Rescue

We are the animal emergency service. At all times, in all weather, we’re out there rescuing animals in need.
  

Each year thousands of animals in need find themselves in the safe hands of our inspectors and animal officers.

We rescue animals from:
 

• cruelty
• accidents and injury
• abandonment
• disasters.
   

 Rescued from accidents and injury 

We receive calls from the concerned public about pets and wildlife who have got into all sorts of bother – many avoidable.

Avoidable accidents we’ve attended, such as those caused by litter, include:
 

• an inquisitive fox cub who got his head stuck in a jam jar
   
• a young cow who got her head stuck in a discarded washing machine drum
   
• and a seal pup who came to shore tangled up in fishing line.

We attend all kinds of accidents, from road traffic accidents to trapped animals – and we get our fair share of cats stuck up trees! Read some of our more unusual rescue stories.
 

Rescued from cruelty

In 2008 we secured 2,574 convictions.

One case making the headlines in the same year was the massive rescue operation of more than 100 horses, ponies and donkeys, and the discovery of 32 dead horses, at a farm near Amersham in Buckinghamshire. All survivors were placed into RSPCA care.

Our centres are full of innocent animals looking for a second chance, like Kiwi who came into our care as a cruelty victim and is now enjoying home life with his loving new family.
 

Abandoned animals rescued

With your help, we give abandoned animals a second chance.

We nurse abandoned animals back to health - pets are rehomed, and wild animals are released.

A tiny fox cub, just a few days old, was one of our many success stories. He was found near a busy road and hand-reared until he was ready to be released back into the wild.

We have turned many unloved animals into treasured pets, including Salt and Pepper – a pair of chinchillas found in a soggy box on a playing field.
 

Rescued from disaster 

We react fast in an emergency.

During the floods of 2008, we were quick to act to rescue animals – and their owners. We saved 120 sheep stranded in flooded fields in Staffordshire, from water six-feet deep in places.

Nearly every year guillemots down the south-west coast become part of an RSPCA rescue when oil from spills out at sea gets washed into their feeding ground.

Teams from our West Hatch Wildlife Centre form a factory line during the cleaning operation to get the birds rehabilitated and back to the wild as quickly as possible.