Credit crunch to blame?
Extract from Wilmslow Express
20 August 2008
Cats and kittens are being abandoned at the gate of the Wilmslow Animal Sanctuary leaving the Sanctuary at crisis point.
The Humane Education Society said the cats could be the latest victim of the credit crunch after the Wilmslow Express revealed last week that hard-up families are struggling, and are being forced to give up their pets.
Staff at the Sanctuary have also reported other reasons for the problem, including an increase of kittens being born to stray cats, a reluctance by potential owners to adopt over the summer holiday months and the lack of neutering their pets. Now the sanctuary is packed to capacity and struggling to cope with the abandoned, unwanted felines.
The Sanctuary is home to a variety of different animals and has a cat barn with facilities for 29 cats on a short stay basis. David McCallam, of the Humane Education Society, said they are full to bursting point and urged cat-lovers thinking about adopting a pet to contact the Sanctuary immediately.
David said: “Our cat barn has never been so crowded. They come to us as abandoned pets, or are brought in by the public, injured and/or lost. Fortunately, there is a lot of interest for pet cats from local people and we rehome them on a regular basis but in recent weeks we have got overloaded - some people have been sneaking up to the Sanctuary at night and dumping their unwanted pets at the gate.
The current high standards of animal welfare by which we operate can’t be compromised and if we are full, then we’re full. However we can’t exactly say that to a cat sitting in a cardboard box at the gate”.
Photo: Wilmslow Express