7th Heaven
Animal Rescue Trust
E-mail us to : animalrescuetrust@hotmail.com
Phone: 02894 432229
Address: PO Box 198, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, BT36 9BP
About 7th Heaven
7th Heaven Animal Rescue Trust was founded in 2003 to rescue, care for and eventually re-home abused, neglected, abandoned and unwanted pets. Our philosophy is always to put the welfare of the animal above all other concerns be they financial, personal or political. Our ultimate goal, however, is to cease to exist. We yearn for a time when we can close our doors because we are no longer needed; because people have eventually realised how precious animals are and do everything in their power to keep their pets permanently, rather than handing them over to us. The best place for any animal is not with a charity, or sanctuary, no matter how good they may be, but in the comfort of a loving home. We hope, some time in the future, this day will come.
You will find that our views on certain areas of animal welfare differ from the ‘consensus’ of opinion of other animal charities and those associated with animal welfare. We make no apologies for this. If there is a topic where our opinions differ from the orthodox view we will say so. Wherever we voice our concerns, or a differing opinion on some matter, we do so due to our own experience, or after extensive research. Every viewpoint and piece of advice we offer is, we believe, in the best interests of the animals.
However, we are not trying to tell you what to do. Neither us, nor anyone else, is an absolute authority on animal welfare. Ultimately the wellbeing of your animal is your own responsibility. Please do your own research and do what you think is best for your pet. If you have your own ideas on any subject relating to animal welfare please let us know. We value your opinions. animal welfare will never evolve and progress without good, healthy debate.
Below are some of the reasons that we believe make us different from other animal charities:
1. We do not charge for our animals
As our motto states, “Animals are not commodities to be bought or sold. They are beautiful creatures with beautiful souls”. We are not their ‘owners’ merely their ‘guardians’ and, therefore, have no moral right to put a price tag on their head. This is why we do not and never will charge for our animals.
2. We have no paid staff
We will make no personal profit from an animal’s misery which is why nobody involved in our charity gets paid.
3. We prefer the natural approach
We will endeavour to use only natural or traditional treatments for our animals and avoid pharmaceutical drugs, with their dangerous side effects, wherever possible
4. We are opposed to early neutering
We are against early neutering due to the medical and behavioural problems associated with this new trend and also because it is being done more for the convenience of us humans, than the welfare of the animal.
5. We do not abort kittens
We are opposed to aborting kittens when a mother is found to be pregnant during spaying. It is considered by some people to be more convenient, particularly when dealing with ferals, to terminate the pregnancy. Where we support, we insist the operation is postponed until the mother has weaned her kittens. We will then help with any rehoming of the mother and her offspring.
6. We provide help with feral cats
Although we are only set up to deal with domestic animals, under our Project Wildcat, we will provide free kennels to people who have feral cats on their property. We will also provide some food and help with the cost of neutering, when the funds are available. We dedicate October to be Feral Cat Month. We will supply feral and community cats throughout Northern Ireland with cat food donated during this month and highlight their plight.
7. We are opposed to compulsory microchipping
We are totally opposed to microchipping animals. It is an unnecessary medical procedure with no benefits whatsoever but can have serious adverse side effects. We therefore believe it is unethical.
8. We try to avoid a kennel environment for our dogs
As we believe the best place for an animal is not in a sanctuary, but in a home, we will only take in a few dogs at any one time. This means they can have more interaction time with humans to reduce the levels of stress associated with being in a kennel environment and we can devote our time to finding them the right home.
9. We offer a unique Home to Home service
A lot of charities concentrate on taking in dogs from Council Pounds. We prefer that the dogs don’t go to the Pound in the first place, particularly since some councils are now charging to take in unwanted dogs. We will therefore be trying to get dogs homed directly from one home to another.
To do this we are offering our ‘Made in Heaven - Match-Making Service’ We will maintain a database of people who need their dogs re-homed and also people that want a particular type of dog and endeavour to match them up. We will advertise the dog and sift potential new owners. We will offer advice and support during the rehoming process. This service is free. We will arrange for the microchip details to be transferred to the new owner, if required.
10. We have set up an animal food bank
In these times of austerity, many people are struggling financially and food banks have been established to help them, but unfortunately not their animals. We are trying to address this by setting up a food bank for animals. We offer our support by providing a temporary supplying pet food, free of charge, to those most in need whenever we have excess supplies. We hope this will encourage them to keep their beloved pets at home where they belong.
11. Dog Training Scheme
If you have homed a dog directly from 7th Heaven or via our Matchmaking Service and it still has training needs, we are offering to pay for free training sessions
12. We promote Pet Friendly Landlords
Sadly, many people contact us having to give up their pet because they cannot find accomodation which permits pets. We will promote pet friendly landlords for free.
13. Daisy Day, 24th December
7th Heaven have designated the 24th December as Daisy Day – a time to remember all the animals killed and injured in war. We have chosen the daisy as it symbolises innocence and, like the animal victims of war, they are numerous and always overlooked. We want everyone to say a prayer or spare a thought for the innocent animal victims of human war at this traditional time of peace.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 25/5/18
Dear Friend of 7th Heaven’s Animals
We are committed to protecting your personal information and safeguarding your data. Our privacy policy reflects the changes required by the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from 25 May 2018. We will retain your name and contact details only for the purpose of issuing newsletters and where necessary for gift aid purposes. If you had attended events in the past, we will retain your details to contact you about any future events you might be interested in. If we have provided you with support through one of our schemes, we will retain this information only to keep a record of our support of for any help we can offer you in the future. Your information is kept secure by us and not shared by anyone else except where required under regulations to the government bodies – Charity Commission, HMRC and accountant. We will ask your consent to share any pictures we have taken or sent to us on our website, facebook pages, newsletter or other media sources.
You may withdraw your consent at any time Please e-mal us to animalrescuetrust@hotmail.com or phone us on 02894432229 or write to us to 7th Heaven Animal Rescue Trust, PO Box 198, Newtownabbey BT36 9BP. If you have taken an animal from us, we will retain your contact details for the lifetime of the pets in case of an emergency.