London:
Employees of the London Animal Shelter have seen more than their appropriate part of abandoned pets over the years, ranging from kittens to the dead in the nights. But recently there has been an increase in numbers because people make a heartbreaking decision to leave their animal peers, now they are not able to take care of their pets.
The struggling animal owners “very heartache … and shame and disappointment are also feeling that they are doing these decisions,” said Elvira, the owner of the Mayvue Shelter in Kansal Green, Western London, in West London.
“They come to us because they think they have no choice,” she said. “We have a human story behind every animal.”
The small center has taken over 130 animals alone alone. It is part of the widespread growth throughout the UK, where thousands of pets have been abandoned since the Kovid -19 epidemic and cost -lived crisis.
In the first few months of this year, the world’s oldest animal welfare organization RSPCA has been reported abandoned over 5,700 – 32 percent increase in the same period in 2024.
Last year, a total of 22,500 cases were reported, which was more than seven percent at 2023.
According to RSPCA, the challenge of animal care is a heart-wrenching problem for many people in the UK, a nation of dogs and cat lovers, where half the adult population-more than 26 million people-are pets.
And it has killed the poorest of the country especially difficult. Mayvue employees said that some owners had to choose between themselves or their pets feeding.
Several pets at the Center-which included dogs brownie, one-year-old toy, and Astro, a pocket American stool, were brought to their owners lost their homes due to financial troubles.
Such stories are “most disturbing”, MeucCi-Lyons said, because in difficult times, pet owners “their beloved animals need more than ever and do not want to do dogs or cats without their owner.”
Growing veterinarian bill
Mehev Staff said that more pets were also reaching the center in Kensal Green in poor health, often because their owners could not afford veterinary bills.
The case of Felix is specific. The length of the nine -year -old Tomcat muscle was playing with the length of the string. But he arrived with teeth problems, his owners brought him into shelter and said that they could not tolerate it to keep it.
“We are seeing great need for dental work nowadays,” said Mayvue spokesman Olivia Pat.
The epidemic saw a spike in a pet owned under the government lockdown, and later a wave of people left his animals because the normal lifestyle began again.
Some people are returning lockdown pets, many years. ,
He said, “We are now five years from the first lockdown under Kovid. The RSPCA believes that the cost-living crisis is actually influenced by people’s ability to pay especially for VET treatment,” he said.
In October 2022, Britain’s inflation exceeded 11 percent, the highest level in over four decades, and it has slowed down over the years, people are still feeling squeezed.
The prices of many items including pet food have increased by about 25 percent.
In Maywew, employees are all those who can offer free preventive treatment to the owners struggling with pet food and animal care packages.
But the pressure has pushed the bubbly employees of the shelter to their limits.
“We are running away from our feet, we can’t live with demand,” Meucci-lyons said.
Even though the employees are relaxed to know that they make a difference, “Every day it is heartbreaking – we go to bed at night, who think of dogs and cats that we cannot help,” he said.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is published by a syndicated feed.)