The charity behind Dumbarton’s animal rescue centre has launched a new fundraising campaign after experiencing its busiest year ever in 2021.
Scottish SPCA says it experienced unprecedented levels of demand on its services after responding to an average of over 235 reports of animals in need every single day last year.
The charity has also experienced an increase in average days in care for all types of animals due to the impact of Covid-19 on animal cruelty prosecutions, meaning many of its nine rescue centres have been at capacity.
Many of those calls are due to the public’s increasing appetite for lockdown pups stretching the charity’s resources as they fight to tackle the barbaric puppy trade.
Over 200 puppies were seized from low-welfare breeders since the beginning of 2020.
The Scottish SPCA has also seen an increase in calls from owners who are struggling to afford veterinary care and those struggling to cope with the behavioural issues animals purchased during lockdown now have.
Oscar the doberman (left) came in to the care of the society’s Milton centre after arriving in the UK from Europe, where he’d had his ears cropped and his tail docked.
Oscar was rehomed twice but both times he was returned to the centre as his new owners struggled to cope.
After five months, the third time was the charm as Oscar found his forever family.
Judy Button, manager of the Dunbartonshire Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre, said, “Last year we cared for 687 animals at our centre alone. We always do our best to help every animal, like Oscar, who comes in to our care and make sure they find the perfect home, no matter how long that process takes.”
