Scampi was rescued by a kind lady who didn't mind that he was not house trained and adapted to his difficulties. Scampi was rescued from a bad place and was deeply traumatised. Sadly, the kind lady was made homeless. She could find no charity or rescue in the whole of the UK who could help with her with Scampi and his friend Mali.

She found out about Willows and contacted us. We said we'd help and she managed to organise transportation from Manchester to Aberdeenshire! Scampi has settled in really well and loves the Cat Hotel.

Mali, who arrived at Willows with her friend Scampi, was rescued by a kind lady who didn't mind that she was not house trained. The trouble came when the kind lady was made homeless. She could find no charity or rescue in the whole of the UK who would help her with her cats.

She found out about Willows and contacted us. We said we'd help and she managed to organise transportation from Manchester to Aberdeenshire! Mali is the sweetest little cherub you can imagine and has settled in really well and loves the Cat Hotel.

Malone's owner contacted Willows in great distress early one morning. She lives in a small in an inner city flat with Malone. It appears that the trouble had begun when a curtain rail fell down on top of him and badly frightened him. Bizarrely, he seemed to blame his owner for this mishap. Subsequently, he became increasingly aggressive and actually started attacking her! Sometimes, she was driven to hide in the bathroom while he was outside the door trying to get in and attack her further! Malone caused her some nasty injuries which required stitching. Unsurprisingly, she became absolutely terrified of him. Desperate, she contacted her vet who confirmed that the cause of this behaviour was psychological and not pathological. No cat shelter or rehoming centre would consider taking him in and Malone's owner was loath to return to her flat for fear of being savaged further. Her partner eventually found out about the Willows Cat Hotel, contacted us and begged for help. Although we were extremely full, we agreed to help. The same day, they made a four hour long journey to bring him to Willows.

When they arrived, his owner showed us her injuries and we were absolutely horrified at how bad they were. We unloaded Malone safely into quarantine where we are currently treating him with extreme caution! One moment, he can seem friendly and the next he's growling and very angry.

We will update you with his progress, but we are confident that, in a completely new environment, with lots of time, space and freedom, he will come around in the end.

Poor old Marmalade turned up at a garden centre in a busy town. A Good Samaritan handed him into the local vets. His sight is very limited and no one came forward to claim him. We have no idea what had happened to him in his earlier life, but he is most definitely feral and has clearly been through a lot.

He's settling into Willows and we're making sure he gets to lead the best life he can. His Sponsor Pack comes with a lookalike soft toy!

You can see him on YouTube.

In early 2006 Willows Animal Sanctuary received a phone call from a local lady who had bought a pair of donkeys to breed from. They had produced one baby donkey and then both parents had died leaving the little donkey all alone. The loss of her parents and living on her own had left her with severe behavioural problems.

The owner was desperate to find a safe home for her as no one wanted to go in her field as she kicked people as they tried to leave. Willows decided to offer a home to Cookie and placed her near to our other rescued donkeys. Gradually Cookie began to adjust to life at Willows and began making friends with the other residents. Her behaviour has now improved dramatically although she can still be unpredictable at times.

Meet Lupin!

Lupin came to Willows because he had started attacking his family and the whole situation was causing everyone a great deal of distress.

He now lives safely at Willows and is very happy and settled in the Cat Hotel and absolutely loves the outdoors! He's a very affectionate boy and is very keen on climbing any trees he can.

Meet Gem!

Gem and her mother, Precious, were saved from slaughter by a Good Samaritan and she is a very lucky little sheep! She is very cheeky and inquisitive and is very fond of breakfast and snack time!

You can see them both on YouTube.

Mr Jingles had a very difficult life before Coming to Willows. His feet were badly overgrown and he lived all alone in a garden with no friends. His feet were painful for him to walk on and he was very lonely. One day though, his luck changed and he was loaded up into a horse box and brought to Willows! He suddenly had lots of donkey friends and he just couldn’t believe how happy and lucky he felt! We had his feet trimmed by our farrier and he was able to walk freely and be out of pain. He celebrated his first happy Christmas with all his new friends and he’s never looked back!

Bramwell came to Willows as he was otherwise facing the slaughter house. His owner decided that they’d far rather he spend his life at Willows than be killed and he’s lived here happily with his friends ever since!

Ronnie came to Willows after his owner very sadly had to give him and his friends up because they were going through a divorce and they no longer had anywhere to keep them. Ronnie and his friends had clearly been very dear pets and we were glad we could help. He’s a very cute cheeky chap and is always keen to say hi!

Hello, My name is Jacob. I was bought as a pet along with my friend Moses a few years ago. Moses is quite a worried Donkey and he likes to stick close to me! Sadly though, my family divided as there was talk of something called a divorce. We didn’t understand this but it meant we had to be moved on from our home. We were very sad and worried about what would happen to us. After a while, we heard that we were going to somewhere called Willows animal sanctuary to live with lots of other donkeys. We’ve been here for a couple of years now and we really love it, Theres always plenty of hay and a friend to play with! Moses is much braver now and there is a nice lady who comes in to clicker train us. Don’t forget you can make arrangements to come and visit us!

