Animal rescue officers received more than 200 call-outs over the last 72 hours as Storm Dennis wreaked havoc, the RSPCA has said.
The animal welfare charity’s specialist water team, made up of 65 officers and a fleet of 35 inflatable boats, have had to make a number of ‘dramatic rescues’ – saving animals including horses, sheep and chickens from perilous rising waters.
They form part of Defra’s National Flood Response Team which has been on call throughout the storm.
Forecasters predict that more bad weather is yet to come, with a month’s worth of rain set to fall in the next 24 hours. Flood warnings remain across 120 places, with a further 150 lower category alerts also present.
The RSPCA says that its water rescue team, which had been stood down on Wednesday morning, would be put back on standby at 7am on Thursday.
Jason Finch, the team co-ordinator who has worked for the charity for 20 years, said he’d never known conditions to be so bad.
He added: ‘We’ve been incredibly busy and our amazing staff have been working round the clock to help as many animals as possible…and have had a number of dramatic rescues.
‘Working during floods and storms is extremely challenging because we have to ensure the safety of our staff, members of the public and the animals themselves.’
Mr Finch said that in some cases they had been forced to launch boats to remove animals that were ‘in serious danger’.
The charity has launched an emergency fundraising appeal to help with its rescues, which have included numerous horses, more than 60 sheep, a swan, and six chickens which were saved from flooded coups in Surrey.
RSPCA animal welfare officer Marie Stevens said: ‘We would never recommend owners put themselves in danger to rescue their animals but we can understand how emotional it is seeing your beloved pets at risk.’
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