A leading animal welfare charity in Cork says they are overwhelmed by "a tsunami " of dogs and other pets being surrendered in recent months.
The CSPCA says that up 25 owners a week are trying to surrender their dogs to them - but the charity doesn't have space to accommodate any more animals.
They say that people not understanding the needs of their pet before purchase, as well as the rising cost of living are the main causes of the increase.
In Dublin, more than 900 people are waiting to surrender their pets - a record for the DSPCA.
Speaking to RedFM News, manager of CSPCA, Vincent Cashman says they urgently need people to adopt pets as their Mahon centre can't cope with the numbers:
"We could be getting up to four calls per day, so that would be 20-25 calls a week, trying to surrender - and that's just dogs. But the problem we have is space. So since the country has done has returned to some bit of normality, there has been a lot of people trying to move on their dogs and stuff like that they got during COVID. And the problem is, there is a glut of dogs - it's a tsunami of animals basically, not only ourselves, but in shelters all over the country. It's trying to rehome them though, is the problem".
If you are interested in adopting an animal from the CSPCA, they can be contacted at 021 451 5534.
