CREDIT CRUNCH BRINGS UNWANTED PETS
Record numbers of pets are apparently being abandoned in the borough as a result of the credit crunch.
Animal rescue centres across North East Lincolnshire say they are struggling to cope with the influx of unwanted animals, as people feel the pinch.
Some animals have been left on the doorsteps of the sanctuaries, while others have even been discovered in empty homes because people apparently could not afford mortgage repayments or keep up with the rent.
A recent national report predicted repossessions will soar as the housing market becomes one of the biggest casualties of the global credit crunch.
Jeanette Vause, of Nine Lives Cat Rescue, in Killingholme, said an “explosion” of unwanted cats meant she was struggling to stay open.
She said: “I have been doing this for 20 years and I have never seen anything like it.
“I had 38 kittens just three weeks ago. Obviously people have tight budgets at the moment and this is why there are so many animals being left.
“They are not being fed and they are coming to me half-starved.
“We are getting so many pregnant kittens which are not even old enough to have kittens themselves, because they cannot afford to get them spayed.
“If we have many more months like this we will go under.”
Despite this, Jeanette said she sympathised with people being evicted.
She said: “A woman called from Barrow who had five kittens and several cats and was being repossessed the next day. She was sat there in tears.
“People who get evicted must feel desperate. It doesn?t necessarily mean they don?t love their cats.
“We had one lady drop her two cats off in a cardboard box outside our house. The note said ‘Sorry. Can’t keep them. Losing home’. I don’t know what will happen when we start turning them away.”