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Are we a nation of animal lovers?

From the archive, first published Wednesday 11th Apr 2007.

Ask Ann Sims whether we really are a nation of animal lovers and there will be a very telling pause.

Some of us, apparently, aren't bad. Others? Well, that's a very different story.

"I do not see how we are a nation of animal lovers," she declared. "If we were, Clacton Animal Aid would not be necessary, would it?"

It costs Clacton Animal Aid - a registered charity - just under £100,000 a year to look after cats and dogs the way they should be looked after. Included in that is £100 a week which has to be paid to Tendring Council to remove the sanctuary's refuse.

"And we are a charity?" she pondered. "Sometimes I wonder if people understand what charity' means."

Hopefully, for this month at least, they will. On April 7, the annual animal awareness campaign kicked off. National Pet Month, which ends on May 7, is in its 18th year and, as ever, aims to "encourage responsible pet ownership". This year it even has a theme, Love is..., and, in a couple of weeks, is holding Wet Nose Day, the first national fundraising day for animals and pets.

Patron and former Crufts presenter Philippa Forrester believes National Pet Month will draw attention to animal welfare - and, more crucially, to the cash animal welfare needs. This is why those behind National Pet Month want to raise £250,000.

"As the owner of two dogs, Honey and Dave, I am proud and delighted to be the patron of National Pet Month," she said. But she stressed pet owners have to do more.

"I would urge all animal lovers to get involved with their own events this year to help us reach this target," she added.

This event convinces Mrs Sims that there is a long way to go before cruelty and neglect are no longer by-products of the world of pets and animals. In the 20 years since Clacton Animal Aid was first established, she has seen little which makes her think our attitude to animals is changing.

"Recently, a box of kittens was brought to us," she said. "The box had been dumped outside the Tesco store in Clacton."

This, despite all the publicity asking people who want to be rid of their pets to call the RSPCA or take the animals to a sanctuary.

"People still abandon kittens rather than pay to have them neutered," she revealed, "and the number of abandoned animals isn't dropping."

But what prompts this desertion? Mrs Sims points to those who live in rented accommodation, decide to have a cat or a dog, then are told they are breaking tenancy contracts unless the animal goes. That scenario, pointed out Mrs Sims, is down to "selfishness and ignorance".

"People are also more allergic to animals today, but don't realise it until after the pet is in their home. Then, there are the marriage and relationship break-ups where neither party wants the pets."

If lucky, the pet finds its way to a registered animal welfare charity like Clacton Animal Aid. Too often, though, the pet is dumped.

"I became involved in animal welfare in the 1980s when a group of us protested against local councils which automatically put down stray dogs," she explained. "We formed Tendring Animal Friends, which became Clacton Animal Aid. We were, and still are, more of a campaigning group."

In 1993 Clacton Animal Aid became a registered charity. It re-homes 200 cats and dogs a year and, in the case of dogs, all potential new owners are interviewed and their homes visited by the charity.

"We never put down an animal unless the animal is incurably ill and would not have quality of life," said Mrs Sims. "That means if we can't re-home the animal, it stays here. We have dogs which have been here for five years and some cats almost as long."

So, will we ever deserve the "nation of animal lovers!" accolade? The jury is still out...

Clacton Animal Aid, The Street, Little Clacton, 01255 860062 from 10am-5pm; viewing hours 10am-noon, seven days a week.