Campaigners yesterday chained themselves to railings to highlight a new drive for funding to help animal welfare.

The Scottish SPCA upped its campaign for National Lottery funding after a survey showed that 74% of the Scottish public think it should receive financial support. The SSPCA, which rescues and re-homes thousands of abused and abandoned animals every year, is not eligible for ongoing National Lottery cash because funding for continued costs - as opposed to specific projects - cannot be given through the process.

However, a new survey out today as part of Scottish Animal Week shows three quarters of people in Scotland believe the charity should receive funding, with only 14% saying it should not.

SSPCA chief executive Stuart Earley said: "To have almost three-quarters of the Scottish public on our side shows how many people believe cruelty to animals is wrong and clearly confirms that Scotland's animal welfare charity should have more support.

"Many people believe that we receive funding from the National Lottery and the government but this is not the case.

"The National Lottery has made over a quarter of a million grants totalling in excess of £21bn and we're sure there are lots of people who play who think we are among the charities which benefit."

The SSPCA, founded in 1839, receives no government or Lottery funding and relies entirely on public donations. Every year it rescues, re-homes or releases over 12,000 animals and in 2007 it reunited more than 1600 animals with their owners The charity looks after all kinds of animals including domestic, farm and wildlife. The SSPCA is entirely separate from the RSPCA, which works in England and Wales only.

It has 62 Inspectors, 19 ambulance drivers and 10 animal rescue and rehoming centres across Scotland, a wildlife rescue centre in Fife and a wildlife rescue unit on Shetland. It costs over £10m to run the SSPCA each year.

Mr Earley added: "Given that we save and re-home a huge number of these animals, we strongly feel that we should qualify for funding.

"The National Lottery's stance leaves our vital work purely dependent on public donations. Hopefully this will change in the future."

Mike Flynn, the SSPCA's chief superintendent, said that National Lottery funding would mean more money to provide frontline care.

Among the campaigns the SSPCA is involved in is halting the trade in illegal fur and a total ban in snaring.

A spokesman for the department of Culture, Media and Sport said last night: "The Lottery has funded a number of projects that have benefitted animals, such as wildlife projects and city farms.

"However, Lottery funding is project-based, additional funding and cannot be used to provide ongoing support to organisations.

"Grant decisions are made by Lottery distributors on the quality of applications received."

A spokesman for the SSPCA said yesterday's "lighthearted" demonstration passed without incident. Three years ago more than 70,000 Scots signed petitions to help keep open facilities when the charity recorded a £3.2m deficit.