Why rescue centres in the South West are still struggling to cope with a rise in abandoned kittens
Cat rescue centres across the South West say they are struggling to cope with 'huge' numbers of kittens being abandoned.
It's thought an overhang from the pandemic five years ago is partly responsible, with fewer cats being neutered or spayed at the time.
The Moggery Cat and Kitten Rehoming Centre in Bishopston received more than double their normal intake of abandoned kittens in 2024. They say volunteers rescued an additional 220 cats to what they'd expect during kitten season.
Founder Christine Bayka told ITV West Country huge numbers of people adopted cats during the 2020 lockdown but later changed their mind about owning pets.
She added that fewer cats were neutered or spayed too.
'During the Covid lockdown, the PDSA and RSPCA stopped doing neuters as normal because they could only have one vet in the operating theatre at a time,' said Bayka.
'We continued to neuter cats, but we were only able to do about a quarter of the amount we usually would,' she added.
A lot of rescue centres and animal shelters are now facing a backlog of cases on neutering operations.
This year
At the beginning of this year, the Moggery Rehoming Centre rescued 50 cats and kittens from one flat in Weston-super-Mare.
The cats and kittens filled the centre's capacity for the first three months of 2025, limiting their ability to help other cats.
The issue is being felt in Gloucestershire too. At Cheltenham Animal Shelter, the team has received 34 kittens since the start of this year, while usually at this point they would have usually taken in two to four.
At Bristol and Wales Cat Rescue, a campaign has allowed staff to neuter 50 cats, at no cost to their owners. A spokesperson for the organisation said the campaign has stopped them from receiving an excessive amount of kittens, reducing pressure on their service.
Best practice - advice from Cats Protection
Cats Protection says it's best to neuter cats at around four months old- the age female cats can get pregnant- to prevent them from having unwanted litters. It adds that neutering/spaying cats also has multiple health benefits for them.
Neutering male cats prevents them from wandering far from home in search of a mate, which lowers the chance of them getting injured while roaming. It also reduces the chance of them contracting diseases like Feline AIDS (FIV) and prevents them from getting testicular cancer.
Similarly, spaying female cats can also reduce the chances of them contracting FIV. It also eliminates risk of ovarian and uterine cancer.
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ITV News
10 hours ago
- ITV News
Why rescue centres in the South West are still struggling to cope with a rise in abandoned kittens
Cat rescue centres across the South West say they are struggling to cope with 'huge' numbers of kittens being abandoned. It's thought an overhang from the pandemic five years ago is partly responsible, with fewer cats being neutered or spayed at the time. The Moggery Cat and Kitten Rehoming Centre in Bishopston received more than double their normal intake of abandoned kittens in 2024. They say volunteers rescued an additional 220 cats to what they'd expect during kitten season. Founder Christine Bayka told ITV West Country huge numbers of people adopted cats during the 2020 lockdown but later changed their mind about owning pets. She added that fewer cats were neutered or spayed too. 'During the Covid lockdown, the PDSA and RSPCA stopped doing neuters as normal because they could only have one vet in the operating theatre at a time,' said Bayka. 'We continued to neuter cats, but we were only able to do about a quarter of the amount we usually would,' she added. A lot of rescue centres and animal shelters are now facing a backlog of cases on neutering operations. This year At the beginning of this year, the Moggery Rehoming Centre rescued 50 cats and kittens from one flat in Weston-super-Mare. The cats and kittens filled the centre's capacity for the first three months of 2025, limiting their ability to help other cats. The issue is being felt in Gloucestershire too. At Cheltenham Animal Shelter, the team has received 34 kittens since the start of this year, while usually at this point they would have usually taken in two to four. At Bristol and Wales Cat Rescue, a campaign has allowed staff to neuter 50 cats, at no cost to their owners. A spokesperson for the organisation said the campaign has stopped them from receiving an excessive amount of kittens, reducing pressure on their service. Best practice - advice from Cats Protection Cats Protection says it's best to neuter cats at around four months old- the age female cats can get pregnant- to prevent them from having unwanted litters. It adds that neutering/spaying cats also has multiple health benefits for them. Neutering male cats prevents them from wandering far from home in search of a mate, which lowers the chance of them getting injured while roaming. It also reduces the chance of them contracting diseases like Feline AIDS (FIV) and prevents them from getting testicular cancer. Similarly, spaying female cats can also reduce the chances of them contracting FIV. It also eliminates risk of ovarian and uterine cancer.