I started out life as a racehorse. Although I was well cared for, I was subjected to great cruelty by my trainer. He decided to teach me a hard lesson when I didn’t understand what I was being asked to do one day. Instead of showing me in a gentle way what he was wanting of me, he got immensely angry and beat me until I was black and blue and I felt as if my spirit was broken. The day came for my first big race and I galloped as hard as I could whilst being lashed with a whip. I gave it my all but I didn’t win. The racing world is a hard and cruel industry and horses that don’t win (or even the ones who do) either go straight to the knackers yard, a sale or the lucky ones go to a rehab charity. Many horses are bought up and sent abroad for slaughter. I was very frightened that this cruel fate would be mine but I was incredibly lucky and I was saved by a very kind lady. She took me home and loved me and I actually started to like people again! But, sadly it wasn’t to last. She became unwell and she said she had found me a kind loaner to care for me and I would be better off. So I was loaded up again and sent away to a new livery yard. When I arrived, I didn’t like it there. I wasn’t allowed in with the other horses and they all looked ill. There was rubbish all over the fields and no stables or shelters. To start with, my new human came up every day to care for me but as the weather got colder her visits started to drop off. My feet became painful as I hadn’t seen a farrier in months and there was no food to speak of. She just seemed to have lost interest in me and I was very lonely and hungry. My rugs were torn and wet and I felt myself becoming weaker. I heard that I was being put up for sale, but I felt so low I no longer cared. A woman came up to view me and I heard her telling my loaner “You will never sell a horse in this kind of state! I’m going to talk to his owner!”

A few days later when the wind was howling and the rain was beating down hard and I was standing alone in the field shivering, I saw a horse box pull up. I was taken over to it and the driver insisted that I should have an appropriate rug put on (My loaner thought my torn and soaked rain sheet was okay for me to travel in!). When I was ready I was loaded up and we set off! Six hours later, we came to a stop and the doors were opened and I stepped out into this wonderful new world! I was led into a nice warm stable with lots of hay and I looked around at all my new friends and I saw lots of contented horses, ponies and donkeys happily munching at their hay with shiny coats and peaceful expressions. A sense of calm came over me as I thought to myself “I’m home now”. After I’d had something to eat, I was groomed, given new rugs and the vet came out to examine me. She said that I needed to gain a lot of weight and left a gentle wormer for me and treated me for lice. The Farrier then came out and made my feet much more comfortable. People were constantly popping in and giving me pats and reassurance and telling me that the worst was now over and the best of it is, I believe them!

A few weeks later, I felt strong enough to have a good gallop across the field! As I tore across the field with the wind in my mane and my new friends by side I felt something mend that had long been broken - my spirit!

My name is Angel and this is my story. I was orphaned as a lamb and my owners bottle fed me. Things weren’t too bad, it was summer and I had lots of friends. When winter came, my owners placed me and my friend out in a field and pretty much forgot about us. We had little water or food and the grass wasn’t up to much. One day when I was looking for food, I punctured my eye on an old piece of wire that had been left lying around. The pain was so bad and I felt so ill. I waited for help but weeks passed and none came. My eye was now very badly infected and the infection had started to track down my face.

Christmas came and went and I was feeling so terribly ill and with battling the cold winter I had started to give up on life. My friend disappeared, I didn’t know where she went and I was all alone. Then suddenly, this lady leapt over the fence and scooped me up! I was so weak I didn’t put up much of a fight. She carried me into her shed and put me on a warm bed of shavings and put a heat lamp on me. She told me that she had seen how unwell I looked and that she couldn’t leave me where I was. She’d asked my owners if she could take me and they’d said yes! She called out a vet that night who said my eye had gone past the point of being saved and I would have to have it removed. I was also dehydrated and I had chronic pneumonia. He gave me lots of injections and left lots medicine for me to have.

The next day, the lady who rescued me took me to Willows Animal Sanctuary and I was given a lovely stable bedded with golden straw and there were friends in the stall next to me. A few weeks later, when I was stronger, I had the operation to remove my eye. I felt a lot better after it was removed as it was causing me great pain. I am all recovered now! I just love the people who look after me, I get lots of fuss and scratches on a daily basis and my tummy is always full! I know now that I am loved and safe forever and I will never be forgotten or neglected again.

Love Angel xxx

Jack came to Willows aged 6 in 2013 when his owner desperately needed somewhere for him to go. His owners had tried to break him for riding but Jack had become dangerous and started throwing off his riders. It was decided that he was too dangerous and things looked very uncertain for him but fortunately we had a space and we took him in. As soon as he settled in, we had our Vet and Physio check him over and it turned out that Jack had a kissing spine (horses with this condition feel constant pain because sections of bone attached to the vertebrae are too close together and impinge on each other) and this is what would have been causing his dangerous behaviour. He was in terrific pain and he wasn’t able to express it in any other way. We were advised that the best path for him was to be retired and he’s been very happy ever since. Jack is an absolute sweetheart and loves being around people and is now part of the animal - assisted therapy unit.

In 2013 Willows rescued a group of six donkeys, (two of which were pregnant) and a beautiful mule! This was quite a dramatic rescue for us and also very costly. As a result of a marriage breakup the donkeys had been placed in an inaccessible field and were left without shelter or food and one donkey (Lady) had already lost her foal and had untreated mastitis. Hearing that another donkey was about to produce a foal which would be born into a muddy field the plight of these innocent animals touched our hearts and we felt we had to help them. When they arrived we could see that they all had neglected feet and were covered in lice. We immediately called our vet and barefoot trimmer and quickly made them as comfortable as possible. We are delighted to say that Molly produced a beautiful colt foal (we have named him Robin) and she and Lady share the task of looking after him!

Emily had been a popular horse at a local riding school. She’s worked very hard in her life and has given confidence to lots of riders and she even did some show jumping! She was also used in the RDA (Riding for the disabled) and her splendid temperament was invaluable to them. The riding school closed down as Emily was getting older, they felt she deserved a good long retirement as she wasn’t up to much work anymore. When her owners asked if she could retire to Willows, we fortunately had a space and we were delighted to accept her! Emily has a beautiful, gentle temperament and she has been fantastic addition to the AAT unit. She loves being groomed and all the attention she receives from everyone and she will spend her last years here, grazing happily with her close friends.