Yanking our chain with empty dog bowls plea

Sitting in front of an almost empty food cupboard, here’s an emotive plea for food from Dogs Trust. “We are desperately in need of tins of wet dog food,” begged its Merseyside centre last month.

There have been similar appeals from other Dogs Trust centres.

In April, Manchester said it was in urgent need of tinned food, in May the centre in Shrewsbury made the same appeal, and Harefield in Middlesex warned in August that stocks were “swiftly dwindling”.

Yet Dogs Trust is the biggest singleanimal charity in the country, with an annual income of more than £98million. Isn’t that enough to keep its dogs fed?

Especially as it gets some free food through a deal with pet supplies store chain Pets at Home.

The little bird that drew this to my attention said: “Questions need to be asked of Dogs Trust if, with all this money coming in, they still can’t afford to buy the basics.

“I have the utmost respect for those who work in these centres with the dogs. They don’t make policy.

“But if their staff are struggling to feed the dogs, that’s just unacceptable and I think the public would probably feel that way too.

“Maybe losing just one director’s salary would be enough to feed all the dogs for a year.”

A Dogs Trust spokesman said: “The need for these types of donations fluctuates and occasionally local centres raise awareness to encourage food donations from those who like to give in this way.”

Last year, Dogs Trust spent more than £27million on staff wages and benefits, with 15 employees getting paid more than £60,000.