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

The RSPCA has revealed it received more than 100 reports of animals being abandoned across the country every day throughout 2021, as part of the charity’s Cancel Out Cruelty campaign.

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

In Northamptonshire, there were 330 abandoned animals reported to the RSPCA in 2021, but 258 reports have already been made in the county this year.

The charity’s summer campaign aims to raise funds to keep its rescue teams on the frontline saving animals, and to continue raising awareness of how we can stop cruelty for good.

The RSPCA’s chief inspectorate officer Dermot Murphy said: “The idea of putting your cat in a carrier and walking away from them in a secluded spot in the woods, or chucking your dog out of a car and driving off, is absolutely unthinkable and heartbreaking to most pet owners.

“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 have proved that – but there is never an excuse to abandon an animal.”

Dermot says there are “always options for anyone who has fallen on hard times and can no longer afford to keep their pet”.

From January 2021, to July of the same year, there was a rise of 24 percent in abandonment reports.

Dogs are the most abandoned pet, with cats second, but smaller pets are also victims of this – such as a hamster who was left in a cage in a bush in Northamptonshire.

Ann Bennett, an RSPCA inspector who collected the hamster, said: “This was quite a strange abandonment as the hamster had good facilities, and the cage had been recently cleaned out, with fresh food and water provided.

“For unknown reasons, someone dumped him in a bush.”

The RSPCA’s frontline teams are working hard to rescue animals, but they are calling on the public to support their Cancel Out Cruelty campaign.