Animal welfare charity the Scottish SPCA says the cost of living crisis has become “the biggest threat to animals in the UK” after nearly three-quarters of pet owners surveyed highlighted spiralling prices as a growing concern.
Its Lanarkshire centre is described as being “almost at capacity”; staff there have cared for 677 animals in the first half of 2022 alone and have needed to appeal for items including food, blankets and toys four times this year due to demand.
Now the organisation says its facilities are seeing increases in the number of animals coming into their care, including dogs and rabbits; and that they “fully expect to see a rise in owners who are unable to care for their animals or afford vet bills”.
Scottish SPCA officials worked with counterparts at the RSPCA south of the border on the new “animal kindness index” research, surveying more than 4100 people.
One in five of the pet owners surveyed across the UK are worried about how they’ll afford to feed their pets, with nearly seven in 10 expressing concern about the cost of care and 72 per cent believing the cost of living will impact their animals.
Staff at the nine Scottish SPCA centres saw the number of dogs arriving into their care in the first three months of this year increasing by 15 per cent compared to the same period in 2021 – which was the charity’s “busiest year ever” – with the number of rabbits increasing by 12 per cent and the number of those being abandoned more than trebling from nine last year to 29 so far in 2022.
Gilly Mendes Ferreira of the SSPCA said that while the cost of living crisis has not yet impacted their services, “we are under no illusions”, with the latest pressure coming after a year of “unprecedented demand” in 2021.
She said: “We know people will do their best to keep their animals with them, [but] fully expect a rise in owners who are unable to care for their animals or afford veterinary bills in the coming months due to rising costs.
“We have seen an increase in rabbits coming in to our care and being abandoned [and] are concerned that this may have been a knock-on from lockdown, where people took on what they believed to be an ‘easy’ pet and are now struggling with the reality of caring for quite a complex animal.”
The Lanarkshire rescue and rehoming centre, at Bothwell Road in Hamilton, reported that staff were caring for 108 small dogs in January as they appealed for food; while they have twice sought help from the public to provide food and enrichment items for rabbits and guinea pigs.
Centre manager Gillian Boyle told Lanarkshire Live earlier this year: “The past two years have been a really challenging time for the team; throughout the pandemic it’s been business as usual and we’ve been busier than ever.”
Supporters can help animals and staff at the centre by purchasing items from their wishlist at https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/registry/wishlist/3GBDX6IWN6IA7.
Emma Slawinski of the RSPCA added of the new research: “We are on the brink of an animal welfare crisis due to the rise in pet ownership during the pandemic, coupled with the cost of living pressures biting, especially for those on lower incomes – it’s absolutely heartbreaking.
“We’re starting to see an increase in the abandonment of pets and growing numbers of cats and rabbits being rescued and coming into our care; the RSPCA and Scottish SPCA would urge any struggling pet owners to seek help to address problems at the earliest opportunity so that they do not spiral out of control.”
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