Animals need new sanctuary

An animal sanctuary, which was targeted by vandals, is looking to raise £100,000 to move to safer premises.

The Halcyon Haven Animal Sanctuary, in Aspatria, Cumbria, was broken into on 7 March this year, leaving 20 animals dead and others injured.

David Kougar-Webb, the chairman of the sanctuary, said they were desperate to raise the money for a bigger and safer place to cope with all their animals.

Since the break in, the sanctuary has been inundated with abandoned pets, bringing their total to 100.

Food donations

Mr Kougar-Webb said: "I don't think we will ever get over what happened. We still have nightmares about it.

"We still have to come in every morning and see the places where we found the animals lying. It is too difficult to talk about."

"Since the tragedy we have had over 50 animals in and, although we have re-homed some, they keep coming in.

"At the moment we have about 30 rabbits and they need a lot of space. We also have cats, dog and guinea pigs just dumped on the doorstep."

Mr Kougar-Webb said it was getting increasingly difficult to pay for the animal's upkeep.

He said: "It is frustrating when people ring up to say they have an animal they want to get rid of, but when we ask for a donation they just hang up.

"We do get donations of food from various companies, but that doesn't happen very often. It really is hard work.

"So far we have raised £8,500. If 250,000 people each donated just 50p each, we would get there."