Thornberry Animal Sanctuary were shocked when, last week, their food for the animals ran out completely due to a lack of donations.
The animal shelter based in Anston, relies heavily on donations to feed the 20 dogs, 30 cats and 20 small animals they look after.
“We’ve been struggling with kitten food since the end of August” says Courtney Berry, Cattery Manager at the sanctuary.
“We’ve had a sheer amount of kittens in and we just couldn’t match the volume in food. With the winter months coming in we’re not getting as many donations and it’s hard for everyone. Especially due to the cost-of-living crisis,” she continued.
“We’re a very close-knit team here and all of the animals we have in our care are classed as our own. We try our utmost best for every animal and always do what’s best for their welfare.”
Anna Richardson, 28, from Sheffield, was heartbroken when she found out, as she’d adopted her cat, Indy, from Thornberry back in 2018.
“Me and my husband looked at each other and thought, what can we do? I put a post on Facebook at 9am the following morning and then by the time we left our house at 11am, I’d raised £200,” explained Anna.
“With the cost of everything going up, everyone’s trying to help themselves before they can help other people and unfortunately it’s charities doing amazing work that are being forgotten about,” she continued.
“Even taking into account all of the donations they received in the last week alone, it’s probably not even enough to see them through Christmas.I would encourage people to do anything they can, even if that’s donating one box of supermarket brand cat food.”
To her surprise, after dropping off a trolley load of donations at Thornberry, Anna ended up coming home with a new furry friend called Myrtle.
Cat litter, cat and kitten food are the main item’s they’re “always desperate for.” You can also donate puppy food and shavings, hay and fresh food for the small animals.
Find out more about Thornberry and how you can support them or adopt an animal here.
