AN IRISH animal charity has warned of a major increase in people surrendering and abandoning their pets.
Dublin-based charity Dogs Trust said there has been a whopping 68% increase in people contacting them to surrender their animals, with 187 requests in the last two months.
The devastating news comes after the charity rescued a terrified, cold and wet terrier cross who had been left tied to railings beside a busy road near their rehoming centre in Finglas.
The abandoned pup, who the charity have named Beans, was picked up by by a motorist earlier this week and is slowly recovering thanks to the love and care now being shown to him by Dogs Trust volunteers-- but the charity is concerned there will be many more to come.
Eimear Cassidy, Assistant Manager of Dogs Trust Ireland, said Beans appears to be around 4 years old and is in good health, and they are unsure why he would have been abandoned.
"We don’t know how long Beans was tied to the railings for," she said.
"It’s such a busy road, so the poor little man must have been petrified, not to mention being traumatised at being abandoned by whoever left him there. It had also been raining and as he was beside a big puddle, he was soaked to the skin.
"When we got him into our centre, we christened him Beans as he’s a bit of ‘Heinz 57’ and he’s full of beans, with such a lovely character. We are very confident we will quickly find the perfect home for him as he’s such a smashing dog”.
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Beans has come on in leaps and bounds thanks to the care shown to him by Dogs Trust volunteers (DogsTrust,ie)Dogs Trust warned of an "impending influx of unwanted dogs over the coming months", having previously warned that the coronavirus pandemic and associated lockdown would eventually lead to a high volume of dogs being abandoned as people go back to work or their dogs develop separation anxiety after getting used to their owners being at home all the time.
Separation anxiety can lead to dogs' behaviours becoming unmanageable for some, but Karla Dunne, Head of Operations at Dogs Trust, appealed for anyone who is having any difficulty with their pets to contact them.
"We may not be in a position to take in every dog we are asked to, but we do our very best to help everybody that calls us," she said.
"We are now offering online Dog School training classes so you can take part, no matter where you live in the country. Our ultimate aim is to try and keep as many dogs happy in their existing homes, but we recognise, for a number of reasons, this is not always possible.
"We are not here to judge; we just want to avoid situations like 'Beans’ happening again.”
To learn more about Dogs Trust and the work they do, to enquire about their online dog training courses or to donate, you can visit the website here.
