Animal rescue service in funding plea (From The Argus)

Animal rescue service in funding plea

1:17pm Thursday 3rd April 2008 in News

Animal rescuers have made a public appeal for donations to help them survive the busy spring and summer season.

The East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service (WRAS) needs £70,000 a year to respond to emergency call outs and pay vets' bills.

The wildlife charity has already been called out to more than 500 incidents in 2008 - around 200 more than this time last year, which concerns founder Trevor Weeks.

He said: "This increase worries me as our expenses are increasing as a result. We need as many people as possible to help fund our cause before we get too far into the busy spring and summer season or we will find it hard to survive."

The WRAS currently takes around ten calls a day which can rise to 50 in the spring and summer due to greater numbers of orphaned fox cubs and baby birds flying into windows and car windscreens.

Mr Weeks said: "More people are calling us as people know we normally act quickly and we have rescuers on site within 30 minutes of receiving most emergency calls. People also call us because they say no-one else is interested and they won't help.

"It would be really good if a company could sponsor the expenses of keeping our ambulances on the road, our veterinary bills or even paying our phone bill. There are plenty of opportunities for fundraising and promotional work for companies and their staff."

To make a donation visit www.wildlifeambulance.org.