Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen pet food bank suspended after ‘serious incident’ at animal shelter

A member of staff was 'compromised' during the incident, with police investigating.

Outside of Mrs Murray's Home for Stray Dogs and Cats.
The incident happened at Mrs Murray's Home for Stray Dogs and Cats yesterday. Image: Scott Baxter/DC Thomson.

An animal shelter in Aberdeen that provides a pet food bank service has been suspended with immediate effect following a ‘serious incident’.

Police are investigating after a ‘disturbance’ at Mrs Murray’s Home for Stray Dogs and Cats, in Seaton, at around 12:20pm on Thursday.

The charity posted on Facebook: “We have sadly had to take the decision to suspend our pet food bank service with immediate effect.

“The safety of our staff is a priority and once measures are in place and we can resume our work in the community safely, we will commence this service, albeit in a different format.

“We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause, but please bear with us during this time.”

A spokeswoman for Mrs Murray’s confirmed that the incident is being “dealt with by the police” and that officers had been called to the scene.

Police investigating ‘disturbance’

A Police Scotland spokeswoman added: “At around 12.20pm on Wednesday September 20, we received a report of a disturbance at Brickfield, East Seaton in Aberdeen.

“No-one was hurt. Officers are following a positive line of inquiry.”

Mrs Murray’s Home for Stray Dogs and Cats care for and rehome thousands of animals every year.

The closure of their food bank service will come at a difficult time for some animal owners due to the cost of living, with the SSPCA calling the hardship many face an ‘animal welfare crisis’.

Back in July, the animal welfare charity revealed that the number of people in Aberdeenshire giving up pets had quadrupled in the past year.

Outside of SSPCA Rehoming and Rescue Centre in Drumoak.
The SSPCA has urged people to use alternative pet food banks as a temporary measure. Image: Colin Rennie/DC Thomson.

Following the announcement by Mrs Murray’s, the SSPCA has urged users to use alternative food banks in the area as a ‘stop gap’ measure.

The charity’s director of innovation and strategic relations, Gilly Mendes Ferreira said: “We’re so saddened to hear about what happened to our friends at Mrs Murray’s. They do great work in the local area and we hope they can get their pet food bank up and running again soon.

“In the meantime, if any service users of Mrs Murray’s pet food bank are struggling we’d be happy to support them through our Pet Aid service in Aberdeenshire.”

The locations are:

  • Aberdeen North Foodbank, Bridge of Don
  • Cfine Foodbank – Poynernook Road, Aberdeen
  • Far and Wide Charity Shop and Foodbank, Stonehaven
  • Number One Community Fridge, Banchory

More details can be found online or by calling the SSPCA’s free, confidential animal helpline on 03000 999 999.