More than 300 reports of abandoned animals made to RSPCA last year in Bucks

Data for 2021, shows that throughout the UK, the globally-known not-for-profit organisation receives more than 100 reports of animal abandonment each day.

New information has been released by the charity as part of its ongoing Cancel Out Cruelty campaign.

A total of 38,087 abandonment reports were made to the charity’s cruelty line last year - an average of over 3,000 reports a month, 104 a day or four every hour.

In Bucks, there were 340 abandoned animals reported to the RSPCA in 2021 and 222 so far this year (January-July 2022) a 11% increase from January-July 2021.

Nationally, the rise is even greater, with a 17% increase from 2020 to 2021 and a 24% rise in 2022.

The charity fears that a huge rise in pet ownership during the pandemic coupled with the cost of living crisis putting a strain on people’s finances means even more animals are being given up.

Cancel Out Cruelty, has been launched as the animal welfare organisation wants to raise funds to keep its rescue teams on the frontline saving animals.

Also, it wants to raise awareness of these glaring new statistics.

Dermot Murphy, chief inspectorate officer at the RSPCA, said: “The idea of putting your cat in a cat carrier and taking them to a secluded spot in the woods before walking away, or chucking your dog out of the car and driving off leaving them desperately running behind the vehicle, is absolutely unthinkable and heartbreaking to most pet owners - but sadly we are seeing animals callously abandoned like this every single day.

“We understand that sometimes the unexpected can happen - the pandemic and cost of living crisis proved that - but there is never an excuse to abandon an animal. There are always other options for anyone who has fallen on hard times and can no longer afford to keep their pet.”

A new report released by the charity, which can be accessed in full here, shows 78% of pet owners think the cost of living will impact their animals, almost seven out of 10 (68%) expressed concerns about the cost of living and a fifth (19%) worried about how they’ll afford to feed their pets.

The survey comes at a time when the RSPCA receives around 90,000 calls to its cruelty line every month but in the summer (July and August) calls rise to 134,000 a month and reports of cruelty soar to 7,600 each month.

Dogs were the most abandoned pet with 14,462 reports of dumped dogs made to the RSPCA last year. Cats were the second most abandoned pet with 10,051 reports of cats being callously dumped in 2021. There were also 3,363 abandoned exotic pets reported to the RSPCA including 1,455 fish and 685 snakes.

In Buckinghamshire, two gerbils were left on a doorstep were abandoned in their cage and dumped like rubbish near the bins outside flats in Milton Keynes.

The RSPCA received 1,081,018 calls to its Cruelty Line in 2021 and these included reports of:

1,094 killings or nearly three animals killed a day 632 mutilations or 12 animals brutally mutilated every week 7,857 beatings which equates to nearly one animal beaten every hour