Inside Cork’s CSPCA: How Ireland’s oldest animal rescue cares for abandoned pets and strays

Cork’s CSPCA has sheltered abandoned pets for more than 150 years, now grappling with rising dumping cases and costly breeds

Kermit, a shy little dog with visible scars, cowers gently in his kennel at the CSPCA animal rescue centre. A survivor of illegal badger baiting, Kermit is slowly learning to trust again. Picture: Chani Anderson.

It is Monday morning at the Cork Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (CSPCA), the county’s original animal rescue centre, which has been offering a haven to all creatures great and small since 1870. 

Many of you will recall the previous generation of the charity, located opposite the city’s bus station at Parnell Place, where the occasional peering through the street-side hatch invariably made for grim viewing.