As Christmas gets closer with each passing day, a message that needs to be reminded to families is the all-important one that a dog is for life not just for Christmas, coming off the back of the COVID-19 pandemic where an estimated 3.2 million UK households purchased a pet.
Tragically, despite the rising numbers of pets finding new homes during this period, charity Dogs Trust recently announced that they received a 35% increase in calls related to giving up dogs which they welcomed into their home from lockdown.
In Herne Bay, the New Hope Animal Rescue Sanctuary is a rescue dedicated to saving animals on death row and CommunityAd spoke to founders Niall and Steph Trish McMorran about their wonderful centre…
Can you inform readers of how you first started and the difficulties you faced along the way?
As the founders, we have both always had a natural affinity with animals and have been rescuing since a young age. New Hope began as a rescue dedicated to saving animals on death row or those in immediate danger due to medical or behavioural issues. As the years went by, we found we had become a sanctuary to many other species of animals.
Our ever-expanding sanctuary forced us to relocate from London to a 12-acre farm in Kent! After selling our property, sticking with our full-time jobs and, most importantly, the amazing generosity of our supporters we were able to purchase the land needed to open our doors to the many farm animals needing sanctuary.
We are now home to pigs, cows, horses, chickens, turkeys, birds of all shapes and sizes, goats and sheep, dogs and cats, fish and assist wildlife wherever we can.
Can you explain what your ethics and passions are?
New Hope Animal Rescue is a Vegan run sanctuary that believes ALL animals deserve to live out their lives happy and free from exploitation.
We do sometimes have information within some of our social media posts to help our supporters understand our stance on animal rights and Veganism. For example, when we have taken chicks from schools and organisations that partake in the Living Egg Project, when we take orphaned fox cubs where their mothers have been killed due to hunting or ‘pest’ control, animals destined for slaughter that other rescuers have saved, the problems with live exports, to name a few.
You will see from our social media, we don’t focus on such things but at certain times we feel others may wish to be enlightened as to what has happened for that animal to come into our care.
Our overall drive and passion is to help animals, and in turn people, most in need of assistance.
What would you say have been the most rewarding experiences you have experienced at New Hope Animal Rescue?
The work is very challenging at times and you rarely get a break but the reward is simple; to be able to help an animal in need and turn their life around.
To be able to provide a safe home, provide vital treatment where it would otherwise not be given, to help people complete their family with a pet and to educate people to help animals are all rewarding factors of what we do.
Is there any advice you can give to pet owners that could decrease the likelihood of animals being put on death row?
We would always suggest that if someone is looking to share their life with animals, then think long and hard before taking this responsibility. When you are an animal ‘guardian’ you need to be committed for the natural lifetime of the animal.
Adopt don’t shop! Too many people these days are buying animals from social media and selling sites, just from a photograph, because they want an animal and they want it now. Sadly now, there are many ‘back yard breeders’, puppy farms and imported animals. Many of these animals may not even be the age, have the behaviour traits or the good health that buyers were expecting. These animals are often very ill and, in some cases, die shortly after purchase or have genetic problems from inbreeding. All ending up with costly vets bills. Again, these are animals where smaller rescues have to pick up the pieces as the breeder or buyer has not thought their commitment through.
There is every type of animal in rescue but sometimes you have to be willing to wait a while longer if you are more specific with what you are looking for. Take advice from the rescue centres as sometimes your lifestyle or family may not be suitable for the animal you want to adopt. They have more experience and could suggest the perfect animal for you. Different rescues have different criteria for adoptions. Many DO adopt to people with children, or that live in flats, or are older, etc. so don’t give up.
Caring properly for any animal is hard work. You will get back what you put in. You must also be aware of the financial implications too and animals get ill like we do and also when they are older, they will often need more care and time.
A few years ago, holiday times and pre-Christmas were always the busiest times of the year for most rescues. At holiday times, the luckier animals would be dumped or relinquished as people wouldn’t want to pay for boarding. The pre-Christmas problem would mainly be with middle-aged/older animals and/or those with behavioural issues or ill health, as people would want rid to make way for a younger animal.
Again sadly, no thought is given to where those animals will end up and what will happen to them.
How difficult have the past 19 months for you been through COVID-19?
To be honest, we are still not ‘out of the woods’ and not sure when we will be. We have quite a few animals now that people bought during the lockdown. They have been relinquished to us as they were no longer wanted, have medical issues or were ‘too much of a nuisance’ or ‘circumstances have changed’. Many are still young animals that would have been ‘put to sleep’. Many have not been walked, socialised, trained, have fear of strangers, not been fed the correct food, not had any vet care – well, the list goes on. A few of the animals have needed thousands of pounds worth of vet care which was why they were relinquished.
We also lost a lot of donations as some of our supporters raise funds for us with boot sales, stalls, sponsored events, auctions, fundraising events and the selling of donated items.
I do believe we are only at the tip of the iceberg with regards to the problems we are going to be facing.
If a reader would like to enquire about volunteering and donating, how would they go about it?
We are looking for volunteers at our Herne Bay site. It is hard work, especially now the weather is colder. Please see our Facebook @NHARescue for more info.
As we are a self-funded sanctuary and rescue, we do rely on donations and fundraisers from our kind supporters and are always incredibly grateful.
For those wishing to make a donation New Hope Bank details are;
Lloyd’s TSB
New Hope Animal Rescue
30-93-60
36234768
We also have some New Hope Animal Rescue merchandise where we receive all profits and which can be purchased here.
Do you have a 5-10-year goal for New Hope Animal Rescue?
We hope to keep doing what we do and to be able to expand in order to help as many as we can. Growth is important to us as an organisation, as the growth in the need for the work we do continues to steadily rise.
Find out more about how to support the wonderful New Hope Animal Rescue by visiting their Facebook @NHARescue or website.
Originally published on Page 20 of Herne Bay CommunityAd Magazine, Winter 2021 – Issue 27