Fleur Anderson wants to stop RSPCA closing Putney facility
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On 25 June this website reported that the RSPCA was proposing closing Putney Animal Hospital 'as part of restructuring plans to save the charity from a forecasted £47million hole in its finances'.
Putney MP Fleur Anderson is trying to stop the closure of the hospital situated on Clarendon Drive in West Putney. She told us."‘Putney Animal hospital has been serving injured animals from Clarendon Road for over 100 years. The RSPCA are planning to close it in September, there are no other hospitals where these animals could go and so the results will be desperate.
The charity reported that the proposed changes formed part of a 10-year strategy but the financial pressure of the coronavirus crisis means urgent action needs to be taken now.
"I have written to the RSPCA chief Executive and Trustees to ask for an urgent meeting, and I urge everyone to sign the petition to the RSPCA to show the support for our Animal Hospital across South London.
"The hospital cares for pets belonging to families on benefits and has a wonderfully dedicated team of staff and volunteers. It is the only 24-hour animal hospital in the whole of London and exclusively serves abandoned and wild animals, and pets belonging to families on very low incomes.
"The Hospital carries out 20% of all the RSCPA’s frontline work, treating 7,500 animals every year. Without it, families on low incomes would face the agonising choice of having to have their pet put down for a treatable condition. Abandoned pets and injured wildlife would be at risk because there would be no animal hospital in the whole of South London."
To sign the petiton click here
John Kerslake, RSPCA Director of Field Operations, said, “These proposals will be upsetting and the decision has not been made lightly, but we must bring our spending in line with our income if we are to continue to help animals most in need. The RSPCA is facing a £25 million deficit this year, which has been made much worse by the coronavirus pandemic, rising to a potential £47m black hole over the next three years if action is not taken now."
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July 9, 2020
