7th Heaven Animal
Rescue Trust
All creatures great & small, 7th Heaven's gates are open to them all
2009/10 Annual Review
7th Heaven Animal Rescue Trust - Annual Review 2009-2010
7th Heaven has continued to be inundated with calls to help the unwanted or abandoned animals throughout
Animals Re-homed: Cats / kittens – 124; Dogs / pups – 18; Guinea Pigs - 3
Animals came in for many reasons: people becoming pregnant, moving house, dying, animals becoming pregnant, or for some, they were just fed up with them. There has also been a dramatic increase in people giving up their animals because they either cannot afford to or are unwilling to treat their ill animals, despite the PDSA charity offering treatment for many people on low income. Unfortunately in
Neutering: Cats – 97 ; Dogs – 7; Feral - 21
Ensuring animals rescued by 7th Heaven get neutered remains vitally important; to help reduce the stray population and prevent unwanted litters. We are committed to educating the public on the benefits. When it may be already too late, we will take in and care for the pregnant animal, permit them to nurture their young until fully weaned, neuter mum and cover the cost of her off-spring at the appropriate time, usually at about 6 months.
Finance
A full breakdown of our 2009/10 accounts can be requested from us. Here are details:
Income raised £7,487.45 - Expenses £13,413.79=Balance - £5926.34; Carried forward:£79090.58; Funds at 31.3.2010: £73,787.37
Our 4 major bills this year were: vet bills / treatments, equipment costs, animal supplies and planning application:
- Vet costs included all neutering, vaccination costs, holistic treatments, nosode treatments and 21 ill animals requiring extra emergency or ongoing treatment.
- We are still carrying out important repairs & refurbishment, whilst providing more items to keep the animals active and in comfort.
- Food and litter remain a high expenditure, but we are helped with generous donations from supporters, customers/staff at Jollyes, Pet Warehouse, Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores
- The planning application has been submitted and we are awaiting the outcome of this.
Friendship Scheme
We have now got 31 Friends who either have joined or continue to support our charity. Most make monthly donations and many have let us reclaim extra money from Revenue & Customs through the Gift Aid Scheme at no cost to them.
Newsletter
We continue to find new outlets for circulation. In addition to providing interesting tales of animals we have rescued and re-homed, we use this as an education tool to help owners with problems such as cat illnesses and provide nutritional and holistic tips.
Website
We completed a major re-vamp of our website this year and are continuing to develop this. We hope you enjoy it. We made more videos about animals in our care and those already re-homed. These can be viewed on our website & our You Tube charity page.
E- Bay
Our E-Bay charity page is very popular, with people worldwide selling items and donating some or all the profits to 7th Heaven. Supporters have raised £374.87 this year.
Future Aims
- To continue to provide animals free of charge, cover the cost of their neutering and try to find them the best possible homes.
- To continue in a more holistic approach to treating and caring for our animals. We have been trying various treatments and feeding regimes using nutritional supplements to prevent & treat some common illnesses & ailments, whilst trying to improve the overall health of all the animals with us. We are finding this is very successful and beneficial for the animals. We will continue to expand our own and others’ knowledge in this area.
- We are aiming to expand the number of dogs we rescue. Our current facilities can only home a few up to now, but we are currently raising funds to help increase the numbers we can take in and help re-home.
- To continue to rescue and re-home as many animals as we can, highlight the plight of animals and encourage love and compassion towards them at every opportunity.
Thanks
We are very grateful to our volunteers who have helped us in many ways, from fostering animals until we can take them in, to helping at our events. We would also like to thank the public who have donated funds, food, blankets, papers for the direct benefit of the animals we look after. Thank you to everyone who donated items such as stamps, broken gold, jewelry to sell or anyone who supported our charity in any way. Thanks to all the good Samaritans out there who did not look the other way but contacted us when they found a lost, ill or abandoned animal and many who provided a shelter for them until we could find room to take them in or a new home. And most importantly, thank you to everyone who has offered each of our rescue animals a caring home, a fresh start and a loving home.
2008/09 Annual Review
With
Animals Re-homed
Rescued & homed: Home to Home:
Cats / kittens – 125; Dogs / pups – 2; Guinea Pigs - 2 Dogs - 2
Animals came into us for various reasons – people becoming pregnant, moving house, dying, animals becoming pregnant or they were just fed up with them. Most people prefer kittens or pups so it is harder to get an adult a home. We only have one long term animal because he has cancer; all our other long term animals have been found homes. The numbers we have rehomed this year have been affected by the uncertainty over planning issues and how it would affect the temporary accommodation our fosterers provide. We are much more hopeful that this can be concluded satisfactorily for our charity, but remain concerned at the wider affect that this decision will have on other charities, animal lovers and the public in general who provide support from their own home.
