Vulnerable animals in need of rescue as floodwaters rise
The RSPCA has been making door-to-door visits to check on pets in the recent floods and have rescued more than 200 animals since the start of the year.
Pets rescued by the charity include rabbits and dogs but also livestock like horses.
The charity warns that there is a particular threat of cats being lifted into the air by strong winds, and of dogs being swept away in fast-moving water.
The RSPCA says it has received more than 1,500 flood-related phone calls since the beginning of the year, and has provided support for more than 5,500 animals across England and Wales.
Rosie Russon, from the charity's water rescue team, was deployed to the flooded village of Wraysbury in Berkshire yesterday:
There is also mounting concern for livestock such as horses, which can become stranded in flooded fields where they are unable to reach the grass to eat.
RSPCA workers were monitoring almost 20 horses in Dorset last week, carrying food out to their flooded field each day.
When the water did not recede, they decided to evacuate the horses by shepherding them across the flooded fields and into a corral.
“The horses did not want to go through the deeper waters and we had to urge them on," RSPCA Inspector Jason Finch said.
Most of the water was two feet deep but in some places the horses had to swim for five or six metres.
RSPCA companion animal scientist Alice Potter had the following advice for pet owners in the extreme weather: