10 years of re-homing animals

The Scottish SPCA hosted their 10th annual Scottish Animal Week this week.

During the 10 years that Scotland’s animal welfare charity has been celebrating Scottish Animal Week they have rescued and rehomed well over 50,000 animals, including Hans the cat who was in their care for 208 days, before being rehomed last month.

Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre Manager Marion Hainey said: “Hans was looking for a nice quiet home where he could laze about and be spoiled.

“After a long wait we were so pleased to see him go to live with his new family in East Kilbride.

“Seeing animals like Hans leave to start a happy new life is the kind of moment that makes this job worthwhile.”

Marion added: “Hans waited very patiently before finding his family, but thankfully his patience paid off. We wish him all the best in the future.”

This year the charity has already spoken to over 11,630 children in Ayrshire through their ‘Prevention through Education’ programme which was launched in 2009.

This free programme encourages children to treat animals with compassion and respect.

Recent research published by the Scottish SPCA and the University of Edinburgh has shown that the programme has had a positive impact on Scotland’s children with a 382 per cent increase in the number of calls to the SSPCA animal helpline from children over the last five years.

Gilly Mendes Ferreira Head of Education and Policy at the Scottish SPCA said: “Our interactive programme encourages children to think about what animals need and they learn how they can be responsible towards animals they come across including their pets.

“The research has shown a clear increase in children’s knowledge about animal welfare following participation in our workshops and is further evidence that the subject of animal welfare has a valuable role to play in school curriculum.”