Neutering
Ensuring our animals get neutered is vitally important and encouraging others to get their animals neutered is part of 7th Heaven's education policy. Here are last year's neutering figures:
Cats – Female - 86; Male – 56; Total 142
Thanks to Cats Protection, we continue to be able to provide free neutering for cats. This has helped us continue our help to the necessary neutering of stray or feral cats so preventing unwanted litters.
Finance
A full breakdown of our 2008/09 accounts can be requested from us. Here is an overview:
Income raised £8,539.93 less Expenses £10,014.57 = Balance - £1,474.64
Grant: Sainsbury Trust-£5,000.00 to help with the vet costs; Donation from Will: Mrs.Greeves-£5,000.00; Net Interest: £2,463.00
Funds carried forward from previous year: £68,102.37; Funds available at 31.3.2009: £79,090.73
Mrs.Greeve’s generous donation to our charity in her will also means that we will be able to fully refurbish and expand their temporary accommodation.
Our 3 major bills this year were: vet bills, equipment costs and animal supplies:
- Vet costs included 172 vaccinations and several ill kittens and cats that required extra emergency or ongoing treatment.
- We are carrying out important repairs & refurbishment, whilst providing more items to keep them active and stimulated.
- We are helped by Jollyes staff and their customers in Glengormley, who regularly donate food.
Friendship Scheme
We have now got 34 Friends who either have joined or continue to support our charity. Several make monthly donations and many have let us reclaim extra money from Revenue & Customs through the Gift Aid Scheme at no cost to them.
Sponsorship
We have 2 people who help us through sponsoring a kennel. This costs £50 per year and helps to provide new bedding & furniture, regular renewal of litter trays, feeding bowls, toys etc
Newsletter
We continue to find new outlets for circulation. In addition to providing updates and interesting tales of animals we have rescued and re-homed, we continue to use this as an education tool to provide topical problems such as cat illnesses.
Website
Keith Taylor, our volunteer helping us with this, has continued to provide us with invaluable support. We have made videos about animals in our care and about the charity. These can be viewed on our website and our You Tube charity page.
E- Bay
Our E-Bay charity page is proving very popular, with people worldwide selling items and donating some or all the profits to 7th Heaven. We have used it to sell donated items and it is proving to be very useful in raising funds on a regular basis.
Events
We raised funds through craft fairs, street collections, Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s store collections. All have been used to highlight the animals requiring new homes.
Future Aims
We realise we have high expectations, but are aims are to;
- Continue to provide animals free of charge, cover the cost of their neutering and try to find them the best possible homes.
- Our charity has started a more holistic approach to treating and caring for our animals. We are trying various treatments and feeding regime using nutritional supplements to prevent & treat some common illnesses & ailments, whilst trying to improve the overall health of all the animals with us.
- We know it is not physically possible to rescue every animal we are contacted about. When we can’t, we will try to help advertise animals for those who contacted us and keep a list for those that will be taken in when space becomes available.
- Highlight the plight of animals and encourage compassion towards them at every opportunity.
Thanks
We are very grateful to our volunteers who have helped us in many ways, from fostering animals until we can take them in, to helping at our events. We would also like to thank the public who have donated funds, food or items to sell or supported our charity in any way. Thanks to all the good Samaritans out there who did not look the other way but contacted us when they found a lost, ill or abandoned animal and many who provided a shelter for them until we could find room to take them in or a new home. And most importantly, thank you to everyone who has offered each of our rescue animals a caring home, a fresh start and a new brighter future.
2007/08 Annual Review
Northern Ireland remained one of the worst areas in the U.K. for abandoned animals, and with so few charities in the province, 7th Heaven was once again inundated with the unwanted and the abandoned.
We have noticed several distinct reasons why cats, in particular, are being abandoned or need a new home:
• The owners or their children developing allergies and assuming it is the cat.
• People moving house and leaving their cat behind.
• With the cost of buying a home so expensive, many have no option but to rent. Unfortunately many landlords are now
refusing to let out their property to tenants with animals.
• When animals get ill, some owners cannot afford treatment. Sometimes they feel their only options are to put the animal to sleep or abandon them, if they can’t get help.(PDSA may be able to help if you are on benefits and within their area)
• Not getting the cat neutered and having unwanted kittens.
