THE ISLAND’S RSPCA Centre has been crippled by severe financial difficulties, and is being forced to turn away pets and other animals that are being brought in for care.

The Centre, at Merstone Lane, Godshill, has running costs of £1,600 a day, and has been brought to its knees by rising costs and a lack of funds, particularly from legacies.

Staff redundancies have already been made at the Centre, which receives no funding from the RSPCA’s national HQ, and has to rely solely on donations to survive.

But the situation is becoming more critical by the day, and a warning has gone out that unless new funding can be found, the Centre will have to stop taking in pets, and become only a place where owners can go for advice.

The Centre is run by a committee, and chairman Ken Rivers has spelled out the seriousness of the problems, which has resulted in five members of staff being laid off. Mr. Rivers said: “We had to work out a redundancy programme that was very difficult because all these people are very precious to me.

“We don’t carry any fat, they are all very good and work hard, and it was very difficult to tell five people they no longer had a job. I have been here 13 years, and we have had crisises before, but nothing that compares to this one.”

He accepts: “It is purely down to finance. The two things that have come together are that the cost of everything has rocketed, from food to insurance and vets’ fees. But the one thing that has hit us hard is that we are no longer getting legacies of any size. We used to get substantial legacies, but this seems to be universal, and to be honest it is abysmal.

“The legacies we have received this year amount to around £50,000 which sounds a lot. But when you think the Centre costs £1,600 a day to run, trying to make it up on retail which we are trying to do, is so difficult.”

The Centre can cater for 52 dogs, 100 cats, and other animals including rabbits, gerbils, birds and exotic species such as snakes. The Island RSPCA’s annual gala day was held recently and proved a huge success, but only raised a modest £6,000.

Now the Centre is having to rely heavily on the eight RSPCA shops across the Island to stay afloat. Mr Rivers continued: “When people are short of money they find it difficult to maintain their pets. Unfortunately people are coming to us with pets, and we can simply no longer take them in, because there are too many.

“It’s heart breaking to turn them away, and I find it emotionally draining. Quite frankly the Island cannot do without an RSPCA. We are well below our maximum intake at present because we have reached a point where we cannot afford to take animals in.

“A dog is expensive to keep in. Every dog is vetted, given a chip, and then looked after and fed, which costs about £500 a dog. We keep them for a minimum of two weeks, and that is an average figure. We have some dogs in that need more care than others, and in that instance vets’ bills alone can easily run up to £500.”

The Centre is losing around £18,000 a month, and there are few signs of a turnaround. But Mr. Rivers is adamant: “We would never let it close. The retail shops make a profit, and that money is always available.

“So the worst scenario would be for the Centre to stop taking in animals and be a place where people could come for advice or whatever on a skeleton staff, which we could just about afford. But it would not be fulfilling the function that is needed on the Island.

“We could easily reach the point where we cannot take nay animals in. Even now we are at the point where we can only take in animals that are clearly at risk. If someone comes in and says they can’t afford their dog any more, we have to say ‘sorry, but we cannot take it in’.”

This year’s gala was the fifth to be held, and proved the most successful. Mr. Rivers added: “We look on gala day as a ‘PR job’ rather than a fund raiser. But it gives people the chance to see what we do at the Centre, and hopefully Islanders will now realise the seriousness of the situation and try to help us.”