A rescue centre is at breaking point after caring for an unprecedented numbers of animals.

The Second Chance Animal Rescue shelter at Crockenhill, near Swanley, is ‘full to bursting’ and struggling to cope with the demand which has been particularly heavy this winter.

John Ranger, the founder of Second Chance, said: “This year has gone manic, we can’t do much more than we are doing at the moment.

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“We’ve got the room but not the finances and sadly we’re having to turn away tens and twenties of animals because we can’t afford them.

“We do get donations through our fundraisers and Facebook page but sadly it’s never enough. Right now it costs about £2,000 a week to run the shelter.”

Mr Ranger added: “Horses have also become a problem. People are just dumping them because they’re too expensive.”

In the last two weeks they have had nine horses brought in when they usually only have one or two per month.

They now house 44 horses at the shelter and 600 animals overall.

One of their latest arrivals included four ponies rescued from a barn they had been locked up in for at least five days without food or water.

Video: Lucky was one of the colts found in a terrible condition locked up in a barn

Mr Ranger said: “If they had been left another day, the worst one would have been dead.

“They had been completely neglected. Two of them have had pneumonia and they were dangerously underweight, they all had lice.

“It’s going to take them months to get them a home.

“One of them is better but one of them, Coco, isn’t doing so well and we had to call the vet in again today, it’s going to be a long journey.”

The Second Chance Animal Rescue takes care of a wide range of animals including cows, pigs, horses, rabbits, cats, dogs and poultry.