Centres swamped during festivities

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RSPCA centres are looking after more pets and wildlife than ever before after a hectic festive season.

Christmas, coupled with the cold weather, saw the charity’s services throughout England and Wales in high demand with its national call centre dealing with thousands of enquiries every day.

On Christmas Eve, a call was answered every minute from a member of the public concerned about the welfare of an animal. Even on Christmas Day when people were tucking into their turkeys, a telephone call was taken every two minutes.

Hundreds of injured wildlife have had extended stays at the centres as the cold weather delayed their release and the festive season sadly brought with it hundreds of dumped pets.

Between 23 and 27 December, RSPCA inspectors investigated 329 complaints about abandoned animals, which is nearly three an hour around the clock.

Throughout December, 2,112 calls about abandoned animals were investigated. This is an increase on last year’s figure which stood at 1,923 and that for 2008 which was 1,535.

Inspector Tony Woodley said: “After all these years of trying to encourage people to not abandon their pets, it’s so disheartening to see that it’s still happening in its droves.

“These animals are simply cast aside with little thought for their health and wellbeing. There’s no excuse for such callous and heartless behaviour.”