I make no apologizes for grammar or spelling errors! I am dyslexic and also make no apologizes for being dyslexic!

NEWS FROM THE FARM 11/01/09
Hello and welcome to our news diary, each month I will be updating this blogger with what has been going on, and also I will be adding our financial data here. So many charities are secretive about how much money they have or in our case don’t have and it’s a big pet hate of mine. Charities who register with the charities commission are obliged to be transparent but not much information is given on what money comes in or goes out, so here at QOLAS our aim is to be honest and up front about what money we have had in, and how its being spent. Our year end is the 31st January so I will publish this to the blog once its been done.
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NEW ARRIVALS

Well just because its New Year and there’s a credit crunch on?! does not mean we escape taking in new animals. First off on new years eve came Galileo a Blue crested amazon parrot, as with a lot of animals we receive he came in due to his owners moving to the US for work commitments and as he did not have the correct paper work for his species he was unable to travel. This left his owners with a real dilemma! They did not want to gift him to a charity to find he had been re-homed, or to even sell him and lose all contact, this was never an option for them as he is a member of there family and they had had him for over 13 years. So after some frantic phone calls to us it was arranged that he would come and live here. He has settled in really well and now lives with my son Samuel in his bedroom! More on Gally and his antics next month.

I will huff an puff and BLOW your house down!

PIGS!

Frantic phone calls come in all shapes and sizes and the last one I had was about three Vietnamese Pot Bellied pigs! In effect they had been abandonded by there owner at a tourist attraction and the attrations owner and a lady visitor had made it there mission to help these three little pigs. They had lost a lot of weight esp the hog and he is very underweight but healthy. A mercy dash was made on the 10/01/09 to go and collect them and what a surprise they turned out to be. These three little pigs are sweet natured and so cute, they walked up the ramp in to the trailer and travelled really well, on arrival at the sanctuary, we settled them in to there large pen and gave them a feed, we also assessed there health and weight. Ho the daddy Hog is very under weight and only scored a 2 on the BCS, Mini his wife and the bossy boots scored a 4 and there son Hector scored a 5, which is not to bad. All are black skinned and there over all health seems good but there is a little worry as to how well Ho can see! I will update you on there progress next month and will add photos.

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RAINBOW BRIDGE

We lost dear old William a few months back now, William was a much loved member of the equine group and had come to QOLAS to ease his loving owner of some responsibility. His mum kept in touch and also contributed to his upkeep. It was decided to let William go when his weight kept on dropping, despite the best feeds and care, the vet felt his liver was giving up. With so much heartache at a time like that you may be surprised no there is a little tenderness and relief at losing an old man like William. I lead William out to the front field and gave him his last feed, I held the bucket as the vet did what was necessary. The effects started to take hold and William suddenly looked up and gazed over to the moors in the distance, he had a wistful look in his eyes and he gave a little whinny and then he left us.
Run free at rainbow bridge William.

We also lost another old friend “Folly” just before New Year. Folly came to us also to help ease some responsibility from her loving owner some 8 years ago, when we were still back in Jersey. Folly was my child hood dream pony a fiery chestnut Arab, with a heart of gold. She was well into her 30s when she succumbed to the dreaded colic on a freezing cold evening. She had gone down and was making no effort to get back up, so it was decided to let her go. I was sitting next to her and stroking her face, I leaned down and whispered in her ear that Mazz, Tuppy and Cloudy were all waiting for her and Again as with William just as the effects of the drugs the vet had given her, she gave a small whinny and then she was gone.

Its so sad at the time because you no you only have the memories left of who they were while they were on this earth, but its such a gift to be able to ease them of pain and old age.

Run free old lady till we meet again.

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MEETINGS & CHARITY NEWS

We had our first official charity meeting of 2009 on Saturday the 10th January and got a lot done in a short amount of time. We have been toying around with the application for the charities commission for the past 5 months, and finally we have agreed on the aims and objectives and where we want to take QOLAS Devon as a charity.

We also did a stock take of animals to date and the list is as follows…

Cats-35
Equines-34
Rabbits -8
G pigs-37
Rats-16
Hamster-1
Ducks-55
Geese-20
Chickens-80
Pigs-6
Goats-6
Sheep-2
Parrot-1
Peacocks-2
Peahen-1
Cows-2
Terraipin-1
Turkeys-3
Ferrets-16
(Wildlife on permanent residence)
Dove-1
Magpie-1
Seagulls-2
Total: 331

We also took in rehabbed and released 112 wildlife species in 2008.

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MONEY!

...it has to be said is the Bain of ANY charity, not more so then for a small animal sanctuary like QOLAS!
But it is also an essential part of a charities life and livelihood. At the moment all the sanctuaries monthly out (£1,565 a month!) goings are covered by the volunteers working income this means the animals don't get to have any special treats. Living on a tight budget means we have to seek out the cheapest cat food, cut back on fresh veg for the small animals and also to go without treats for our selves!
Due to the many work commitments us volunteers have to undertake to keep the animals fed warm and healthy little time is left to go out and “fund raise” and we need help! so how can you help? Well on the web site you will find a standing order form on the Donate to QOLAS page, You can down load the form, fill in your details and post them back to us and make a small contribution each and every month, just £1.00 a month WILL help us to care for these animals. If 1000 people paid just £1.00 that’s £1000 a month in income. A break down of what it costs us to care for these animals will be uploaded next month.
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PROJECTS

This year we would like to promote the sanctuary as a viable charity that is dedicated to the welfare of all animals, and we will be trying to fund raising like mad to build our much awaited paddock paradise ( for an example look here http://thenaturalhoof.homestead.com/PaddockParadise.html ) building this PP has many benefits for the horses and ponies and I will elaborate more next month about these exciting plans.

And finally…..

Myself., Nathan, Rose, Karen and Alf would like to wish everyone a happy new year. Please give us a call if you are in the area and would like to visit the animals. you can call us on 01409 255442 or email us at info@animal-sanctuary-devon.co.uk


Love Debbie x