The ever-increasing cost of living, and the rising rate of inflation is taking its toll on Happy Landings Animal Shelter in Pylle.

Nicola Bulbeck, chair of the trustees said: "With bills rising across the board, we are starting to have to rescue a lot more animals as a result of people struggling to cover the costs of home and pet ownership, and we expect this to only increase over the coming year. We are a small local charity but with inflation continuing to rise, and with costs going up across the board, like many others in our sector we will be considering whether it remains viable to keep going. Despite the Government attempting to step in, of the £750m it pledged, over three quarters of it went into supporting people-based charities, which while not wrong, leaves the under-represented animal rescue charities seriously underfunded."

The charity also runs boarding for cats and dogs, which forms the majority of the income to fund its rescue work. But since Covid saw the need for the service disappear while people were unable to travel, the cash flow stopped. And with the number of rejected dogs expected to increase as people return to work, the charity estimates that it needs to raise an additional £25,000 to make up for the losses and continue to meet the demand.

If you would like to help, you can donate via the charity's JustGiving page.

Or if you would like to find out more about offering a home to an animal, click HERE