Animal-loving volunteers at a Liverpool rescue are struggling to keep up with ever-growing demands as more and more people are forced to give up their precious pets due to the soaring cost of living.
Freshfields Animal Rescue on East Lane, Homer Green is currently home to 26 dogs and 38 cats, along with dozens of small animals including rabbits, ferrets, guinea pigs, hedgehogs and birds.
But rescuers predict their numbers could increase rapidly in the next 12 months due to the cost of living crisis - as volunteers scramble to pick up up to three abandoned dogs each day.
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Debbie Hughes, Freshfields' grants and PR officer, said: "We are now in the middle of a national crisis, and it's only going to get worse. Our numbers are already increasing exponentially.
"We used to get a couple of calls a week for us to come and help a stray dog or cat. Now it's numerous calls daily.
"Not all of these are terrible cases; many of them are loving owners. But they just can't cope.
"We have really nice people coming to us in desperate circumstances because they can't afford to feed their families or heat their homes, so they can't feed their dogs.
"It's only thanks to the generosity of the public that we're able to keep going. But everybody is struggling. I've had two people this week cancel their direct debits to us because they just can't afford it, and that is going to happen more and more.
"It's going to be a very difficult 12 months.
"In some ways, the rising cost of living is going to be a second pandemic for us. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, funding was given out by the Government, but not to animal rescues. Funding was allocated to safari parks and zoos, and yet nobody was offering us anything."
When asked whether support would be offered to animal rescues and charities in the face of the growing cost of living crisis, a spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: "The Government is actively considering the impact of the rise in the cost of living on all aspects of people’s lives.
"DEFRA remains in close contact with animal welfare stakeholder groups, including the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes and the National Equine Welfare Council. We meet regularly with external partners to understand issues and trends that are affecting the sector, including the impact of the rise in the cost of living on pet keepers and welfare organisations.
"Sector groups are closely monitoring the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and identifying where more support may be needed. We welcome the support they are providing their members during these difficult times."
But Debbie, who said the growing demands faced by animal rescues meant they would soon need more support than what individual trusts and donors could provide - and that direct Government action would be required.
She said: "The link between animals and mental wellbeing is well documented, and pets make a massive difference to people's quality of life, their mental and physical health, and their self esteem and confidence. They are a key part of our lives and they haven't got a voice of their own, so we have to stand up for them.
"We're eternally grateful to the trusts that do fund us, but there's an awful lot of animals that need our help, and we would like to see the Government taking the needs of animal rescues seriously - because all of us are struggling.
"I have worked for Freshfields for nearly 10 years and we're very committed to never putting a healthy animal down. But it's getting really hard to care for all the animals that need us because our funds are finite, and the problems are seemingly infinite."
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