ANIMAL home bosses have been forced to axe a key fundraising event due to fears over the hot weather.

Danaher Animal Home was gearing up for its summer fun day on Sunday, but with temperatures expected to hit 27 degrees it's sadly been cancelled.

Bosses at the home near Wethersfield say they took the decision out of concern for the welfare of the animals, visitors and volunteers.

John Kirkman, the general manager, said: "We're all extremely disappointed as we know many people were already looking forward to joining us for our big day.

"However, we have taken advice from both the RSPCA and our vet and we have to put the welfare of our animals, those of our visitors and their pets, and also our volunteers first.

"Our site is very open, so it would be very difficult to provide any real areas of shelter and we all agreed it would be totally irresponsible to go ahead."

The event is the centre's major summer fundraiser and means it could miss out on up to £5,000 worth of donations.

Mr Kirkman explained the draw for the raffle will now go ahead on July 25.

He also urged those who have bought tickets and not returned the stubs, to take them to a Danaher shop or post them to the centre.

Anyone interested in visiting the home to see the animals available for rehoming can visit between 11am and 3pm every day except Wednesdays.

Earlier this week, the RSPCA issued guidelines to all those organising dog related events.

It warned: 'Encouraging dog owners to take their pets out during this heat wave contravenes all of our advice about pet welfare during the summer months, particularly in unusually high temperatures such as those that we are currently experiencing.'

For address details and more information, visit www.rspcaessex.org.uk or visit Danaher’s Facebook page.