SSPCA at 185: The £63,000-a-day challenge as staff left 'crying' over animals in need

The Scottish SPCA is marking 185 years in existence in December - and the challenges are even greater than ever before

For 185 years, the Scottish SPCA has been a beacon of hope for animals in need. Set up first to care for horses working at the docks in Leith, the charity has evolved as our ever powerful relationship with animals does so too.

Now, as challenges of every day living sink hard into the homes of many, the charity sees itself increasingly not just as just caring for the welfare of pets, farm animals and wildlife, but often for the people who own them too.

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“Behind an animal in need there is maybe often a person in need and vice versa,” said Kirsteen Campbell, chief executive of the Scottish SPCA. “You see the issues that people are facing through the eyes of an animal, you absolutely do.”

The SSPCA was set up in response to the treatment of horses working at the docks in Leith. PIC: SSPCA.The SSPCA was set up in response to the treatment of horses working at the docks in Leith. PIC: SSPCA.
The SSPCA was set up in response to the treatment of horses working at the docks in Leith. PIC: SSPCA. | SSPCA

Edinburgh woman Martha Gibson founded the charity in 1839 as the poor condition of the Leith dock horses became apparent. A meeting was held in the city’s Hopetoun Rooms that December founding the charity in the belief that “cruelty to the brute creation is contrary to scripture and humanity”.

A picture of two of the earliest SSPCA inspectors tending to a dog in need in the early 1900s. PIC: SSPCA.A picture of two of the earliest SSPCA inspectors tending to a dog in need in the early 1900s. PIC: SSPCA.
A picture of two of the earliest SSPCA inspectors tending to a dog in need in the early 1900s. PIC: SSPCA. | SSPCA

From Leith, the work of the charity swiftly spread, with its work expanding across the country by the early 1900s. By 1902, it had purchased it first ambulance after concerns about animals being abandoned in the street. And now this month, the SSPCA marks 185 years of existence.

Last year alone, the SSPCA responded to more than 76,000 reports of animals in need.

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Increasingly complex cases, from the growth in the “abhorrent” low welfare puppy and kitten trade to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on the wellbeing of people and their animals, are central to its work as the charity shifts to meet demands.

Pet food banks are growing as is a new service where veterinary nurses go on the road with inspectors to treat at-risk animals in the home, with the aim of keeping pets and their owners together.

Ms Campbell said: “Pet owners and the way we engage with animals now would have been completely different to how that was in 1839. Then they would have been viewed as working animals.

“My dad was a miner and he talked about pit ponies going down and then hardly getting back out. After they had a few days out in the summer, he can still hear them getting taken back down into the pit because they didn’t want to go.

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“People’s perceptions and views of animals have changed so much over the years. What we are doing now is helping people keep an animal in their life because they can’t afford to keep it, they can’t afford food, they can’t afford a vet bill.

“We have had to adapt and change because right now there is an animal welfare crisis because a lot of that has been brought on by the cost-of-living crisis. So when you go back to Martha and helping working horses in Leith, that would have been a very different set of circumstances she was trying to support.”

An SSPCA fundraising add from 1958. PIC: SSPCA.An SSPCA fundraising add from 1958. PIC: SSPCA.
An SSPCA fundraising add from 1958. PIC: SSPCA. | SSPCA

Last year, the work of the charity cost £23 million - or £63,000 a day - with it receiving zero government funding. Indeed, the last Autumn Budget added another £400,000 to the SSPCA employer’s National Insurance bill.

“That is £400,000 that we have to find from fundraising,” Ms Campbell said. She said calls received by the charity from those wishing to give up pets was 28 per cent higher year-on-year with 3,099 animals rehomed so far this year.

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Meanwhile, the charity supported around 7,400 Scots to stay together with their animals at home.

“What we don’t want to do is break that bond - and that is worse for you and it is worse for, say, your cat,” Ms Campbell said.

But sometimes, the painful separation feels like the only option for some. Ms Campbell said: “Recently at one of our centres, a cat had been left. They left the cat just before the doors opened.

“They left us some money and they left us a letter from the cat, basically, which said ‘my favourite person can’t look after me anymore, will you?’ That is the reality that people are facing. Staff were crying.”

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Ms Campbell said the charity was also dealing with a rise in “multi-animal issues”, with 216 dogs and pups seized over a ten-day period at three locations across Scotland in October. That number is believed to be the SSPCA’s biggest intake in its history.

Most of the dogs had been kept in squalor, with a number requiring veterinary treatment for various conditions, including dental disease, infected ears, and severely matted fur.

Several of the dogs rescued were found to be heavily pregnant and later gave birth while in the rescue centres.

While the specifics of each case cannot be disclosed, Ms Campbell said that finds of multiple animals could be linked to illegal puppy farming and hoarding, which can be linked to poor mental health, and uncontrolled breeding.

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“In general we are seeing if you go to a property, there can be a lot of animals behind that door,” Ms Campbell said. Dog beatings continue to rise, she added.

“Some of my colleagues on the front line, our inspectors, say it is the worst it has ever been,” she said.

For 2024, the charity budgeted £23m in costs, with an income of £18.8m. Of this, £7.8m comes from legacies and another £1.5m from trusts. The rest is brought in through fundraising. Costs have risen around 40 per ent.

“I’ve being doing this job for seven years and we weren’t doing many of the things we do today seven years ago because we weren’t getting all these phone calls,” Ms Campbell said.

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“Seven years ago, the puppy trade wasn’t as prolific as it has been over the last few years. The trade in animals is now huge and now we have this double whammy of people unable to afford to keep their animals.

“And all this comes as we are entirely dependent on donations as a charity.”

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