that the RSPCA's are trading on the Royal Family's status to attack Australian industry, film, sport and law-abiding hunters," Senator McKenzie said.
"The Queen is a well-known farmer, hunter, horsewoman, owner of racehorses and a passionate animal welfare advocate as the patron of the RSPCA."
"The Queen is living proof that hunting, farming, horse racing and animal welfare are not mutually exclusive pursuits."
"We know many of our farmers, hunters and those in our racing industry hold animal welfare close to their heart and at the front of mind."
"Our hunting community engages in some of the best examples of practical environmentalism," McKenzie said.
"In the world that the RSPCA wants to create, I mean [the movie] Babe would never have occurred," Senator McKenzie told the ABC.
"Imagine a world without Babe."
No Senator, we won't.
The RSCPA is not happy about Senator Mckenzie's efforts.
"Any Australian has a right to write to the queen on any issue," RSPCA National CEO Heather Neil told BuzzFeed News. "That's our democratic right. In the meantime the RSPCA will continue to get on with what we've done for 150 years in Australia and that's preventing cruelty to animals."
Ms Neil said she doesn't fully understand why the Nationals senator is so upset with her organisation.
"The RSPCA is one of Australia's most trusted and loved charities. The wider Australian community has an expectation that the RSPCA will act for all creatures great and small. We know that there are many very good farmers across Australia and they're working to high animal welfare standards," Ms Neil said.
"The Australian community wants leadership by our governments in progressing animal welfare, unfortunately governments aren't making progress in that area."
"Why some individual politicians have the views that they do about the RPSCA, I don't fully understand. They may not agree with everything we say, but some of the things that are being said are quite confusing to me."
"I'm not sure whether it's because we're trying to progress animal welfare, and we're having some success at progressing animal welfare at a faster rate than they would like it to occur. And I think that's a real shame."
Taking the 'royal' out of the RSPCA isn't so easy.
The 'royal' prefix was first bestowed upon the UK RSPCA in 1840 by Queen Victoria. In 1871, the first Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was founded in the Australian state of Victoria. The other Australian states soon followed suit.
In 1956 the societies were given the 'Royal Warrant' and they became known as the Royal Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or the RSPCA as we know it today.
In 2009 the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia wrote to Queen Elizabeth asking that she remove the royal warrant from the RSPCA. Buckingham Palace responded that "the Queen would not become involved in the day-to-day running of the organisation."
Senator McKenzie has been contacted for comment.