Families unable to feed their children and their pets are being forced to abandon their beloved dogs, according to the RSPCA.
The animal rescue charity says the amount of dogs between abandoned has been rocketed, due to people giving up pets following the festive period, plus the cost-of-living crisis which has hit families across the country hard.
The charity also believes that a decline in puppy sales — which exploded over the Covid-19 lockdowns — has caused ‘unscrupulous breeders to dump dogs which no one wants to buy’. There were 711 puppies and breeding bitches abandoned in 2022, up from 411 in 2021, which is a startling rise of more than 73 percent.
This has risen from 359 in 2020 and 275 in 2019. Overall, in the four year window data is available for, there has been a 158 percent increase in abandonings.
“Our teams have seen families simply cannot afford to feed both themselves and the pets, while others have been helping families facing eviction who can’t find alternative accommodation that allows pets,” Dermot Murphy, RSPCA Inspectorate Commissioner, said. “Some of the very saddest examples are people who dearly love their pets and are trying their best in very difficult circumstances.
“We are doing what we can to help, especially trying to keep pets in loving homes, but as a charity we are struggling too. Our branches and centres are full to bursting and we have hundreds of pets waiting to come in so we can rehabilitate and rehome them.
“We really need animal lovers to help us get through this crisis time by donating to us so we can continue our work. It’s a challenging time for animals and we’re asking people to help us help animals by joining the rescue and making sure we don’t let animals pay the price of the cost of living crisis this winter.”
One of the most shocking cases the charity has seen this winter was in Hull, East Yorkshire, where a litter of American bulldogs were discovered in a box on Boxing Day. Two of the six dogs passed away before they could be seen by a vet.
The remaining four were ‘covered in cuts and scratches which suggests they may have been confined to a cage since birth’, the RSPCA said. “They were suffering from dehydration and tests showed signs of anaemia and vitamin D and calcium deficiencies,” it added.
RSPCA inspector Claire Mitchell said: “The puppies were not well formed and the vet said they had rickets as a result of not being exercised. It looks like they were being kept in the cage as they had scratches all over their bodies as a result of climbing over each other. We took the four to the vets for overnight care and while it was touch and go at first, they are now okay and they are being looked after at York Animal Home.”
Another case of American bulldog pups being dumped was seen in Yarm, North Yorkshire. The five puppies were dumped in a remote layby near the town by two masked men on the afternoon of December 29.
A black BMW SUV was spotted at the scene in Trenholme Lane near Hutton Rudby by a couple who were driving by. The men, who were wearing Covid face masks, made off after leaving the helpless pups at about 4pm. RSPCA chief inspector Mark Gent, who is investigating, said: “It may well be that these are puppies that have not been sold for Christmas and therefore they have become a problem rather than a source of money for someone, which has led to the decision to dump them.
The issue has also been spotted on the western side of the Pennines, too. In Burnley, Lancashire, charity officers found an elderly Staffordshire cross dog abandoned in the snow just before Christmas. Due to her age and the severity of her injuries, she was put to sleep.
“We suspect that this poor elderly dog may have been abandoned because her owners couldn’t afford to take her to a vet to have her humanely put to sleep,” said Deputy Chief Inspector Amy McIntosh.
“She was freezing cold as the temperatures had plummeted and was clearly in a very bad way. It was a very distressing sight to see an old dog - who presumably had once been a much loved pet - suffering out in the cold like this.”
Visit the RSPCA website to find out how to Join the Winter Rescue today.
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