The RSPCA is bracing itself for a surge in abandoned animals and fears the fallout from the Covid crisis could see more owners struggling to keep their pets.
Typically, the charity sees abandonment peak in the summer months. Between June and August 2019, 16,519 animals were reported abandoned to the RSPCA which accounts for 30% of all animals reported abandoned that year.
During the summer months the charity received 282 reports about dumped animals in Devon.
This included a poorly rabbit who was abandoned on a roadside in Brixham last summer. Found in July (...
Leading local advice charity Citizens Advice Exeter, has today released its annual advice trend statistics for the year ending 31st March 2018.
The charity has helped 10306 people directly with advice and information last year. The overall advice trends, compared to the previous year, were as follows:
Welfare benefits Overall, the charity saw a 13.5% increase in welfare benefit enquiries. The main changes being:
• 90.0% increase about support with council tax • 24.2% increase about employment and support allowance • 23.1% increase about housing benefit • 16.3%...
The RSPCA investigated 27,019 animal cruelty cases in the South West last year - a rise of more than 5% compared to the previous 12 months.
These include the case of Max - an eight-year-old West Highland terrier (pictured) who was left to suffer for more than a year with a tumour so bad it was described as ‘like something out of a horror film’ by an RSPCA inspector.
His owner, from Wiltshire, was disqualified from keeping animals for five years, and Max is now thriving in his loving new home.
The animal welfare charity’s annual figures released today (Wednesday 29...
Students from the University of Exeter are joining forces with a local charity by distributing unsold food to the city’s homeless community.
The Food Action Project focuses on reducing the amount of edible food within the sell-by-date that goes unsold in shops, cafes and restaurants across the University, whilst also helping those who struggle daily for food within the city.
Organiser Alec James, VP Welfare and Diversity for the Student’s Guild and former Geography student, hopes that food outlets across Exeter will eventually join the project.
Leading local advice charity, Citizens Advice Exeter, is reminding local people that there is only one week left to complete their economic well-being survey.
The survey will highlight the current financial and employment situation in Exeter.
It will help Citizens Advice Exeter to highlight trends with policy-makers and to further tailor their advice and information resources to meet the needs of local people.
The anonymous survey can be found on the Home Page of the charity’s website – www.citizensadviceexeter.org.uk or at: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/H8Q95FV...
Thanks to a £5k funding grant from the Norman Family Charitable Trust, Exeter’s charity for people who are homeless, St Petrock's, has been able to set up a new specialist Welfare Rights service to help the significant majority of its clients who experience complications, sanctions and delays with their Benefit payments.
Mel Hartley, project manager at St Petrock’s, explains, “Recent welfare right reforms have detrimentally affected the rough sleeper client group, many of who have significant support needs and are frequently unable to meet the stringent demands to maintain and...
A survey into a new benefit due to be introduced in Exeter has produced some alarming results.
Universal Credit, which will replace many existing benefits, is being gradually rolled out across the country and will begin to be implemented in Exeter in November.
But research by the Advice Exeter partnership has raised grave concerns about how claimants will be affected, with few aware of the changes and advice agencies worryingly unprepared.
Universal Credit will see significant changes to the way benefits work, from how they are claimed to how they are paid. Some of...
Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, joined the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) on Monday 10 February as the charity crushed hundreds of items of unwanted ivory to help protect elephants from the deadly ivory trade.
IFAW destroyed around 100kgs of ivory items ranging from whole elephant tusks to carvings and jewellery in spectacular fashion in London to raise awareness of the ivory trade and show support for elephant protection ahead of a major international summit on the issue.
Alarmingly, an elephant is killed every 15 minutes for its ivory. It is...
