Cats rescued from locked cages on Salisbury Plain

The 10 cats were found locked inside cages without food or water

A group of cats has been rescued after being found abandoned and locked in two cages on Salisbury Plain.

The 10 cats were described as "not in a good condition" when found and had been left with no food or water.

Having been contacted by a member of the public on Friday, the Mid Wiltshire branch of the RSPCA recovered the cats, none of which were microchipped.

Trustee and branch chairman Andy Sheppard said the new arrivals would be checked over by vets before eventually being rehomed in pairs.

Mr Sheppard said the cats would not have survived for long had they not been found.

"I would guess they'd either been there that day, or maybe the evening or the afternoon the day before," he added.

"If they hadn't been found, they'd have died and quite quickly.

"Very distinctively, they were left in two plastic carriers - orange and blue. These carriers were made in Australia, so quite unusual to come across something like that.

"That might give somebody a clue as to who, who these cats belong to and who dumped them, we would seriously like a conversation with them."

The cats were found in distinctive orange and blue cages

Mr Sheppard said he believes the cats all come from a single home, and will be checked by vets before they are rehomed.

"I would guess they've all come together from the same household. They all get on. Hopefully we will try to home them in pairs, so they're all used to each other.

"We work with this sort of situation - not as bad as this - quite regularly, day to day, with cats coming in, cats going out.

"Some of them have got some health issues. So the trouble with that is it has a financial implication on the charity to finance it all," said Mr Sheppard.

He added that the abandonment of animals is a crime and that he would "love to catch up with the people" who abandoned the cats "in the middle of nowhere on a hot summer day".