SSPCA changes visiting policy after 'calmer' animals during pandemic

When Audrey the Jack Russell arrived at SPCA's Lanarkshire rescue centre she was fearful of people and sudden movements

An animal welfare charity has decided to carry on restricting visitors to its centres after noticing how much 'calmer' animals were during the pandemic.

The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says people will no longer be able to view animals at the centre the way they did before the Covid -19 restrictions.

The charity says its animal care teams noticed a big improvement in the stress levels and behaviour of animals when the centres were closed to the public.

Before, people who wanted to re-home animals from the Scottish SPCA were able to walk into one of the charity's nine rescue and re-homing centres in Scotland and see the dogs, cats, rabbits and other animals.

When Covid-19 restrictions were bought in the centres switched to re-homing animals online.

The charity says under these changes it saw a dramatic improvement in the stress levels of many of the animals.

Diesel, a Staffordshire bull terrier in Aberdeenshire has benefited from the centre being closed to the public, says the SPCA

Graeme Innes, from the SPCA, said: "For many dogs, members of the public walking around can be very exciting and frustrating as they have no way of getting to the people they can see. This can lead to them excessively barking, jumping or spinning and eventually becoming distressed."

Reception areas will be open for enquiries and donations, but people hoping to give a home to one of the animals will mostly be going through the process online.