New data released by the Scottish SPCA has shown that there were 2,168 animal welfare jobs attended to in Ayrshire during the first six months of 2020.

There were 760 incidents recorded in East Ayrshire, 648 incidents recorded in North Ayrshire and 760 jobs attended to in South Ayrshire.

Scottish SPCA chief executive Kirsteen Campbell said: “Even during lockdown, we were still averaging a call about an animal in need every 90 seconds, which shows the scale of demand there was for our services.

“Our whole team has worked so hard through this

unprecedented crisis, and the passion and dedication they have displayed all the way through has been truly inspirational.”

Due to the pandemic the Scottish SPCA reports saw an eight per cent drop in reports of animals in need nationwide compared to the first six months of 2019.

Lockdown restrictions saw all nine Scottish SPCA animal rescue and rehoming centres closed.

This put immense pressure on resources, an emergency foster scheme was set up which saw over 260 animals who were ready to be rehomed go to foster homes.

As a way around restrictions, the Society introduced virtual viewings as a way to get animals into their forever homes.

Even with the closure of all their rescue and rehoming centres, the SPCA has rehomed 1,796 animals in the first six months of this year.