Animal Lovers Save Charity Over 10 Million Pounds

Leading veterinary charity PDSA saved a total of £10.3 million last year thanks to its team of volunteers.

More than 4,800 animal lovers put in 1.25 million hours of unpaid work in 2008, allowing the charity to save the £10.3 million.

This money is enough to provide more than 6 million bandages for injured paws or to buy 300,000 bags of life-saving fluids to be used in one of the charity’s 47 PetAid hospitals.

Jan McLoughlin, PDSA director general, said: “It will cost around £50 million for PDSA to provide its free veterinary service to care for the sick and injured pets of people in need this year. It’s amazing to think that the generosity of people donating their time can make such a big difference to the lives of pets in need of vets in the UK.”

A culture of volunteering is prominent at PDSA, with the charity benefiting hours of unpaid work at its 178 shops, PetAid hospitals and fundraising groups across the UK.

PDSA’s dedicated National Volunteering Centre distributes information and co-ordinates the unpaid work programme.

As a result, PDSA was the first national charity to be awarded the Investing in Volunteers accolade due to its high standards of volunteer management.

Jan said: “PDSA couldn’t function without volunteers supporting staff in its shops, fundraising groups, offices and PetAid hospitals.

“Volunteers make a fantastic contribution - £10.3million in fact, and we hope that people continue to support PDSA and help increase this figure to care for more pets belonging to people in need.”

PDSA was founded in 1917 and cares for the sick and injured animals of people in need. Volunteer opportunities are available across the UK and are listed on the PDSA website, www.pdsa.org.uk/volunteering