Annual Review 2006-2007
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
Click here for a full breakdown of our 2006/07 accounts. The
following is an overview:
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:
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.
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