Features
How animal lovers can sponsor a rescue turkey or chicken this Christmas
1 year ago
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.
Thereâs 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.
Its most recent arrivals were 11 âspentâ 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 â and they can be sent online until noon on Christmas Eve so theyâre perfect for anyone whoâs left their gift buying to the last minute!
âWeâve 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,â she says.
âOur sponsorship is just a really nice thing for any animal lover, whether theyâre 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 arenât vegan and weâre conscious of that.Â
âA 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. Itâs not rushed, people can sit with the animals and theyâre able to hold one of the chickens which not many people get the chance to do.â
The basic 12-month sponsorship costs ÂŁ30, which includes a certificate and updates showing how the sponsored animal is progressing, along with a photo, and the premium one is ÂŁ60 with a voucher to visit the sanctuary. Both levels get ÂŁ10 off if theyâre paperless.
Supporters can also buy a bale of hay or straw, either through the sanctuary where theyâll receive a personalised thank you card or directly from Manor Farm, or they can buy individual items for the animalsâ Christmas dinner like broccoli, sprouts or fruit for dessert.
âAll 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,â says Suzy.
To find out more about buying sponsorship packages, or how you could donate Christmas dinner for one of the animals, go to Whitegate Animal Sanctuaryâs Facebook page HERE.
Get the latest Christmas news for Liverpool HERE and visit our calendar to see what’s on across the city region as the countdown continues HERE.