Pets at Home on Newport Road in Cardiff will be holding a small animal re-homing weekend on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th June to find loving new homes for the many pets that have been given up for adoption.
Acting store manager John Tweedy said: "The re-homing weekend is a fantastic opportunity for the community to give lasting new homes for the unwanted pets while raising money for local re-homing charities."
Hundreds of animals are abandoned or given up for adoption every year but, a few years ago Pets at Home established re-homing centres in most stores to combat the problem. They take in unwanted pets from the public and find suitable homes for them; the donations made for the animals by the new owners contribute to the Support Adoption Charity which helps support re-homing centres all over the UK.
This April, 18 degus (small rodents) were abandoned in a cardboard box outside the store, there was a mixture of ages and some were estimated to be as young as three weeks old. This is the third time this has happened and staff believe it is the same people who are dumping these pets. John said: "We're disgusted at the callous treatment of these lovely animals and are shocked that this continues to happen in this day and age but, on the positive side this gives the true pet lovers of Cardiff a chance to give these poor pets a new lease of life"
Sadly, many animals pass through the re-homing centre in the Newport Road branch for various reasons; Assistant Manager Deborah Harford said: "It's a shame to see the amount of pets that people hand over to us. We usually find people giving them up because of financial difficulties, because they're moving home or simply because owners haven't done their research first and don't realise the costs and commitment involved with a pet.”
The re-homing weekend aims to find as many homes as possible for the pets in store and staff will be introducing customers to the abandoned degus, rabbits who have been unable to find new homes due to their temperaments and any other small animals that are in need of a fresh start.
John said: "We're hoping to re-home at least half of the unwanted pets in store and any more would be an added bonus. We just want to give these animals a chance to find a new owner who is committed to keeping them for life. We hope the weekend will be a huge success and that customers will support us all the way."
