South Yorkshire pet rescue centre ‘facing breaking point’

Reporter Errol Edwards visited Rain Rescue in Wickersley to get the inside track on the crisis.

The centre has been established for 20 years and relies on the generosity of the public and sympathetic businesses.

The team have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic, helping 430 cats and dogs during 2021.

Since the start of 2022, Rain have re-homed 238 cats and dogs as well as neutering hundreds of cats with their Snip and Chip project.

But with a waiting list of over 100 cats and 42 dogs, Rain Rescue is at capacity.

The charity is also experiencing a reduction of over 35 per cent in their donation income as people feel the impact of the rising cost of living but are experiencing an increase of over 50 per cent in vet fees costs.

Rain Rescue sees a worrying future for these pets as it fights to balance the books.

Jacquie Neilson, founder and chief executive officer at the centre, said: “Going into Covid things were bad, really bad for cats.

“Cats have been spiralling out of control, pretty much at epidemic levels, Sheffield and Rotherham are just horrific.

“So it's just people not getting their cats neutered, and leaving them out to breed.

“Cats will breed from four months, as well as that all the Toms-male cats - they just fight, so what we get throughout breeding season, we get loads of Toms brought to us with infected sores, abscesses, eyes out, just horrific.

“It's a battle ground out there, and when people let young Toms out, they get attacked by bigger Toms.

“They’ll chase them out of areas, and they get lost, so many end up just another stray on the street.

“We try to advocate that people get everything neutered, and get them microchipped at least that's a way of getting your cat home.”

She added: “Going into Covid was horrific; there are hardly any cat rescue centres.

“If you look around South Yorkshire there are so few cat rescues, and they’re all overloaded.

”The biggest problem is the vets were closed a lot of the time , vets off with Covid ,so closed and doing reduced operations, so they’d pretty much stopped neutering.”

Recent research by the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes (ADCH) shows that demand for rescue dogs has declined in the past year while the number of dogs being abandoned is higher in 2022 than 2021 and 2020.

Halita Obineche, executive director of ADCH, said “There was a huge surge in people getting pets in lockdown and we are dealing with the fallout.

“Inexperienced owners unable to manage pets with behavioural issues caused by poor training and a lack of socialisation; workers returning to the office; and now the rising cost of living, all combining to create a national animal welfare crisis.

“Our members emerged from lockdown struggling with a lack of funds and a dearth of experienced staff. They are overburdened – both in terms of space and the emotional toll of dealing with an epidemic of dog abandonment.”

Jacquie added: “Now people are going back to work they’ve got this boisterous puppy that they can’t do anything with.

“So we’re getting the eight months, to two year old dogs that haven’t had any training.

“They’ve got behavioural problems. You can only cope with so many behavioural problems , we have to work with them to see if we can turn them round.

“They say ‘We can’t have them anymore because they’re wrecking the house.’

”The biggest thing we’re trying to get over to people is before you get a dog, think about your life strategy.

“Stop and think about the next 15 years, what's going to happen in the next 15 years, you’re going to have a baby?

“Don’t give your dog away because you’re going to have a baby.

“Get your dog trained so your dogs are going to be safe around your baby, and your cat.”

Another aspect of the current crisis is the high cost of veterinary costs and the lack of vets post Brexit and Covid.

Jacquie said a lot of vets are leaving the profession.

she added: “A lot of European vets have left, so there's a massive shortage throughout the country, so we’re struggling as well.

“Vets are having to tell the public how much it is – the bill - so they get abused.

“People are buying a puppy, and they’ve paid £1500 for it, and they expect it to be perfect, well it's a living being, and it can get poorly.

“It may have been bred in horrendous conditions, so they turn up at the vets, and get a bill for £500, £1000, £1500, and the vet gets abuse because of the cost, and they don’t take into account that they need insurance.

“We tell everyone to insure, that way at least when the bill comes you’ve got cover.”

If you’re interested in a rescue cat or dog, please visit the website https://rainrescue.co.uk