Warning over abandoned animals as summer peak approaches

MORE than 250 animals were abandoned in the county, the RSPCA has said.

The animal cruelty charity revealed 2,751 animals were rescued in England and Wales last year.

And 254 were rescued in Hampshire, the charity revealed as it warned people more animals were abandoned over summer.

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RSPCA Supt Simon Osborne said: ‘People often think that Christmas is the time we see the most abandoned animals – but it is actually the summer.

‘In the summer months the number of dumped animals we rescue spikes up in number, with one animal being collected every hour on average.

‘Every day our inspectors face cases where animals have been left abandoned in fields, dumped in boxes, left for dead at the side of roads and even left outside our animal centres and hospitals. It is just heartbreaking.

‘These poor animals are often just dumped without a care for their welfare or what might happen to them.

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‘We will never know why these animals are just discarded like rubbish. It could be for any number of reasons.

‘Whether it is the fact that more pets are abandoned in the summer because the novelty of a Christmas present pet has worn off by the summer, they don’t want the responsibility of finding someone to look after their pet while they are away on holiday or whether more pets are found dumped because of the longer daylight hours we will never know. It could be any number of reasons.’