How animal lovers can sponsor a rescue turkey or chicken this Christmas

Whitegate Animal Sanctuary in Wirral is giving animal lovers the chance to help care for a rescue turkey or chicken this Christmas.

The sanctuary in Hoylake has sponsorship packages available to buy as gifts which will go towards providing food and shelter for its animals.

There’s even an option to upgrade and have a visit included, so you get to meet your sponsored animal in person and see his or her farm-mates.

Opened by Laura Whelan and run by her and a team of volunteers, Whitegate gives a loving home to all kinds of farm animals from pigs, goats, sheep and cows to chickens and turkeys.

TURNEY WIRRAL ANIMAL SANCTURAY - tHE guIDE liVERPOOL — Rescue hen Vivian

Its most recent arrivals were 11 ‘spent’ hens who Laura rescued from a free range farm in November.

Two of the most poorly ones, Vivian and Cassie, are now being looked after by a volunteer at home because they are too low down the pecking order and weak and to live with the others just yet. They are on the sponsor list, along with turkeys Joey and Mimi and lots of others.

Suzy Doherty, who volunteers at the sanctuary, says the packages would make a great present for any animal lover – and they can be sent online until noon on Christmas Eve so they’re perfect for anyone who’s left their gift buying to the last minute!

“We’ve been doing the sponsorships since summer last year and we offer them all year round but we find that people will tend to buy them for themselves during the rest of the year, and maybe birthdays, and then at Christmas they are more for gifts,” she says.

“Our sponsorship is just a really nice thing for any animal lover, whether they’re vegan or not. Not everyone who loves animals will necessarily be vegetarian or vegan, most of our followers on social and a lot of our supporters aren’t vegan and we’re conscious of that.

“A lot of people buy them for their children because with our premium package you can have a visit to the sanctuary so then they can come as a family, get a tour and see all the animals. It’s not rushed, people can sit with the animals and they’re able to hold one of the chickens which not many people get the chance to do.”

The basic 12-month sponsorship costs £30, which includes a certificate and updates showing how the sponsored animal is progressing, along with a photo, and the premium one is £60 with a voucher to visit the sanctuary. Both levels get £10 off if they’re paperless.

Supporters can also buy a bale of hay or straw, either through the sanctuary where they’ll receive a personalised thank you card or directly from Manor Farm, or they can buy individual items for the animals’ Christmas dinner like broccoli, sprouts or fruit for dessert.

“All our costs have really gone up this year, even the cost of feed, hay bales and straw bales, so because we are completely volunteer run and rely totally on donations, anything that we get from sponsorship goes straight back to the animals,” says Suzy.