ANIMAL CENTRE IS ON LAST LEGS

Feb 8 2006 Stirling Observer

STIRLING’S SSPCA Animal Welfare Centre will shut within weeks unless a wealthy benefactor can be found to secure its future.

Devastated staff at the centre say they have now been told that the centre will be wound down and closed completely by the end of the month.

The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals first announced its plans to shut the centre down last summer.

Since then, Stirling MSP Sylvia Jackson — who is chair of the Scottish Parliament’s animal welfare committee — has been in regular contact with the society in the hope of a U-turn.

Now, however, she is among those who are appealing for a donor to come forward in a last ditch attempt to keep the premises going.

She said this week she was “dismayed” that the society’s board of directors had decided to go ahead with the closure, despite months of talks

Mrs Jackson said: “Throughout the discussions I had with the SSPCA it was maintained by them that the closure was a strategic decision.

“Since we first heard of the proposed closure I have had ongoing discussions with the SSPCA, the staff at the centre and the Transport and General Workers Union representative.

“I was really disappointed to hear of this final decision, despite the number of alternative proposals and ideas I had put forward to the SSPCA on behalf of the staff at the centre.

“We are now in the position that the five members of staff, 33 dogs and pups, 14 cats and 40 small animals and birds very soon will have no centre.

“It now seems that only the intervention of a major benefactor may now secure the future of an animal welfare centre in Stirling, which up until yesterday was still receiving many phone calls about unwanted pets in this area.”

Hundreds of people signed a petition to save the centre and staff and critics of the move have said the closure will mean a sharp increase in the number of animals being abandoned or mistreated.

However, SSPCA bosses have insisted that unwanted animals will be fully provided for and say inspectors are already used to being on the road to take animals to appropriate accommodation.

The charity says security costs of £1700 a fortnight, caused by European rules limiting the number of hours worked by staff who live on-site, are a major factor in the decision.

The SSPCA is planning to extend several other Scottish centres, but says there is no room to do this at the Stirling site and, while the Stirling centre is busy, it is small in comparison with others across the country.