A dog was left abandoned without food in a garden filled with rubbish on the hottest day on record in the UK.
Concerned neighbours saw the dog on its own and put food over the fence to keep it going, but eventually when nobody came back the RSPCA was called.
They responded to rescue the dog from the garden in Liverpool during a record breaking heatwave, when the city reached 35.5°C on July 19.
It had no food, water or shelter in the sweltering heat and was in serious danger of overheating.
The owner had reportedly vacated the property and not taken the dog with them.
The dog was taken to an RSPCA branch where he will be rehabilitated and eventually rehomed.
Inspector Anthony Joynes went out to rescue the dog, on what was an extremely busy day for the charity.
He filmed the dog standing forlornly amid dozens of old rubbish bags, asking: ‘Who’s left you here, buddy? Who’s left you like this?’
Looking inside the window, the house looked quite empty, and Mr Joynes said the only sustenance provided to the dog seemed to be from neighbours and members of the public.
The heatwave came the day before what is traditionally the busiest day for the charity.
Jill Smith, from the National Control Centre, said: ‘Every day is busy at the RSPCA as we receive more than a million calls a year but summer is our peak time, and this recent heatwave has put extra pressure on our call takers and support staff, frontline rescuers, vets and centres and branches who care for the animal victims of neglect and cruelty.
‘We urge anyone thinking of calling to check the website first to see if the advice is there and, where possible and safe, to help the animal themselves or get it to a vet if needed. This really helps free up our cruelty line and our frontline rescuers to focus on investigating the heartbreaking cruelty and neglect cases which flood in over summer.
‘This year we are bracing ourselves for a summer of suffering with an increase in pet ownership during the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.
‘That is why we need the public’s support more than ever to help Cancel Out Cruelty so our call staff, frontline rescuers along with centre and branch staff can work together to help all those animals in need.’
The RSPCA receives around 90,000 calls to its cruelty line every month and investigates 6,000 reports of deliberate animal cruelty.
But in the summer (during July and August) calls rise to 134,000 a month – which is three every minute – and reports of cruelty soars to 7,600 during these months; a heartbreaking 245 every day.
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