THE number of animals dumped at the RSPCA’s Rutherford shelter since the start of the summer holiday season has jumped by almost 40per cent on last year’s figures with almost 1300 pets passing through the doors over the past five weeks.
There has been a steady procession of animals since the beginning of December and staff are preparing for the numbers to continue to rise with three weeks of school holidays remaining.
Healthy kittens are being euthanised as staff struggle to cope with the unprecedented jump in the number of animals arriving at shelter.
Animals ranging from ferrets to horses have passed through the shelter’s doors and staff are appealing to members of the public to help house the pets.
RSPCA spokeswoman Marianne Zander said many of the animals had been surrendered as a result of unwanted Christmas presents or because of family holiday commitments.
Others had strayed following fireworks and some had come from council pounds.
School holidays, coupled with breeding season, have created a nightmare for the shelter, which is at capacity and trying to move some pets to other shelters or rehome them.
Ms Zander said the majority of animals handed in at Rutherford had been dogs and kittens, many of the kittens having to be destroyed.
‘‘Cats are a really big issue, some can be responsible for thousands of kittens,’’ she said.
‘‘We get lots of litters from owners or as strays and we simply don’t have room for them and end up putting down healthy baby kittens.
‘‘It’s really important that people desex and microchip their pets. We can’t stress that enough.’’
She said the shelter had also received many dogs and puppies, 175 of them surrenders.
She said as soon as the animals were behaviour- and health-assessed they stayed at the shelter for as long as it took to find them a new home but if it came to the shelter being too full, animals would be transferred to other shelters.
Acting shelter manager Scott Meyers said he was shocked at this year’s figures.
‘‘I know it is busy and we are at capacity and it’s always hard this time of year but what scares me is that it won’t taper off until the end of February,’’ he said.
The Rutherford shelter covers the Cessnock, Lake Macquarie, Newcastle and Maitland local government areas and is in desperate need of more volunteers.
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