(People fail to release that cats reach maturity at 6 months and should be neutered as soon to this time as possible. Neutering can also help prevent certain types of cancers from occurring).
• Parents getting a kitten as a ‘toy’ for their child and not realising that very young children and kittens are incompatible.
• People are letting their cats and kittens out and the animal is getting lost or someone thinks it is a stray.
It is always difficult to help them all, but we will always try to take in, care for, and eventually re-home as many as possible.
Animals Re-homed
We have been able to dramatically increase the animals re-homed this year, both those taken in by ourselves and also those homed directly from the houses of the people that contacted us.
Rescued & homed: Home to Home:
Cats / kittens – 134 Cats – 10
Dogs / pups – 7 Dogs – 2
Rabbit – 1
We were unhappy that the amount of animals we were able to take in last year was reduced. There were various reasons for this. Several animals were returned, others required more extensive treatment or were mother cats that we needed to keep until their kittens were at least 8 weeks. Despite weekly advertising in local papers and displaying posters at various locations, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find an adult cat a new loving home. Many people are unwilling to consider an older animal. Our fosterers have continued to provide loving temporary homes throughout the year for these poor stray or abandoned animals.
Neutering
Ensuring our animals get neutered is vitally important and encouraging others to get their animals neutered is part of 7th Heaven’s education policy. Here are last year’s neutering figures:
Cats – 160; Dogs – 17
Dogs Trust helped us to provide free neutering vouchers for dogs up to January 2008. Thanks to Cats Protection extending their help, we are able to provide free neutering for cats. This has helped us increase our help to the necessary neutering of stray or feral cats to prevent unwanted litters.
Finance
Please contact us if you would like a full breakdown of our 2007/08 accounts. The following is an overview:
Income raised £11908.73 less Expenses 12146.09 = Balance - £237.36
Grants: Pets at Home for new sheds - £1050; Marching Trust for repairs to existing temporary homes and a new run - £1300
Donation from Will: Mrs. Ida Hamilton £56582.79
Funds carried forward from previous year £8531.88; Funds available at 31.3.2008 £67227.31
With only a few regular volunteers, we are targeting our most successful methods of fundraising of street and store collections to best utilise our limited time and resources. Volunteers also seem to enjoy this too as they only have to help about 2 hours whilst enjoying heartwarming tales from the public about their own animals. We still attend a few craft fairs to raise animal awareness and try to get animals a home. Mrs. Hamilton generous donation to our charity in her will also means that we will be in a position now to spend more time caring and trying to find homes for the animals, whilst being able to consider events to promote them, rather than raising funds.
Our 3 major bills this year were: vet bills, equipment costs and animal supplies:
- Vet bills were direct in line with the animals we have rescued, requiring treatment, vaccinations or neutering. We continued to provide the first set of vaccinations and free neutering for all animals in our care. We also had several ill kittens and cats that required extra emergency treatment.
- We purchased several sheds for fosterers and carried out important repairs
- We were helped by Jollyes in Glengormley, who had put a food donation bin in their store and we are now starting to see a great reduction in this cost, thanks to their store and the public’s generosity.
Friendship Scheme
We have now got 35 Friends who either have joined recently or continue to support our charity. Several make monthly donations and many have let us reclaim extra money from Revenue & Customs through the Gift Aid Scheme at no cost to them.
Sponsorship
The two types of sponsorship we introduced during the year are proving popular:
Sponsoring a kennel: 1
Sponsoring Kizzy, a long term ill kitten: 3
It costs £50 per year and helped to provide new bedding, regular renewal of litter trays, toys etc. It also helped towards the cost of medical treatment for Kizzy. Sadly Kizzy died last year and she is sorely missed. Any future funds will be used for the care of some of our longer term animals or those who require emergency costly treatment.
Newsletter
The three issues a year are proving popular and circulation has increased. In addition to providing updates and interesting tales of animals we have rescued and re-homed, we continue to use this as an education tool to provide what we see as vital information on topical problems such as cat illnesses.
Website
Keith Taylor, our volunteer helping us with this, has continued to provide us with invaluable support. We have made videos about animals in our care and about the charity. These can be viewed on our website and Keith has set up a You Tube charity page to promote these.ity page to promote these.