Wales Online
18 hours ago
- Wales Online
The number of parents fined and prosecuted for not sending their children to school in Wales
The number of parents fined and prosecuted for not sending their children to school in Wales One council said it tries not to fine or prosecute parents who don't send their children to school while others take a stricter approach More than 500 parents were fined across Wales last term for not sending their children to school with more than 100 prosecutions. The figures, obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, were revealed as schools face the annual problem of families taking their children out of lessons to go on summer holidays before prices rise in peak season. The Welsh Government, councils, and and schools are struggling to get more children back into classrooms. Despite a very small improvement in school attendance this academic year it still trails pre-pandemic levels more than five years after classrooms first closed to the threat of Covid. Some children have never returned at all. Schools inspectorate Estyn recently warned it would take a decade, at the current rate of progress, to get attendance rates back to where they were before Covid and some schools believe fines and court action are the only answer. On average secondary-age pupils miss around one day of school a fortnight and now miss 11 days of school more each year than before the pandemic. More than one in 10 secondary school sessions – counted as half a school day – are now being missed on average in high schools across Wales with absence rates worst for less-well-off children and those in key GCSE year 11. Article continues below Education inspectorate Esytn has described low school attendance in Wales as "an important national concern". The watchdog said school leaders in some parts of Wales have told inspectors they are frustrated that their local authorities won't fine parents who don't send their children in. They have told Estyn this failure to act is is "restricting their ability to challenge families to improve pupils' attendance". The data shows while some councils are issuing fines and prosecuting parents for not sending their children to school others, such as Anglesey, are not. Sign up for our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here. Fixed penalty notice (FPN) fines for parents not sending their children to school are £60 rising to £120 if that's not paid within 28 days. Parents can be prosecuted if they do not pay those fines or if there is a recurring pattern of their children being absent from lessons. WalesOnline asked all 22 councils for data on fines, prosecutions, and fixed penalty notices issued in respect of children absent from school in the spring term 2025. Only 13 of the 22 councils responded to our requests, despite a statutory timeframe of 20 working days for doing so, meaning the true figures for fines and court cases will be higher. Only Cardiff, Wales' largest local education authority, provided details of total amounts that fines cost parents last term. The prosecutions listed may refer to absences before last term and may not be connected in all cases to the FPNs issued last term. Fines issued by each council to parents whose children didn't attend school in the spring term 2025 Anglesey Anglesey said it issues no fines and there were no prosecutions for parents not sending their children to school there last term but the council admitted this did not mean there was not a need to do so. A spokesman for Anglesey Council said: "This isn't because sometimes there hasn't been a need. However we have made a decision to focus on working with parents without having to resort to using legal channels." Blaenau Gwent Overall 77 FPNs were issued while there were 59 prosecutions which all resulted in financial penalties but the amounts were not specified. Bridgend Five FPNs were handed out but there were no prosecutions. A Bridgend County Borough Council spokesman said: 'In line with our latest policy a total of five fixed-penalty notices (FPNs) were issued to parents/carers in relation to school absences during spring term 2025. 'Our policy in relation to FPNs reinforces our positive messaging in local communities about the impact school attendance has on the overall development, learning, and wellbeing of our pupils. 'A range of factors are always taken into account such as the level of unauthorised absence, any equalities considerations, additional needs, history of attendance, the level of parental engagement, and any adverse effect a fine will have on the welfare of the family in question.' Caerphilly In total 75 FPNs were issued though six were withdrawn. There were eight prosecutions with seven fines and one remaining outstanding. The council said: "If a pupil who is registered at a school fails to attend regularly and attempts by the education welfare officer and the school fail to secure regular attendance consideration will be given to issuing the parent with a fixed penalty notice. Unless there are known mitigating circumstances the local authority could also consider taking legal action by issuing a summons against the parents to appear before the magistrates' court under section 444 of the 1996 Education Act. "In deciding whether to take legal action the EWO (education welfare officer) must be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction. It must consider what the defence case may be and how this is likely to affect the prosecution case." Cardiff Overall 220 FPNs were issued. There were also 34 prosecutions with outcomes as follows: Three parents were fined £40 Four parents were fined £60 Three parents were fined £80 Eight parents were fined £120 Two parents were fined £180 Eight parents were fined £220 Three parents were fined £440 One parent was given a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £75 prosecution costs and a £26 victim surcharge One parent was handed a community order for a period of 18 months to include 25 rehabilitation order requirement (RAR) days plus a £120 fine, £150 prosecution costs, and £114 victim surcharge One parent was made subject to a 12-month community order with 10 RAR days and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £80 and a £114 victim surcharge In the first seven cases disposed of solely by fines above all parents were required to pay court costs of between £75 and £150 and a victim surcharge of between £16 and £176. Ceredigion The council said there were fewer than five FPNs and prosecutions initiated by the local authority last term. The council said: "Ceredigion local authority always aim to work in partnership with parents in order to resolve reasons for non-attendance and therefore any consideration of punitive measures is always used as a last resort." Conwy Overall 46 FPNs were issued between January 6, 2025, and April 11, 2025. None of the FPNs from this period have been prosecuted yet. Monmouthshire Monmouthshire council said it did not issue any FPNs or have any prosecutions go through in the spring term 2025. Neath Port Talbot The council issued 29 FPNs and there were seven prosecutions with six guilty pleas and one not guilty plea. Pembrokeshire In total 65 FPNs were issued with four prosecutions initiated for "entrenched school absence". Two parents were due to appear in court in May. The council said: "Each school within the authority has their own separate absence policy. The education welfare service are currently undergoing an evaluation of the service and will be writing a model policy for schools for September 2025." Swansea The authority sent 52 fixed penalty notice warning letters and this resulted in 33 fixed penalty notices being issued in full. There were no prosecutions last term. Torfaen Torfaen Council provided data for a different time period but it said the main reason for issuing FPNs has been unauthorised holidays being taken during term time. The council said between March 2024 and April 2025 there were a total 261 FPNs issued though 11 were later withdrawn. It said absence rates had fallen slightly but were still higher than pre-pandemic levels. Vale of Glamorgan The council issued 37 FPNs while there were no prosecutions last term. How school attendance has plunged since classrooms shut in the pandemic Latest Welsh Government figures on school absence, released on June 3, show average attendance for the 2023-24 academic year in Wales was 90.5% – down from 94.3% in 2018-19. This is a fall in attendance of 3.8 percentage points since the pandemic. Attendance is counted not in numbers of pupils but in numbers of half-day school sessions. The main reason for children not being in school was illness at 4% followed by all unauthorised absences, including holidays without agreement and being late, at 3.3%. Holidays alone represent 0.6% of unauthorised absence.. The law – under the Education (Pupil Registration) (Wales) Regulations 2010 – says head teachers can authorise absences for pupils to go on holiday but "save in exceptional circumstances" pupils should not be given more than 10 school days leave in any school year. Average attendance in 2023-24 was lowest among pupils in year 11 at 85.3% and highest amongst pupils in year three at 92.6%. Attendance among year 11 pupils was 7.9 percentage points lower than it was in 2018-19. Attendance in primary school year groups fell by 2.3 to 2.7 percentage points over the same period. The figures showed 53.3% of pupils eligible for free school meals were persistently absent in 2023-24, up from 30.4% in 2018-19. Persistent absence is when a child misses 10% or more of half-day school sessions. Article continues below Responding to warnings about attendance from Estyn last month the Welsh Government said: "Raising school attendance is a key commitment. School attendance has increased by 0.5% this year and we continue to invest in family engagement officers and community-focused schools to respond to the needs of learners and build strong partnerships with families and the wider community." The problem is reflected across other parts of the UK.
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
Stray cat saves kittens from danger before being killed on road
A charity said four kittens are in its care after their mother was killed on a road, which left one kitten to find its own way to its siblings. Cats Protection said the mother wandered into a family's home carrying a kitten and it then left after dropping it on their kitchen cat returned 24 hours later with another was then Mrs Tamblyn, 67, from Truro, rang the Cats Protection Cornwall Cat Centre. The team advised the kittens were around five or six weeks old but were concerned there may be more. They agreed the family could keep the kittens for a couple days to allow the mother easy access and to deliver other kittens if mother cat later returned with a third Tamblyn said: "On the day we were going to bring them to the centre, the mother cat was outside the house having some food. "She then suddenly went up the lane ... but later that morning my youngest son found she had been killed on the road that goes past our house."She added the the family buried the mother cat at an apple orchard where they buried other family Tamblyns took the three orphan kittens to the centre but a few days later a fourth kitten arrived at their back door. She said she and her husband were "thrilled" when they found him."The mother bringing them across those roads really was a miracle but we also couldn't believe how brave he must have been and that he had the instinct to survive and find us," she kitten, named Squirrel, was reunited with the rest of his litter and after a vet visit all the kittens were found to be healthy. The other black and white male was named Badger, the male tabby-and-white kitten was named Rabbit and the female tortoiseshell was named Brookes-Whyte, rehoming and welfare assistant at the centre, said: "It is so deeply sad that their mother went to such lengths to get her kittens to safety only to be killed on the road."
