Winter warning issued over soaring animal abandonments

The RSPCA has warned of a “grim winter” for pets after it reported abandonment cases are now at their highest level for at least five years.

More than 24,000 incidents were reported to its emergency line in the first 10 months of 2025, more than the entire total for last year and up 23% on the equivalent period of 2024.

The charity has today (20 November), launched a new fund-raising appeal amid fears that the trend will accelerate even further this winter.

Challenging year

RSPCA superintendent Simon Osborne said: “It’s been an incredibly challenging year for many pets, and we have seen a dramatic and heartbreaking rise in abandonments this year.

“There’s an epidemic of animal abandonment and neglect, meaning our officers are needed now more than ever to respond to those animals in the most urgent need of help.”

The scale of the present problem is so great that the group reports one abandonment incident has been reported for every nine minutes the emergency line has been open so far this year.

As of the end of October, 24,270 incidents had been reported, compared with 19,727 at the same point last year and 23,564 for the whole of 2024.

Appeal

Mr Osborne said: “Animals are sentient; they feel joy, fear, love and pain, just like we do. They give us so much and ask for so little.

“Sadly, without help, many animals will die this winter – scared, suffering and unloved.”

Details of the new appeal, called The Big Give Back to Animals, are available on its website.