E-Bay
We have set up an E-Bay charity page to promote our charity and to raise funds. This is proving very popular with people worldwide selling items and donating some or all the profits to 7th Heaven. It also provides a forum for our charity to sell items donated to it too.
Events
We continued raising funds through craft fairs, street collections, Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s and Jollyes store collections. Most have also been used to highlight the animals requiring new homes.
World Animal Week
World Animal Week is held annually in the first week in October. We again arranged displays promoting local and national animal relates charities to raise awareness of the plight of animals, however we are looking at new ways of raising awareness next year.
Future Aims
We realise we have high expectations, but we are aiming to;
Continue to provide animals free of charge, whilst making sure they are vaccinated, and as healthy as possible. We will also ensure that we meet our promise to find them the best possible loving homes.
It is not physically possible to rescue all the animals we are contacted about, but we aim to take in as many as possible. When we can’t, we will try to help advertise those animals on behalf of the members of the public that contacted us and will maintain a waiting list for those that will be taken in when space becomes available.
Continue to provide free cat and dog neutering to all our rescued animals and help to others that need it.
Continue to keep all costs to a minimum by having no paid staff, whilst still maintaining the high level of care and treatment that is expected of us.
Cut food costs through support from Jollyes’ donation food bin and by also introducing this idea at store collection days when possible
Highlight the plight of animals and encourage compassion towards them at every opportunity.
Thanks
We are always grateful to our volunteers who have helped us in many ways, from caring for animals to helping at all our events, to those who have permitted us to carry out events on their premises and to the public who have donated funds, food or items to sell or supported our charity in any way. Thanks to everyone who took time and effort to contact us when they found a lost, ill or abandoned animal and just did not look the other way. And most importantly, thank you to everyone who has offered each of our rescue animals a loving home, a new start and a future.
2006/07 Annual Review
2006/2007 was another busy year for us. With Northern Ireland remaining one of the worst areas in the U.K. for abandoned animals, and with so few charities in the province, 7th Heaven was once again inundated with the unwanted and the abandoned.
Throughout the year, we have noticed a few distinct reasons why cats, in particular, are being abandoned.
1. The owners or their children developing allergies and assuming it is the cat.
(Whilst it is true that some people can develop allergies to the fleas on cats, in the vast majority of cases it is inheritable. In fact, a recent study showed that exposing children to animals decreased to their chances of getting respiratory illnesses in later life).
2. People moving house and leaving their cat behind.
3. Not getting the cat neutered and having unwanted kittens.
(People fail to release that cats reach maturity at 6 months and should be neutered as close to this time as possible. There are also those people that believe the myth that letting a cat have a first litter is good for them. This is definitely not the case. Apart from the obvious effect of unwanted kittens, neutering can also help prevent certain types of cancers from occurring).
4. Parents getting a kitten as a ‘toy’ for their child and not realising that very young children and kittens are incompatible. Young children are far too clumsy and can easily hurt the kitten and conversely, a kitten can cause serious injury with their claws.
With people abandoning animals for so many reasons, it is always difficult. However, we will always endeavour to take in, care for, and eventually re-home, as many unwanted animals as possible.
Animals Re-homed
We have been able to dramatically increase the animals re-homed this year, both those taken in by ourselves and also those homed directly from the houses of the people that contacted us.
Rescued & homed: Home to Home:
Cats / kittens – 202 Cats – 20
Dogs / pups – 21 Dogs – 8
One main reason why we could take in so many more animals this year was due to one particular volunteer fosterer who has taken in animals constantly all year. We have provided a shed this year too so that she could do this more effectively.
Most of the other animals have been housed at the premises of two of the Trustees. Their garage and all outbuildings are now used solely for caring for more animals. This has further permitted us to rescue more abandoned and unwanted animals whilst still providing personal attention. For the short time they remain in our care, they have all the comforts of home such as a settee, chairs, duvets and most importantly security and human interaction.
Neutering
Ensuring our animals get neutered is vitally important and encouraging others to get their animals neutered is part of 7th Heaven’s education policy. Here are last year’s neutering figures for all that required it:
Cats – 183; Dogs – 17
Dogs Trust continues to help us to provide free neutering vouchers for dogs. Cats Protection, too, has helped by providing £15 vouchers for Male & £20 for Female neutering. We paid the difference so that we could provide free neutering for all animals that we re-homed as this is one of our pledges. When the supplies of Cats’ Protection vouchers were exhausted, we continued to provide free neutering for both domestic and feral cats.
