Rescued Animals...

These are just a very few of the thousands of animals, birds and reptiles that have been helped by Willows in the past. Please consider helping this important work to continue.

 
dixie Willows Patron, Michael Romeling, made an emergency trip up from Wales to bring a badly neglected collie dog to the sanctuary. Michael had been unable to find help for Dixie anywhere else and when we learned of his plight we agreed to take him in. He is at present under veterinary assessment as he has various health issues but we hope to soon be able to find him a loving new home. Update 14th August we have a wonderful new home for Dixie!

Mary had been abandoned when a leg injury prevented her from loading onto a lorry with the rest of her flock. Her callous owner simply left her alone in the snow to fend for herself. Luckily some kind people became aware of her plight and gave her food and water and eventually brought her out to Willows to join our flock of rescued sheep.

 
Toots (aged 15) is one of a pair of elderly cats we accepted recently. Her owner had just died
and his family said that they were unable to look after them and the keys to their home were
due to be handed in! The national charities had been approached but they had been unable to
help. Toots and Tiggy were brought to the sanctuary and have quickly adapted to their new life at Willows.
Jim is a 6 year old collie whose owner said that as he was no longer useful as a sheepdog he would be destroyed unless we took him in. How could we refuse? Even though he had spent most of his life chained up he quickly learned to cope with all the new experiences at Willows and we were soon able to find him a loving, permanent new home
  Dougal is a young Shetland pony who has had a very traumatic start to his life. He was rejected by his mother and bottle fed. He later collapsed and almost died because he was not receiving adequate nutrition. As a result he is very small for his age. His previous owner contacted Willows and asked if we would take in Dougal and his half brother Zebedee as she was recently diagnosed with a serious illness and was now too ill to look after them properly. At the moment both ponies will remain at Willows until they have been gelded and then they will be assessed as to their suitability for adoption.
Toby is a beautiful Highland x Arab Pony who was diagnosed with the degenerative eye disease uveitis and was found to be virtually blind. This diagnosis meant that Toby could not stay at his current home at a riding school and his owners launched an appeal to find him a new home. A friend of the owner approached Willows and we were delighted to be able to offer him a permanent home - and he quickly settled in.
Neville is a gentle and loving black cat who found himself very down on his luck. He had been rescued by another charity and re-homed with people who promised to look after him. However his new owners abandoned him and Neville finding himself homeless took shelter in a hole in the wall of a local police station. Luckily some kind people rescued him and brought him to Willows.
This is a photo of an elderly cat (aged 20) named Cheeky who although a much loved pet was booked into the vets to be put to sleep as his elderly owner could no longer cope with Cheeky failing to be housetrained. Willows received an urgent call to the effect that unless we could take him he had a final appointment with the vet in 20 minutes time. Of course we agreed to take him and can now report that he is happily settled at the sanctuary and has made friends with the other residents and rushes to greet visitors.
In June 1999 Willows received an urgent phone call asking if we could provide a home for Lucky. Life had been fine for Lucky until his owner had agreed to place him on loan with someone who failed to take proper care of him. When his owner became aware of Lucky’s plight she took urgent action to take him back and find somewhere safe for him to live.
When Lucky arrived here he was in a very poor state. He was utterly emaciated and crawling with lice, which had caused all his hair to fall out. Our vet said that without prompt action he would only have a few days to live. First we deloused him and then started him on tiny amounts of food every hour, which we gradually built up to 6 meals a day. As he became stronger we decided to worm him. The vet had estimated that Lucky had already lost half his normal body weight and when we did worm him he became even thinner. However with lots of loving care Lucky did eventually make a full recovery. He lived for eight more happy years!
Willows recently received a frantic call from a girl who had found a tiny newly born kitten. The kitten was soaking wet and very cold. Our manager went out to collect the little soul and set about the very difficult task of hand rearing him. New born kittens have to be bottle fed with special milk every two hours at first. They must also be helped to urinate by gentle wiping of their abdomen with moist cotton wool. Luckily the kitten survived and has now been adopted into a very loving home.
Sid arrived at Willows in 2006. He had been a riding school horse and when he began to buck riders off it was discovered that he had a broken pelvis. Sid had then been left out in a field over winter without a rug or any hard feed. His feet were overgrown and causing him pain. We called our vet and farrier out as soon as he arrived and they were both shocked to see a horse in such a condition Sid is a lovely gentle boy and is really enjoying his well deserved retirement here at Willows.
Poppy arrived one Sunday afternoon with people who claimed that she had been abandoned in their garden. As they were flying to England they had been trying to find someone to take her in. She was about three months old and very unsure about what was happening. Willows checked locally and discovered that she had been passed around by several people and already had had five homes. We decided that Poppy should be adopted by the Sanctuary and be given a permanent home with the two other rescued dogs here. She quickly made herself at home and is particularly keen on spending her winter evenings lying in front of the fire!
This is Arthur a young cat who had been left in a box inside a black bag with his sister in the middle of a wood. Although they had managed to dig their way out they didn’t know where to go so they just lived off the rest of the rubbish around. Luckily a woman walking her dog found them and alerted us to their plight. We managed to trap them and they are both in the process of getting rehabilitated. Already they are learning that some humans can be trusted. Willows will ensure that no harm will come to these sweet little cats again.
William, a young Labrador dog had been badly abused. He had actually been thrown through a window and was locked in a house and left to live in his own excrement for nearly a year! Willows managed to get his owner to sign him over to the charity and began the difficult task of rehabilitating a very nervous and aggressive dog. We are now happy to report that we have found a wonderful home for William where he will be loved and looked after properly.
Archimedes is an Orange Winged Amazon Parrot who arrived at the sanctuary in a very disturbed state. He had been badly abused for 12 years. He was confined to a filthy cage which was too small for him to spread his wings and he had been constantly teased with the result that he screamed whenever he saw people. After 18 months rehabilitation we are happy to say that he is now a very different bird who has a very loving home with other birds and he has learned to fly and enjoy his freedom!
Dusky is a pony who came to Willows because he was diagnosed as having an allergy to grass and his owners were unable to keep him.
This is Mrs Cat (MC) a very sweet cat who had been kept at a cat rescue centre in a cage for two years. She arrived at Willows in a very traumatised state but after lots of TLC she recovered from her long ordeal and now is able to enjoy a life of freedom at the sanctuary.
Early one morning a passing motorist alerted the Willows staff to the plight of an injured piglet which was on the road just outside the sanctuary. It appeared that the little piglet had fallen from a lorry and been hit by a passing car. We managed to catch her and establish that she needed urgent veterinary attention. Babe needed many stitches in the wounds on her back but Babe quickly recovered and soon began to adapt to her new life. Everyone has been amazed that Babe managed to arrive just outside an animal sanctuary – all by herself. She has aroused much attention from newspapers radio and TV and loves all the fuss she receives from visitors. Babe is very lucky and will be able to live out a long and happy life at Willows and avoid the fate of other less fortunate pigs.
   

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