14 September 2000

Fuel Crisis - How Are You Coping?

Petrol protests may be drawing to a close – but it could be two weeks before supplies return to normal. We have been receiving stories from people across the UK Pet Industry about how they are affected and what they are doing to cope. The country's filling stations normally receive 100 million litres of fuel per day but an extra 400 million litres are going to be needed to get back to normal levels. The Pet Industry is not high on any government list of priorities and yet in some sectors mobility means the difference between life and death. While certain employees of the NHS appear to have been able to get to work on horseback could we expect our vets to do the same? Neil Forbes of the Avian and Exotic Animal Department of Lansdown Veterinary Surgeons in Stroud said that whilst fuel for their veterinary services will last well into next week: "In the event of shortages at that point, we have been promised emergency fuel for at least one car from the local police authorities". For those who cannot persuade local authorities that their services are 'essential' it is as well to know that each morning the police are made aware of which stations are receiving deliveries and they are generally willing to give out that information if you ask. Rescues Hit Hard: As fuel supplies available to the RSPCA's inspectorate rapidly dry up, the charity is struggling to respond to calls for help. Members of the public are being asked to take animal casualties to private veterinary practices themselves, where possible, and to ensure that only emergency calls are made to the Society’s national line. Mike Cooke, Chairman of the Border Collie Rescue responded to our call for news saying: "Our operations have been greatly curtailed by the fuel shortage. We are an entirely voluntary group and as such our members are experiencing their own problems due to this crisis which means they have less time and resources to spare for the charity." Mike provided a vivid description of the problems the rescue is having - the full text is available as an additional pop-up news box: click here please take the time to read it. Elspeth Knight from the On-line Retailer Petsonthebrain.com said that so far their next day (weekday) delivery service with Securicor remains unaffected and in support of rescues in trouble went on to say: "Just to let you know if there are any special cases where animals are suffering as a result of the fuel crisis, petsonthebrain.com will supply free food." We have been astounded by the dozens of stories we received in response to our call for news - these are just a few. We will follow up this posting with news from other sectors of the industry as soon as possible. Copyright 2000 Steve O'Malley (UKPets). This article may be reproduced with permission of the author and correct attribution to the source.