More than one animal is abandoned every hour in England
New figures from the RSPCA show the charity received 3,851 calls about abandoned animals in England from January 1 to date – which equates to a total of 33 animals a day – or more than one an hour.
The greatest number of abandonments reported to the RSPCA so far have been in in Greater Manchester (709), with Greater London a close second (632).
Some of these sad stories of abandonment have been featured in this weeks ‘Give a Pet a Home’ on ITV, in which a team of celebrity animal lovers including Julian Clary and Peter Andre help find new homes for some of the animals who arrive at RSPCA Newbrook Farm Animal Centre in Birmingham.
In this weeks episode we met Guinea pigs Bentley and Daimler (championed by Olympian Denise Lewis) who were seriously underweight when they were abandoned in a cage outside a school; while beautiful Smoo the Staffordshire bull terrier (championed by Coleen Nolan) was left tied to a park bench in poor health along with another dog.
“Every year thousands of animals come into our care because they have been abandoned. With help from our fantastic volunteers and supporters, we help these desperate animals overcome their past and prepare for life in a new loving home,” said Abbi Moon, RSPCA Rehoming Operations Manager.
Each week six animals in need of loving homes will be featured on the show. Viewers are invited to apply to adopt the animals via the itv.com website * and if successful will feature on the show the following week.
Since the show started on 15 April, it has received more than 1,500 adoption applications for the animals featured in the show. Of the 19 animals who appeared in weeks one and two – all have found loving new homes!
Watch Give A Pet A Home on Wednesday nights at 8pm on ITV.
Notes for editors:
*Website applications vary depending on where applicants live:
http://www.itv.com/giveapetahome
For full county breakdown of abandonments, please contact the RSPCA press office.
To find out more about other animals in RSPCA care who are in need of a home, please go to RSPCA petsearch: http://www.rspca.org.uk/findapet
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