Pet owners abandoned their animals after lockdown are branded by This Morning viewers

Furious This Morning viewers have taken to Twitter to criticise people who adopted pets during lockdown then gave them up once the reality of the responsibility dawned on them, calling them ‘selfish’ and ‘disgusting’.

During a segment on the programme today, vet Dr Scott discussed how ‘pet regret’ has led to an influx of animals being handed into rescue centres – or being offered for sale online.

Host Dermot O’Leary suggested pet regret had set in for people after they got a companion animal, and the ‘the reality set in’ of what is required to look after them. 

Hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond seemed surprised to learn about some of the staggering statistics around pet abandonment

Many Twitter users were furious about animals being adopted during lockdown then abandoned as people went back to their normal lives

Dr Scott agreed, and suggested that some of the reasons people had decided to get animals in the first place included unconditional love and stress relief. 

He added that the ‘one block’ many people have that usually stops them from getting a pet is not having enough time – but that while many people were working from home, that block was removed. 

However, as life has started to go back to normal, now people have found they can no longer accommodate animals in their lives.

Dr Scott said everyone in the veterinary and welfare sectors ‘always knew this bubble was going to burst’, and now there is a 20 per cent increase in animals being brought to rescue centres’.

When asked if he felt sympathy towards people over the issue, or rage, he said he felt a bit of both.  

‘Because it’s a little bit short sighted, isn’t it?,’ he said. ‘Did we all think lockdown was going to never end? Maybe some people.’

He added that as a result of people getting cats and dogs, their populations increased ‘massively’. 

‘So cat population went  up to 10.8 – million the first time it’s ever been more than 10 million in the UK. 600,000 extra cats than there were the year before.

‘The dog population increased by 25 per cent. Wow, 3 million extra dogs. I can remember it. Everyone was getting a dog…it was sort of raining cockapoos.

‘So there was a lot of unethical breeding, there was a lot of getting animals from overseas…we just always knew that it will come to bite us.’ 

Lots of This Morning viewers were horrified about the vast number of people who are giving up animals they adopted while lockdown

Many viewers reacted furiously to the segment, branding people who abandon their companion animals as selfish or worse, with one writing: ‘Your a d******* if you took a pet in during lockdown and took it back.’ 

Another added: ‘I adopted one of my Guinea pigs this time last year because the family had had enough of him. At one point the rescue were getting 75 a week. It’s disgusting how people see animals as disposable items.’ 

A third suggested there should be restrictions on people adopting animals, writing: ‘Anyone that got a pet during lockdown and got rid should be banned from having pets.’