Today our Advent Calendar window opens to support our wonderful friends at Animals In Need and to let you know about Northamptonshire’s biggest ever dog walk (more about this later). Animals in Need are an organisation dedicated to rescuing sick, injured, trapped and distressed wild and domestic animals. They provide veterinary treatment where necessary, care for and rehabilitate animals until they can be released or re-homed. Animals In Need was set up in 1990, the aim of the organization is alleviate suffering in animals.
The animal Shelter is at Pine Tree Farm, London Road, Little Irchester, Northamptonshire, NN8 2EH and is open to the public between 12 midday and 3pm Tuesday to Sunday. It is run by 8 members of staff and a team of volunteers at Pine Tree Farm and out attending to both domestic and wild animals in the Northamptonshire area. They also work with Northamptonshire Police attending road traffic accidents and out of hours emergencies. Here founder of Animals in Need, Roy Marriott, tells us about the charity with a rescued pig, Ruby:
Feeding and caring for the injured animals they rescue is most important especially in cases of young orphaned birds, which need hand feeding every hour from dawn till dusk. Also young hedgehogs which haven’t reached the required weight to survive hibernation over the winter months, need to be kept warm and fed as do swans that have incurred injuries, many from fishing tackle that they have swallowed or become entangled in.
The BIG Christmas Dog Walk for Animals In Need
Join in a magical dog walk around the beautiful Bradlaugh Fields in Northampton, Santa may even make an appearance! The walk is free to attend, but any donations to support the amazing work of Animals In Need will be greatly appreciated during the walk. Arrive from 10 am, the guided walk begins at 10:30 am. No need to register, just turn up!
Bradlaugh Fields is a 60 hectare open space in Northampton. The site is a former golf course. In 1987 it was proposed to build housing on the site, but after a campaign by local residents it was acquired by Northampton Borough Council and opened as a wildlife park in 1998.
The walk will take approximately one hour and you can cut the walk short if you need to for any reason as they criss-cross and explore the fields. They are expecting over 150 dogs at this annual favourite, making this Northamptonshire’s biggest ever dog walk! All dogs in attendance must be on-lead and sociable! Refreshments are available from the Bradlaugh Fields Barn following the walk!
Support Animals in Need
The shelter has a vegan cafe which is open 11:00 until 4:00 Saturday and Sunday. Pop in for some wonderful vegan food, breakfasts, toasty, shepherds pie, mac n cheese, or beyond burger with chips. There are incredible cakes from Motley bakes plus sweets and chocolate. All funds raised support the animals in there care. Hand sanitiser, masks and gloves are all available.
Every year they try to give all of the animals at Animals in Need a Christmas gift. They have a fundraising stall at Morrisons supermarket in Wellingborough on Saturday, Sunday and Monday for donations. Please consider a gift for an unwanted animal while you are Christmas shopping. You can also donate gifts at the sanctuary or at their charity shop.
The charity shop is at 89 Lea Red, Abington, Northampton. It is open 9am until 5pm Monday to Saturday but closed on Sundays. Why not pop in and grab a Christmas bargain whilst raising vital funds for the animals at the shelter. If you don’t like shopping, and even worse leave everything to the last minute, why not surprise your friends and family with an animal sponsorship, details can be found and more at http://animals-in-need.org