{"id":25589,"date":"2014-12-12T12:48:22","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T12:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=25589"},"modified":"2014-12-12T12:48:22","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T12:48:22","slug":"in-depth-cardiffs-unwanted-pets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2014\/12\/12\/in-depth-cardiffs-unwanted-pets\/","title":{"rendered":"In depth: Cardiff’s unwanted pets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joanna Gravett meets the self-funded animal rescuers who are saving everything small and scaly from negligence and neglect.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cause of death: severe malnutrition, one broken wrist, one dislocated hand, a three-inch burn and severe spinal curvature. In fact, the skeleton is so malnourished that it doesn\u2019t even appear on an x-ray scan. What\u2019s disturbing is that the ill-fated list could be continued for another paragraph. What\u2019s even more disturbing is that it didn\u2019t make the scandal-loving headlines of the Daily Mail.<\/p>\n

Instead, it\u2019s sitting quietly in the August archives of a Facebook page, the one sorry reminder of how Storm the bearded dragon lost her life.<\/p>\n

Sadly, neglect and negligence are all too common when it comes to small pets, as Cardiff\u2019s army of self-funded animal rescuers know only too well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly last week a snake was rescued after its owner threatened to chuck it in the freezer,\u201d sighs Ceri Richards, the busy mum of three who started the South Wales Reptile Rescue Network (RRN) in February.<\/p>\n

Run via Facebook, it was the RRN team who were given Storm by her previous owners, nursing her until she had to be put down.<\/p>\n

The hardy volunteers are located in their own homes across different areas of South Wales, rescuing and rehoming everything from sickly snakes to lost lizards.<\/p>\n

In Rhondda Cynon Taf,\u00a0\u00a0Ceri has 20 animals already but will never say no to a scaly creature in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lack of research regarding basic care requirements needs to stop,\u201d says the 32-year-old forcefully.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople impulsively buy a cute, tiny creature without realising it needs specialist care and soon it\u2019s several feet long, requires a bigger enclosure and will live up to 20 years or more!\u201d<\/p>\n

And that’s when baffled owners turn to the Ceri.<\/p>\n

The volunteers have home-nursed more mistreated animals than they dare remember, making it sad to hear that there has never been a reptile related conviction in the UK to date, while in contrast there were 297 convictions in Wales for other animal species in 2013.<\/p>\n

\"casper

The fall of the fluffy<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, poorly pets who arrive with garish neon bedding also need help.<\/p>\n

Meet the Cardiff samaritans, Sarah Perryman and Molly Lewis, who are single-handedly taking in the capital\u2019s tinier waifs and strays with the help of Facebook.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the council would appreciate it if I got any more animals,\u201d laughs Sarah, 32, the bubbly blonde founder of Jack Rabbits Rescue & Rehoming.<\/p>\n

As the busy Roath band manager rehomes bunnies in need, 17-year-old Molly juggles Nyx Hamster Rescue with being a full-time student.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Molly has rescued 20 hamsters since starting in January, turning one of her St Mellons bedrooms into a mighty metropolis of cages, while Sarah began in 2011 and keeps six pet rabbits, rescuing and rehoming up to four other abandoned bunnies at a time.<\/p>\n

People adopting her rabbits sometimes give \u00a325 donations to foot hefty bills, as shocking cases often see trips to the vet.<\/p>\n

Sarah\u2019s rescue bunny Casper arrived in a urine-soaked box after his previous owner threatened to eat him, while one of Molly\u2019s first hamsters appeared in a cage so dirty it made her feel physically ill.<\/p>\n

\"feeding

A growing problem<\/strong><\/p>\n

But what drives this influx of maltreated creatures?<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone I knew was breeding hamsters that were sick and wanted to keep raising more,\u201d says Molly. \u201cI was even more worried when she said she could not afford a vet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s also an ongoing debate about whether breeders should be licensed,\u201d adds Sarah. \u201cJack, my late rabbit, who inspired me to start my rescue work, was owned by a breeder who neglected him after he was deemed to be no use.”<\/p>\n

Overstretched and overworked<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet, when talk turns to big animal welfare charities, the response is somewhat shocking.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of my friends use the RSPCA,\u201d says Sarah. \u201cIn my experience, if you find an animal in distress and call the helpline, you\u2019re expected to take it to the vet yourself \u2013 not because they don\u2019t want to help, but because they are too overstretched.\u201d<\/p>\n

But if the RSPCA does face challenges, it is no surprise. The charity receives 1.3 million calls to their cruelty line each year and has a 24 hour helpline.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone would give us a million pounds, of course we\u2019d love to open more centres,\u201d says Gillian Roberts of RSPCA Cymru. \u201cBut we are a charity and we only exist because of public donations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we have just 321 inspectors covering the whole of England and Wales, we might occasionally have to ask people to take animals to a vet if we are not able to get there straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the beauty of Cardiff\u2019s grassroots movement. There\u2019s always someone there to help. But as the RSPCA receives a phone call every 30 seconds and the rescuers’ houses are full to bursting, it suddenly becomes clear how many animals are in distress, and in the case of Storm, how many slip through society\u2019s net. So, while the daily newspapers are too busy to notice, let\u2019s raise a toast to Cardiff\u2019s pet rescuers, who are doing their bit to save all creatures great and small, no matter how squeaky or scaly.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0RSPCA Cymru<\/em><\/p>\n

The charity are involved in\u00a0campaigns, advising the Welsh Government, decision making on animal welfare law, shaping the future of animal welfare through education\u00a0and\u00a0rescuing animals from\u00a0cruelty and\u00a0neglect.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

RSPCA Cymru said,\u00a0\u201cWe are committed to the welfare of all animals and we work in partnership with the public and other agencies.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAnimals rely on us to rescue\u00a0them when they need us most; to rehabilitate\u00a0them wherever possible; provide them with the very best\u00a0veterinary\u00a0care; and to give them a second chance, either through rehoming or release.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe only ask people to take animals to a vets where it is safe and\u00a0practical\u00a0for the member of the public to do so.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAny complaint we deal with is on an individual basis.\u00a0We have a complaints procedure and we aim to ensure that any complaints are identified quickly and dealt with in accordance with our complaints handling procedure.\u201d<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n

bit.ly\/RSPCACYMRU\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cardiff’s pet rescuers talk bad breeders, big charities and the threat of the overly kind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":26012,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[4418,4419,4420,4421,2360,2642,4422,4423],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-25589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-no-logo","tag-bearded-dragon","tag-hamster","tag-jack-rabbit-rescue-and-rehoming","tag-nyx-hamster-rescue","tag-rabbit","tag-rspca","tag-snake-lizard","tag-south-wales-reptile-rescue-network"],"yoast_head":"\nIn depth: Cardiff's unwanted pets - alt.cardiff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2014\/12\/12\/in-depth-cardiffs-unwanted-pets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In depth: Cardiff's unwanted pets - 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