Jonathan Silk, RSPCA south and south west regional manager, writes:

Calls to the RSPCA's 24-hour cruelty telephone line have almost doubled within six months, and the charity is asking the public to show patience as it prioritises the workload.

Although the number of calls to the 0300 1234 999 helpline increases each year during persistently mild and dry weather and longer daylight hours, this summer the RSPCA is facing an unprecedented demand.

Although we are doing all we an to answer as many calls as possible, exceptionally high call volumes means the charity will be unable to answer advice calls during the evenings and weekends. We will nevertheless be dealing with emergency calls as usual – 24 hours seven days a week. A similar system operated in the summer of 2004.

Dogs in hot cars, animals wounded in airgun incidents or animals dumped in the holidays all increase during the lighter summer months and must be a top priority for the charity.

It is worth remembering that the RSPCA has less than 500 frontline staff for the whole of England and Wales who deal with these calls and investigations (equating to one for every 110,466 people) and their workload during this time increases dramatically.

We thank you for your understanding at this busy time.