Hornchurch pet rescue centre faces closure
RESCUED pets like Legs, Dotty and Bob could be put to sleep if their over-worked rescue centre is closed by spiralling debt, volunteers claim.
Hornchurch Pet Services is being swamped with large numbers of pets being made homeless as evictions in Havering grow in the recession.
And now unpaid veterinary bills totalling �1,000 are pushing the vital operation, which started 18 months ago, to the brink of closure.
Donna Evans, who set up the charity, is urging animal lovers everywhere to organise charity events and do street collections to help raise funds to keep it going and save lives.
She said: “We are getting calls every day from people asking us to house their pets and saying they’ve have tried everywhere. So most of them would just be put to sleep if we didn’t help.”
You may also want to watch:
The service is currently looking after around 30 unwanted and often badly treated pets, from dogs, cats and gerbils to a hamster found in Romford market, many of them are kept in temporary accomodation by volunteers.
But when one gets re-housed at least another two are queuing up waiting to be rescued and costs and the case-load is mounting.
Most Read
- 1 Mick Norcross, The Only Way Is Essex star, has died aged 57
- 2 Queen's and King George hospitals appeal for volunteers to support end of life patients
- 3 'A tax on relationships': Politicians criticise boundary charge proposal
- 4 Harvey, 7, died after electric shock 'flowed through his body', court hears
- 5 'My life lit up': Councillor's joy at reuniting with daughter after more than 30 years
- 6 Council report reveals concern that borough's Covid vaccination drive may be held back
- 7 Police appeal after second fatal Rainham collision in less than a week
- 8 Queen's and King George hospitals reach 10,000 vaccinated milestone
- 9 Council campaign calls on residents to take up Covid vaccine
- 10 Havering parks and gardens five feet under water as rivers burst their banks
Donna said: “We had a call saying there 15 dogs in a pound that are going to be put down and everyone was just running around trying to find places for them.
“It is really bad at the moment with people losing their houses and calling us up and saying they have to give up the pets”
Donna urges people to adopt rather than buy a puppy for Christmas and says the centre also needs volunteers to temporarily house the animals while a permanent home is found.
A recent effort to save a malnourished cat called Twinkle ended with her dying and the charity being left with a �400 bill.
She added: “We’ve started a campaign encouraging people to subscribe just �2 per month to sponsor our longer term residents. The details are on our website and Facebook page, which has over 1,500 supporters. We started a Facebook group pushing for a nationwide ad campaign to make the public aware of how disastrous the situation is.”
