Rising costs leading to lockdown pets being dumped, RSPCA says

Otis is one of the animals waiting for a home in Bristol

Animal rescue centres say they are being inundated with pets abandoned after being bought during lockdown.

Staff at centres in Bath and Bristol say they are struggling to keep up with the number of animals needing rehoming.

The RSPCA said living costs are putting pressure on households meaning they can no longer afford to keep their animals.

Jodie Hayward, who manages the Bristol Animal Rescue Centre, said they seeing large numbers of rabbits, in particular, coming through their doors.

"In the 10 years that I've worked here I've never known us to have 20 rabbits," she added.

"We had four rabbits abandoned on a busy road in the city centre."

Coconut is one of many rabbits abandoned in Bristol

Staff at the centre said they are already receiving far more animals than they can find homes for.

Bath Cats and Dogs Home has 20 dogs waiting for space as it is at full capacity, and is running clinics in the community to support pet owners.

Rachel Jones, who works at the home, said: "Pet owners are struggling with rising costs, there's the cost of food and care and obviously unexpected vet bills as well.

"So if there are any future ways we can support rather than animals needing to come into our care then we really want to do that."

Audrey the cat is also in need of a new home

RSPCA inspector Hayley Lawrence said the situation had "evolved fast" in the past few months as people who had been able to have pets in lockdown due to working from home are now going back into their workplaces.

The charity estimates that there could be a million cats that have not been neutered in the UK because of lockdown.

The Bristol Animal Rescue Centre said it is trying to support pet owners by running its own neutering scheme.

"If you live in Bristol and you're on a low income or low benefits we can provide very cheap cat neutering," said the centre's head vet Damian Pacini.

"We also run a couple of outreach clinics in Lawrence Weston and Knowle West, again for people who may be struggling to afford to look after their pets or access veterinary treatment."