Hundreds of animals face being killed rather than cured if a rescue service fails to prevent a looming financial disaster.

Worthing and District Animal Rescue Service (Wadars), which suffered losses of more than £200,000 in the last financial year, could be put out of business by 2007.

Animals which are currently saved by its staff would have to be put down if other rescue charities in the area could not shoulder the extra burden.

Wadars, which began life in 1969 as a one-man service, provides professional support for a host of different animals and birds which are injured or unwanted.

Last year, it spent almost £50,000 on vet bills and £20,000 on donations to other animal charities who took in its animals.

The Wadars 2002 annual report stated it had a total operating loss of £100,000, which was doubled by a fall in the value of its stock market shares.

Chief animal rescue officer Billy Elliott told how a drop in legacies, investment losses and mounting running costs worried the charity's organisers.

It was a Catch-22 situation because Wadar had to raise its profile to attract more legacies but the greater exposure increased running costs as more users were attracted.

He said: "Any injured wildlife is taken to the vets in Worthing and we collect and treat it. The vets appreciate the fact we are here.

"Recently, I had a call from Grove Lodge vets who had a cat that had been hit by a car and had a broken pelvis, which would cost £700 to repair.

"Ten minutes later, we had a similar situation where owners couldn't afford to pay to have their cat's broken leg repaired and were facing the decision to have it put it to sleep. It was going to cost £300 to fix it. Two calls and we were spending £1,000.

"The high operating loss comes from two reasons. First, the Canine Defence League virtually had to close operations for the majority of last year because it was having its kennels refurbished. That meant we had a lot more dogs than in previous years.

"Second, we have a policy of neutering, vaccinating, fleaing, worming, insuring and micro-chipping and it costs a lot."

Last year, Wadars rehoused 428 cats, 120 dogs, 20 rabbits and guinea pigs and rescued 900 assorted wildlife, including birds of prey, hedgehogs and squirrels.

Mr Elliott said: "We try and provide the most professional service we can and have five people responding to 60 calls a day. If we try to cut back, animals and birds would suffer. We're trying to improve our service but it is extremely difficult to look at ways of cutting costs."

Wadars chairman Patrick Formoy said: "We have to support other animal charities we work with. When we take them an animal we have picked up, we do not expect them to treat it for nothing.

"At the moment, we have got time to take action but it could turn to disaster if the right things do not happen."

To make a donation to Wadars, phone 01903 200506 or write to 33 West Buildings, Worthing.