A DOG called Oscar, who is being cared for by an animal welfare charity in Milton, is fronting a new fundraising campaign for the Scottish SPCA after it experienced its busiest ever year.

The charity had unprecedented levels of demand on its services after responding to an average of over 235 reports of animals in need every single day in 2021.

Judy Button, manager of the Dunbartonshire Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre, said: “The past two years have been a really challenging time for the team.

Oscar

Oscar

“Throughout the pandemic it’s been business as usual here and we’ve been busier than ever. Last year we cared for 687 animals at our centre alone.

“We always do our best to help every animal, like Oscar, who comes in to our care and make sure they find the perfect home, no matter how long that process takes.

“We’re so grateful to all our supporters as we wouldn’t be able to do this work without them.

“We’d be so grateful for anything people can spare and we know the animals in our care will be too.”

The Scottish SPCA does not put healthy animals to sleep so animals who come in to the centres with challenging behavioural or medical problems can be with them for years while the team rehabilitate and care for them until they are ready to be rehomed.

One such animal was Oscar the Doberman, who came in to the care of the Society’s Dunbartonshire Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre after arriving in the UK from Europe, where he’d had his ears cropped and his tail docked.

Oscar had his ears cropped and his tail docked - painful changes just to change the way he looked

Oscar had his ears cropped and his tail docked - painful changes just to change the way he looked

These painful procedures would’ve been performed simply to change the way he looked.

His records say he was given away when he was just a 16-week old pup.

Oscar was rehomed twice but both times he was returned to the centre as his new owners struggled to cope. The team were convinced someone just needed to give Oscar a chance.

After five months, the third time was the charm as Oscar found his forever family.

During 2021, the charity also experienced an increase in average days in care for all types of animals due to the impact of Covid-19 on animal cruelty prosecutions, meaning many of its nine rescue centres have been at capacity.

Oscar was given away when he was just a 16-week old pup

Oscar was given away when he was just a 16-week old pup

Many of those calls are due to the public’s increasing appetite for lockdown pups stretching the society’s resources as they fight to tackle the “barbaric puppy trade”, with more than 200 puppies seized from low-welfare breeders since the beginning of 2020.

The Scottish SPCA has also seen an increase in calls from owners who are struggling to afford veterinary care and those struggling to cope with the behavioural issues animals purchased during lockdown now have.