Finance
The following is an overview of our 2006/07 accounts:
Income raised £13571.50 less Expenses 15873.50 = Balance - £2303.00
Funds carried forward from previous year £10833.88; Funds available at 31.3.2007 £8531.88
Throughout the year, we have tried to increase and diversify our methods of fundraising. For example, we introduced a kennel sponsorship scheme and took part in a sponsored walk. We also had a garden open day in Ladybird Nursery in County Down. Members of the public have also helped out. One lady made a generous donation from a sponsored marathon.
We continue to attend craft events because, although they make only a modest profit, they are a unique way of introducing ourselves to the public. This has often resulted in some of our animals being re-homed to those attending the event. And this, of course, is much more important than any profit we could make.
Although we do not charge for any animal we re-home, many new parents have given donations, recognising the crucial role we play and the need for funds to allow us to continue our work. Many people who gave us animals for re-homing have also made donations. In addition to this, several larger donations were received by a very generous benefactor.
Funds raised through in-store collection tins, though, have decreased as several stores are no longer supporting local charities, choosing to concentrate on national ones.
Our 3 major bills this year were: vet bills, equipment costs and animal supplies:
-The dramatic increase in vet bills was due directly to the increase in animals we have rescued, requiring treatment, vaccinations or neutering. We continued to provide the first set of vaccinations and free neutering for all animals in our care. We also had several ill kittens and cats that required extra emergency treatment.
We expanded the available space for re-homing by purchasing several sheds for fosterers and carrying out important repairs to outbuildings
The cost of food, litter and cleaning materials rose in line with the increase in animals taken in. Jollyes in Glengormley agreed to put a food donation bin in their store during the year and we are now starting to see a great reduction in this cost, thanks to their store and the public’s generosity.
Friendship Scheme
We have now got 38 Friends who either have joined recently or continue to support our charity. Several make monthly donations and many have let us reclaim extra money from Revenue & Customs through the Gift Aid Scheme at no cost to them.
Sponsorship
The two types of sponsorship we introduced during the year are proving popular:
Sponsoring a kennel: 2 persons joined
Sponsoring Kizzy, a long term ill kitten: 3 persons joined
It costs £50 per year and in return they receive a certificate and regular updates
Newsletter
The three issues a year are proving popular and circulation has increased. In addition to providing updates and interesting tales of animals we have rescued and re-homed, we continue to use this as an education tool to provide what we see as vital information on topical problems such as cat illnesses.
Website
We have been able to quickly get all our animals requiring a new home on our website, thanks to Keith Taylor, our volunteer helping us with this. We have also received many positive comments about our website too and it has been very successful in helping us get animals re-homed. We recognise that parts are out of date, but are working on this at present.
Events
We continued raising funds through craft fairs, our own fairs, attending car boot sales, street collections in Antrim, Crumlin, Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s, Jollyes and Pets at Home store collections. Many have also been used to highlight the animals requiring new homes.
World Animal Week
World Animal Week is held annually in the first week in October. We are dedicated to continue to use this week to raise awareness of the plight of animals and arrange information displays to highlight both local and national animal charities. Belfast Central and Shankill Libraries and Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust at Castle Espie provided venues for our displays.
Future Aims
We realise we have high expectations, but we are aiming to;
Continue to provide animals free of charge, whilst making sure they are vaccinated, and as healthy as possible. We will also ensure that we meet our promise to find them the best possible loving homes.
It is not physically possible to rescue all the animals we are contacted about, but we aim to take in as many as possible. When we can’t, we will try to help advertise those animals on behalf of the members of the public that contacted us and will maintain a waiting list for those that will be taken in when space becomes available.
Continue to provide free cat and dog neutering to all our rescued animals and help to others that need it.
Look for various types of sponsorship, including corporate, and grants towards additional costs.
Continue to keep all costs to a minimum by having no paid staff, whilst still maintaining the high level of care and treatment that is expected of us.
Cut food costs through support from Jollyes’ donation food bin and by also introducing this idea at store collection days when possible
Expand our education plan.
Highlight the plight of animals at every opportunity.
Thanks
We are grateful to our volunteers who have helped us in many ways, from caring for animals to helping at all our events, to those who have permitted us to carry out events on their premises and to the public who have donated funds, food or items to sell. Thanks to everyone who took time and effort to contact us when they found a lost, ill or abandoned animal and just did not look the other way. And most importantly, thank you to everyone who has offered each of our rescue animals a loving home, a new start and a future.
LATEST ANIMALS NEEDING A HOME
