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Battersea Dogs and Cats Home reported an increase in ‘strays’ since the summer started

 

Battersea Dogs and Cats Home has seen a 204 percent increase in the number of intake calls during the first week of the school summer holidays compared to a normal week in May this year.

 

According to Battersea dog and cat home their intake line received 328 calls during the first week of the summer holidays, and 388 in the second week compared with just 108 during a week in May – showing a surge as schools close.

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Woody Woodford-Price, Battersea’s Intake Coordinator, said: “Every year around this time I anticipate a rise in the number of calls from people wanting Battersea to take in their pet. It’s holiday season and people don’t always take pets into account when they’re booking to go away. So it’s rescue centres, like Battersea, who end up taking their pets in and finding new homes for them.

 

“We’ve had people confuse us with boarding kennels, asking if we can take their pet for a fortnight while they go away and others that blatantly bring in a ‘stray’ dog and send someone else to claim it back a week later. Dogs brought in under such false pretences are potentially taking the space that another genuinely needy dog might otherwise have occupied.”
One-year-old German Spitz Hayes was brought to Battersea by his owners who were going on holiday and had no one to take care of him. They said they had already sacrificed a holiday the previous year and didn’t want to do the same again.

Image credit: Derek Harper

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