A struggling animal rescue centre in Manchester which faces the axe have seen an increase in the number of public donations – but are pleading for more people to adopt an animal.
Last month MM revealed the centre could close at the end of the year after a downturn in adoptions and donations, combined with increasing running costs, left them destitute.
The RSPCA Manchester and Salford Branch are continually fundraising to save the centre and have issued a rallying cry for more animal lovers to give a potential pet a loving home.
RSPCA Manchester and Salford Branch manager Susie Hughes said: “Unfortunately we haven’t seen an increase in adoptions as of yet.
“Sadly we started the year really well and in January and February we were re-homing over 40 animals a month but since March we’ve been struggling to re-home half that figure.”
Ms Hughes believes that it may be because people are struggling financially in the current economic climate that they are not adopting animals.
“It’s quite mystifying if I’m absolutely honest because we’ve got some amazing animals, but it’s really worrying to us at the moment why we aren’t re-homing animals,” she said.
“We are doing nothing different than before so I can only think that people are also struggling financially and are not looking to take on an additional commitment right now.”
Ms Hughes described public donations to the charity’s shop as a ‘lifeline’ and the increase in generosity has provided relief in a time of financial turmoil.
The centre continually fundraises throughout the year, and has set the target of raising £10,000 if they hope to stay open.
“One of the measures we have put in place is to reduce the number of animals we have at the centre but unfortunately that can’t happen overnight,” she said.
“And with us having such a dramatic drop in adoptions we’re not going to see that come to fruition for another month or two so the numbers are coming down.
“We think we can save around £600 alone in kennel costs a month, but we won’t see the benefit of that until we get the figures for May.”
Some of the fundraising events the centre has planned include a fair and dog show this weekend and a vintage tea party in the coming weeks.
With the hope the shop can remain open throughout the summer, the branch has planned a Zip line challenge on October 13.
“We have always got events in the pipeline, so we’ve always got things going on, we post it all on our website when we are ready to promote it,” Ms Hughes added.
For further information, or to apply to take part in the zip line challenge visit www.manchesterandsalfordrspca.org.uk.
*This pet isn’t abandoned and is only ‘posing’ for the photo.
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