SSPCA deals with hundreds of calls amid ‘challenging’ year

Around 400 animals in need were reported to the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) in Shetland in 2022.

The animal welfare charity said it had been “one of the most challenging” years in its existence and that it had been “stretched to its limit”.

Over 4,000 people in Scotland called to give up their pet last year, more than three-times the figure from 2021, with the cost-of-living crisis a major factor.

And more than a quarter-of-a-million calls were made to the SSPCA over the year.

SSPCA chief executive Kirsteen Campbell said: “Last year we saw first-hand how people were having to choose between feeding themselves or their animal, or making the heart-breaking decision to give their pet up.

“One of the cruellest aspect of the cost-of-living crisis has been that we’ve had to take more animals in, whilst finding it harder to rehome them due to people’s weariness to take on an animal during such an uncertain time.

“The best thing for animal welfare is to keep a human and a pet together, and that’s what our overriding ambition is through this crisis.”