We are fortunate on the island that cases of animal cruelty are not commonplace, but they do exist and our welfare officers recorded and responded to more than 600 welfare calls last year, with the trend increasing this year.

We have to be constantly vigilant in our mission to ensure that no animal suffers neglect or abuse, and we are looking forward to the new animal welfare legislation helping us with this.

One area that was debated but not ultimately added to the proposed legislation was around the requirement to report when a cat has been run over by a vehicle.

If you run over a dog, goat, horse, ass, mule, sheep or a pig you are legally obliged to inform the police - but not if you run over a cat.

In the UK it is left up to local authorities to remove the bodies of dead cats from roadsides if they are unclaimed by owners.

On the island this role falls to the ManxSPCA. It’s not a pleasant subject to discuss, but this is an area of the society’s work that impacts upon the community and needs to be recognised.

When a dead cat is brought back to Ard Jerkyll it is immediately checked for a microchip, and if an owner can be identified the cattery staff will do their utmost to contact them immediately.

The cat’s body is treated with respect and carefully wrapped, and then stored in a special freezer until it can be collected. If an owner can’t be traced, a description of the cat is placed on the society’s ’Lost and Found Pets’ Facebook page.

Happily the vast majority of cats brought to us are very much alive, even if one of two have been in a road traffic accident.

Coco, an exquisite ginger female with huge amber-coloured eyes, was found in Maughold dragging herself around and unable to walk.

She was semi-feral but she allowed us to put her in a cat box and take her straight to the vets where it was discovered that she had a broken pelvis and femoral head.

Coco stayed on ’pen rest’ for six weeks and she was remarkably good humoured about it, showing what a sweet natured cat she is.

Two of our wonderful cattery volunteers spent lots of time with her, building her confidence and trust in humans, and within two days of her being certified as fit (she can run and jump just like any other cat now) she had several adopters wishing to take her home.

Over in the kennels, Max is still waiting to meet his new owners, much to the surprise of the kennels team because he is a great dog (he just doesn’t get on with other dogs).

He is a six-year-old English bull terrier cross, and if he could spend his whole life playing, he would.

He is a ’people dog’ and whilst he can entertain himself he really likes to interact with the staff and volunteers who take him out. His favourite activity at the moment is to play with the water coming out of a hosepipe!

We hope to meet lots of dogs at the Southern Show on July 29 and 30, whether they are ones that have come from Ard Jerkyll or not.

We will have a stand there on both days, selling our lovely T-shirts and other merchandise, and we will also have a bowl of fresh water available and ’poo bags’ to hand out in case canine visitors to the show are ’caught short’.

For the first time this year we will be bringing along some dog agility equipment (jumps, tunnels, etc) for you and your dog(s) to try out and have some fun with; and Tabby Wright, the Miss Isle of Man contestant supporting the ManxSPCA, will be helping out on both days.

You can see a list of all our forthcoming events by visiting the ’events’ pages of our website, in the ’How to Help’ section.

Please show your support by coming along, or by organising your own event (no matter how large or small) with the help of our fundraising manager, Kerry - call her on 851672 or e-mail [email protected].