Covid lockdown sees thousands of Hampshire call outs to help animals

Since lockdown began on March 23, the RSPCA have responded to more than 100,000 incidents with 2,724 call out in Hampshire. This equates to an average of 20 incidents a day across the county and 790 nationally.

The impact of the Covid pandemic has not only seen an increase in call outs, with officers having to collect animals from the homes of patients admitted to hospital with the virus, but has also seen major cuts to the charity’s finances with fundraising events having been cancelled.

Dermot Murphy, chief inspectorate officer, said: ‘We’ve had to quickly and drastically change the way we work during these unprecedented times, from the way we re-home animals to the PPE we wear when responding to calls.

‘But the priority for us during lockdown has been to continue to be there for those animals who need us - while also helping people who have been hit hard by the pandemic.

‘Now, more than four months into lockdown, we’ve passed a milestone as we responded to our 100,000th incident. Our staff are as busy as ever collecting abandoned animals, investigating complaints of cruelty, providing life-saving veterinary treatment to the sick and injured and finding wonderful new homes for our residents.’

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One of the rescues which have taken place in Hampshire during lockdown included a fox who had his head stuck in a plastic bottle and was found with lacerations to his neck in Wimborne Junior School.

With 6,381 animals currently in the care of the RSPCA, Dermot has urged the public to continue to support the charity. Anyone who would like to donate can do so via the charity’s website.

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