1.What inspired Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary?
Bleakholt was started by Olive Lomas who saved a donkey named Maudie from slaughter. Her hard work and commitment continued, saving many horses and, in 1957, the Sanctuary at Bleakholt Farm was formed.
In 1968, Bleakholt became a registered charity. Now we have 55-acres of land where horses, donkeys, pigs, goats, sheep and more live out their lives while we rehome dogs, cats and small animals. We rehome around 1,300 animals a year and are home for up to 300 animals at any one time.
There are also many wild animals that also live or visit the land around the sanctuary including Barn Owls, swifts, foxes, hares, roe and red deer, weasels, rabbits and several birds of prey. In addition, there is a wildlife pond that is home to several newts.
2.Can you share a memorable rescue story that had a significant impact on you?
Pickle the dog came to us in 2019 as an emaciated young puppy who had been bought from online selling site, Gumtree, weighing just 400g.
Realising the puppy was poorly, the person who bought Pickles thankfully brought him to Bleakholt.
He was only a few weeks old and needed life-saving surgery but it was dependent on him putting on weight and his life hung in the balance in those early weeks.
After a CT scan, it was found Pickles needed complex spinal surgery and, due to social media and appearing in local and national newspapers, there was a lot of people following his story, especially as we raised around £9,000 of his £10,000 vet fees through donations.
It was touch and go for a long time as he had to overcome other hurdles, he is still wobbly on his legs and needed physio, but he is now four-years-old and living his best life!
3.What adoption process do you have in place, and how do you match pets with their new families?
Since Covid, our adoption policies have changed. We ask people to read about all the animals on our website and make sure they match the criteria. For example, we recommend some dogs do not go with small children or some cats need to be the only animal in the household. They can then apply on-line and we read all the applications. If we feel they are a good match, we will contact the person to arrange to meet the animal and do vital checks before rehoming. The cost to adopt a dog is £200, a cat is £100, £50 for a rabbit and £25 for a guinea pig. All our animals are fully-vaccinated up-to-date, microchipped and, if necessary, have received flea treatment. If the animal has ongoing medical issues, Bleakholt will fund some of the cost.
4.What advice do you have for people who want to get involved in animal rescue, either as volunteers or donors?
Firstly, the need to love all animals, whatever their quirks. We obviously get a lot of animals in that haven’t settled in homes and so it requires a lot of patience to care for these animals. We have volunteer dog walkers who understand the needs of the individual dogs. We also have foster families who are invaluable to us as it frees up space for other animals to come into the sanctuary as there is always a long waiting list. Being on a 55-acre site, we also have volunteer gardeners and tree planters, people who paint and tidy the site and more so we need people who want to help, are willing to get stuck in and don’t mind mud! We also have volunteers in our three charity shops so we have a host of opportunities for people who want to volunteer for us.
As donors, they are contributing to the lives of our animals and helping our sanctuary run smoothly. With the cost-of-living crisis, we are feeling it like everyone else with electricity prices, but we have to have heated kennels and a heated cattery to make sure the animals are all well-cared for. Donors play a massive part in helping us care for all our animals – whether they have a Bleakholt membership, donate monthly, buy items in our charity shop or attend our open days. Whether it’s £1 or £100, every little helps!