Since Beth and I (Jon) moved to Brinsley and set up the sanctuary some eight years ago, we have steadily grown each year. The sanctuary has expanded from 4 to 22 acres, we have built an animal hospital and each year rescued hundreds of animals of all descriptions, from many different situations.

2015 has been another very successful year, we have cared for 673 animals, wild, pet and farm animals.

A massive thank you to our volunteers, our supporters and everyone who has donated to the charity, without you, we could not have achieved so much.

A Review of 2015

January

We take in more rabbits after the Christmas period, many are unwanted pets. Although in 2015 we turned away 167 rabbits, we successfully re-homed 58 and are caring for 30 at the sanctuary.

February

We only had 2 foxes this year, of these this chap was successfully treated after an RTA and released into a country park, away from hunters where we hope he’ll be safe and free.

March

In March we rehome Primrose and 4 of her young to a great lifelong loving home in Wales. Primrose had a poor start in life and left to fend for herself and her young, she was really quite a nervous girl. Reports back from Wales says they have all really settled in well and now become much loved pampered pets.

Primrose and her 4 youngsters are amongst 10 pigs we rehomed, we still have 10 looking for homes and sadly had to turn away a further 77 pigs due to lack of resources.

April

This is the start of what we call the silly season, when we get inundated with injured and orphaned wild animals. We can’t take them all in as it is a very time consuming job hand rearing animals, but it is very rewarding.

In 2015 we admitted 233 wild animals, 55 mammals and 179 birds. These are two Wood Pigeon chicks we successfully reared and released.

May

We took in the very confident and naughty Monty, he was one of 7 ponies taken in during the year, we now have 17 ponies at the sanctuary looking for homes.

June

The GWA Supplies donated a massive £6,500 to the Charity. GWA supply spares and consumables to the wind farm industry, each year they generously donate a portion of their profits to the charity. This extremely generous donation has been put aside towards our tractor and implement fund which we hope to purchase in early 2016.

July

July 5th was Boris’s 7th birthday, we were so relieved he made it. Boris had a rough start to the year, he suffered with laminitus which results in very tender hooves. One night Boris made his way to the stream to cool his hooves down, he subsequently fell through a fence and down a steep bank. Thankfully 4 fire engines, two tractors and a bunch of firefighters later, we pulled him to safety.

Our amazing army of volunteers quickly put up strong fencing so that our blind bull could go back into the field without another visit to the stream.

August

Our Summer Open Day was a great success, we had over 1,000 visitors and raised nearly £5,000.

Our volunteers worked extremely hard preparing for the day, baking hundreds of yummy cakes, manning the stalls on the day and sorting out all our fabulous merchandise. If you help or came along, thank you so much.

September

We held our first formal Dinner Dance at Strelley Hall to raise funds for the sanctuary. This raised just over £1,000 and we were grateful for those that organised it, donated prizes and attended.

October

Juno, Penny, Celeste and Annie four lovely Dartmoor ponies are taken in by us. They were all over weight, had neglected hooves and very timid. Our volunteers have been working hard to get these girlies in shape and tame, so that they can be found new homes.

November

Ronnie an abandoned pig is taken in. Ronnie was found wandering around the countryside, he is young and lacks confidence. We are now spoiling him, Ronnie has very cute human like eyes, we hope he’ll find a girlfriend and a new home soon. We have now managed to fuss him but he is still very nervous.

December

200 ex-barn hens are rescued so that we can rehome them. This girl is Annabelle, she came to us like so many, with a double leg fracture, here she has made a full recovery in our hospital and is on her way to a new life, where she has outdoor space, sunlight, fresh air and friends.

Thank you and Happy New Year!!