Latest news with #OakTreeAnimalsCharity
BBC News
26-07-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Wetheral Oak Tree animal shelter faces months of post-flood work
An animal charity said it has months of work ahead to fix its drainage system after flash flooding hit its Tree Animals' Charity in Wetheral, near Carlisle, had to move out about 20 cats and dogs after heavy rainfall last the clean-up operation begins, staff are finding out the extent of the damage and what needs to be done to prevent it happening again."Our drainage system has taken a real hit, it's full of all the sediment, so having to repair that is the big challenge," said Matt Notter, CEO at the charity. One of the kennel blocks will have to remain closed for the foreseeable future, but Mr Notter said all the animals in their care were safe, with some having moved to different dry spaces and others placed in foster homes or taken home by said: "We're surviving, we're managing, but I'd say the big impact is we've had to stop and delay some of the intake of some of the animals, so people waiting to bring animals in that need our help." He added other charities had reached out to support the shelter, but he was disappointed to have to slow down on new arrivals."We are finding as many ways as we can to overcome that."We're looking for more and more foster carers if anyone is interested in applying - that's a big help right now."An online appeal raised more than £24,000 in just three days, with cash donations and items also being handed by the community."We don't know the grand total yet, but it's a lot and we're obviously very grateful," Mr Notter said. "It won't cover all of the damage, [which] is more than that value once you start having to dig up things to fix drains."It starts to rack up very quickly."He added the shelter was hoping to receive support from a drainage or construction company to lend machinery or their the meantime, he said the prospect of another flood was his main concern."We're worried about anything happening overnight at the moment. "The animals are all in a place that didn't flood so we should be fine, but we're still worrying." Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
20-07-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Flood causes 'chaos' for Wetheral animal charity
Flooding has caused "chaos" at an animal charity, with dozens of cats and dogs having to be moved to rainfall at Wetheral, near Carlisle, on Saturday saw staff at the Oak Tree Animals' Charity rush to clear kennels and the no pets were harmed, bedding, equipment and food has been online fundraising appeal set up by the organisation has so far raised more than £12,500. The group's Matt Notter said "the skies just opened up" around lunchtime with staff rushing to use water pumps normally intended to fill the site's of the animals went to foster homes, with others being taken home by workers. "We've not seen rain like it before," he explained. "Within 10 or 15 minutes the place was flooded."It came rushing into our reception area and tearoom building first, then it started to fill down at the kennels."We had to move the dogs in the lower kennel block, the cattery was flooding. It was chaos."We managed to keep most of the water out of our stable yard, but the kennel kitchen where food is prepared is ruined."Mr Notter, whose on-site house was also flooded, estimated it would take "a few months for everything to be as it was" with "a lot of rebuilding to do".More than 600 people have so far contributed to the fundraising appeal with donations to be used to replace supplies and repair damage. Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
08-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Carlisle animal charity doubles rehoming of cats and dogs
Charity doubles rehoming of cats and dogs Oak Tree has rehomed 101 cats and dogs in the first four months of the year An animal charity which has seen its pet rehoming numbers double said it was prompted to take action after feedback from potential owners on adoption challenges. Oak Tree Animals' Charity, based near Carlisle, said adoptions of cats and dogs increased to 101 in the first four months of 2025, up from 50 in the same period last year. It said it had overhauled the way it handles adoptions, with animals now rehomed in as little as one or two weeks rather than the average of three months. Debbie Wicks, from the charity, said: "Unfortunately we were getting a bit of negative feedback from the community that it was too hard to try and adopt, so we've brought in speeded-up procedures."
