ANIMAL shelter bosses in East Lancashire are bracing themselves for an influx of unwanted dogs as owners jet off on their holidays.

Summer means misery for many pets who are turfed out by selfish people intent on enjoying themselves for a week or two and who don't want the expense of kennelling fees.

And some dogs pay the ultimate price when thoughtless owners leave them to cook to death in hot cars while they enjoy a day out in the sun.

Jeanette Ainscough, manager of the RSPCA animal shelter at Altham, said the shelter was "chock-a-block" with 60 dogs and 30 cats and dozens more on the waiting list to be rehomed, together with numerous rabbits and ferrets.

She said the most common reasons for people wanting the RSPCA to take their dog off their hands were because of a child's allergy, a new baby, working full-time or a break-up in the family.

"We get sporadic dumping all through the year, but at holiday times we get a lot of people on our waiting list who say, 'we are going away at such-and-such a time, and we need it to be gone by then'," she said.

Kathy Dewhurst, proprietor of Glencoe Kennels in Oswaldtwistle, said in previous years they had taken in dogs which had been left by owners with friends but which had managed to escape.

"Owners should be warned that there is a possibility they might go walkabout because they are not used to staying at that address," she said.

"When people are saving up for their own holiday it might help to save some money at the same time for the dog's kennelling fees."