Putney MP Starts Petition To Save Animal Hospital

Fleur Anderson wants to stop RSPCA closing Putney facility


On 25 June this website reported that the RSPCA was proposing closing Putney Animal Hospital 'as part of restructuring plans to save the charity from a forecasted £47million hole in its finances'.

Putney MP Fleur Anderson is trying to stop the closure of the hospital situated on Clarendon Drive in West Putney. She told us."‘Putney Animal hospital has been serving injured animals from Clarendon Road for over 100 years. The RSPCA are planning to close it in September, there are no other hospitals where these animals could go and so the results will be desperate.

The charity reported that the proposed changes formed part of a 10-year strategy but the financial pressure of the coronavirus crisis means urgent action needs to be taken now.

"I have written to the RSPCA chief Executive and Trustees to ask for an urgent meeting, and I urge everyone to sign the petition to the RSPCA to show the support for our Animal Hospital across South London.

"The hospital cares for pets belonging to families on benefits and has a wonderfully dedicated team of staff and volunteers. It is the only 24-hour animal hospital in the whole of London and exclusively serves abandoned and wild animals, and pets belonging to families on very low incomes.

"The Hospital carries out 20% of all the RSCPA’s frontline work, treating 7,500 animals every year. Without it, families on low incomes would face the agonising choice of having to have their pet put down for a treatable condition. Abandoned pets and injured wildlife would be at risk because there would be no animal hospital in the whole of South London."

To sign the petiton click here

John Kerslake, RSPCA Director of Field Operations, said, “These proposals will be upsetting and the decision has not been made lightly, but we must bring our spending in line with our income if we are to continue to help animals most in need. The RSPCA is facing a £25 million deficit this year, which has been made much worse by the coronavirus pandemic, rising to a potential £47m black hole over the next three years if action is not taken now."


Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

July 9, 2020