AN RSPCA rescue home is urging the public not to dump unwanted animals outside their centre after two cats stuffed in a rucksack and eight chickens were abandoned on their doorstep.
The two white and tabby six-month-old kittens were crammed into a canvas backpack and left outside Danaher Animal Home on Thorley Farm in Hedingham Road, Wethersfield.
On the same day, but a few hours later, a cardboard box containing eight chickens was left at the bottom of the driveway of the rescue centre.
"We don't normally have farm animals so this is one of the more unusual cases, it doesn't happen that regularly but we find we get a spate of it all at once," said the rescue home's deputy manager Deborah Satchell.
"It actually is a prosecutable offence if caught abandoning an animal. I can understand why people do it – they get desperate.
"But there isn't the room here. We even have animals in crates in the kitchen because we don't have space."
RSPCA Danaher has the capacity for 84 dogs, 48 cats and 10 rabbits, plus numerous small animals like guinea pigs and hamsters.
But they now say that they have so many animals to take care of that staff members are being forced to look after refugee cats, dogs and rabbits in their own homes with some temporarily housed in the kitchen.
"We are getting so many calls to rehome animals at the moment and we just cannot take them in," added Deborah.
"The centre is at full capacity for dogs, cats, rabbits and other small furry animals – it really is a case of 'one out and one in'.
"There have also been several cases of injured domestic animals and wildlife handed in recently and I just want to point out that we do not have a vet on site and these animals should be taken to a vet for treatment – any delay may have serious consequences for the animal."
