Can you give these loveable pets permanent homes?

Bosses at the rescue centre used to house cats and dogs picked up in Hartlepool are hoping people will come forward to provide the pets with permanent homes.

About 1,400 animals are brought to Stray Aid’s headquarters in Cornforth Lane, Coxhoe, near Durham City, each year by council officers.

While about 400 are reunited with their grateful owners, the remaining 1,000 have either been abandoned or are strays and need rehoming.

Here is a gallery of just some of the latest pets needing your help.

Stray Aid community engagement manager Lee Henderson said: “We get around 1,400 a year through our contracts with Hartlepool Borough Council, and Durham County Council and Middlesbrough Borough Council.

“Our first aim is to get them back to their owners. If that doesn’t happen then after 10 days the councils will sign them over to us after 10 days and we will try to find them new homes.

“At the end of the day, it is better to keep them to the bitter end than destroy them and we had one dog here for eight months before we found them s home.”

The service, however, comes at a price and it costs about £1,000 a week to run the animal welfare centre.

The charity also has a £250,000 appeal to help it buy its premises so that it can improve the kennels and leave it in a stronger position to secure grants.

As a result, the centre asks for a contribution in exchange for an animal with the cats and dogs in our gallery each valued between £50-£200.

Further information is available on 0300 999 4247 or by logging on to www.strayaid.org.uk.