Target: Emma Reynolds MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, United Kingdom
Goal: Demand urgent government action to address the UK’s escalating large-scale animal welfare crisis, ensure robust criminal prosecution of those responsible for mass neglect cases, and provide sustainable funding to overwhelmed rescue organizations.
The RSPCA has reported that 2025 saw 75 incidents involving 100 or more animals at a single property — a figure that reflects a crisis of mass animal neglect now reaching a six-year high across England and Wales. Among these cases was the rescue of more than 250 poodle-cross dogs from a single property — animals reportedly found in conditions of squalor so severe that rescue centers are now full, with many animals held in emergency boarding because no space exists for them. The RSPCA has attributed the surge in large-scale rescues to the cost-of-living crisis and worsening mental health pressures — structural factors that demand both immediate criminal accountability and systemic policy responses.
When a single property seemingly houses more than 250 dogs in conditions severe enough to require rescue, the animals involved have typically endured prolonged neglect including inadequate food, insufficient veterinary care, unsanitary conditions, and chronic overcrowding. Each of those 250-plus animals is an individual capable of suffering, and the law must be applied with equal seriousness to each count of neglect or cruelty involved. The individuals responsible for these suspected mass neglect cases must face criminal prosecution, and those convicted must be permanently prohibited from owning animals in the future.
The UK government must also respond to the structural conditions driving this surge. Rescue organizations cannot indefinitely absorb the consequences of systemic neglect — they need sustained government investment, stronger enforcement resources, and legislative frameworks that prevent hoarding situations from reaching this catastrophic scale before intervention occurs. Sign this petition to demand both immediate justice and lasting systemic change.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Secretary Reynolds,
We are writing to urge your office to take urgent and decisive action in response to the RSPCA’s alarming report that 2025 saw 75 incidents involving 100 or more animals at a single property across England and Wales — a six-year high in animals in care — including the rescue of more than 250 poodle-cross dogs from a single property in conditions of severe neglect. Rescue centres are reportedly full, with animals held in emergency boarding due to lack of space. The RSPCA has attributed this surge to the cost-of-living crisis and worsening mental health pressures — systemic causes that demand both criminal accountability and structural government response.
We call on your office to take three urgent actions. First, ensure that local authorities and the Crown Prosecution Service pursue criminal prosecution with the full force of the Animal Welfare Act against all individuals found responsible for large-scale neglect cases of this severity — and that conviction results in lifetime bans on animal ownership wherever the evidence supports it. Second, provide emergency funding to rescue organizations and shelters overwhelmed by the surge in large-scale rescue cases so that animals removed from neglectful conditions receive the care they need and space is available for future rescues. Third, commission an urgent review of the legislative and enforcement frameworks governing animal hoarding and mass neglect, with a view to enabling earlier intervention before situations reach the catastrophic scale now being documented.
The animals found in these apparent mass neglect situations had no means of seeking help or signaling their suffering to the outside world. We respectfully but firmly demand that your office treat this crisis with the urgency and seriousness it demands — both for the animals currently in care and for those yet to be discovered.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: Jay Brand
