Capricorn Animal Rescue
Welcome to the website for Capricorn Animal Rescue, a registered charity based near Mold in North Wales. From this site you can find out information about Capricorn and the animals that they care for. You can make a donation online, or find out how to contact Capricorn if you want to help out in some manner.
Capricorn's website currently receives around 3000 unique visits each month. That's almost 55000 page views! Thanks to its visitors, Capricorn have been able to rehome many animals, a lot of which were spotted on the website first. So be sure to bookmark the site and come back soon (but don't be in a hurry to leave just yet, there's plenty to read).
NEWS
Pet Blessing
On Sunday 7th June we held a Pet Blessing (Bring Your Pet to Church Day) at the Quaystone Chapel, Connah's Quay. All pets were welcome, with money raised being shared between the Quaystone Chapel and Capricorn Animal Rescue.
The above is a great idea and we have one every year, either at the Quaystone Chapel or at Holywell, and I always take along some animal that is in desperate need of this special service and blessing. This time, however, I was uncertain just who needed the blessing most.
We have a little terrier dog who was abandoned after sustaining horrific wounds through bite, along his neck, shoulder and chest. He is slowly recovering, but he is a bit of a mess. The wounds could have been inflicted either during badger baiting, terrier fighting or with the small dogs being used to excite and blood the fighting pit bull dogs.
The day after he arrived we had another little terrier brought in. This time her bite wounds were all over her stomach and legs, with one bite over her eye which is now swollen and bruised. It looks as if she was on her back in a position of submission when attacked.
We also had two young rabbits, 6 months old, who we did not think would live to see the next day. They had been bitten over and over again by rats. Many of the bites were badly infected and one rabbit had an abscess almost as big as a tennis ball on his back! They are supposed to be white Dwarf Lop rabbits, but they are bright yellow because of the ammonia from the urine in their dirty hutch. They are badly underweight and it will be quite a long time before they are fit and well and ready for homing.
On Sunday 5th July we are holding our annual Companion Dog Show, which this year is combined with the Deeside Festival Community show at Wepre Park. We are hoping for lots of dog owners to come along and enter the show. There will be a car boot, stalls and charity stalls, fun fair, football, face painting, raffles - lots of fun for everyone, but most importantly we will be raising much needed funds for the Sanctuary, which will enable us to continue to take in, treat and care for animals like these. If you would like further information please telephone 01244 547938.
Sheila Stewart
Secretary
URGENT APPEAL
Home wanted urgently for Staffie. He is a lovely dog and a wonderful family pet. The owners are moving house and cannot keep him. He only has two weeks left.
Please ring 01244 547938 if you can offer him a home.
Gem
This little Border Collie bitch was left tied up under a hedge in a local park. She was so terrified that she messed on herself. She is terribly underweight, with her spine, hips and ribs showing through her fur. She was full of fleas.
We have named her Gem, because she is a little gem. She is slowly gaining confidence as we work with her every day, talking to her, stroking her, gaining her trust and soon she should start to put on weight now she is getting regulated feeds.
There is no excuse for abandoning animals in this way, even if left in a park where lots of people go and she was sure to be found. The trauma they go through when they are left like this has to be seen to be believed. I just wish that I could take these people, stake them out in the open with no shelter, no food and no water and see how they like it!
Book Sale
When books are donated to our charity they go to our charity shop, any not sold then go to the coffee evenings and again any not sold then go to our jumble sale, after that I get them for my book sales.
I am trying to have a book sale once a month. I book space on Mold market on a Saturday and have about 10 or 12 tables selling lots of books at 20p each. Last month we raised £320.00, which is a lot of books.
If you are spring cleaning, decorating or having a clear out please give us a ring. We will be glad to have your unwanted books, bric a brac and any unwanted Christmas presents, e.g. the beauty products, hankies etc that you will never use and hide away in a drawer or a cupboard. We would love to have them for our tombola stall.
Please telephone us on 01244 547938 if you have anything we can use to raise funds.
Thank you.
Jenny the diabetic cat
One of our website visitors contacted us recently asking if we could help her to find a new home for a cat.
- Jenny is a 6 year old diabetic indoor cat.
- She was handed into The Royal Vet College after her owner sadly past away.
- She is slightly overweight and so has been put on a prescription diet but is doing very well.
- She has been saved from being put to sleep and is being fostered temporarily but is in desperate need of a loving new home.
- She has the most adorable nature and is very affectionate. She is also extremely easy to handle even when administering her insulin injections twice a day.
- She would make a lovely pet for someone who has some experience with cats and the time to give her the love and attention she deserves.
If you think you could offer Jenny a home, please contact Sara Jones at The Royal Vet College, by emailing SLJones@rvc.ac.uk.
2009 Rabbit & Guinea Pig Photo Show
We are once again having a photo competition for rabbits and guinea pigs. We are inviting rabbit and guinea pig owners to enter photographs of their pets in our competition. Don't forget to enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you want your photos returning and write your name and address and which classes entered on the back of each photo.
There is plenty of time to enter as the competition is running right through March until mid-April (Easter time).
Puppy Thrown Away
I recently received a call from our vets to pick up a tiny puppy. He was only 4 1/2 weeks old, his teeth were just starting to show through and he was just starting to find his feet, learning to walk. He was thrown over a six foot high garden wall into a garden. When he was taken into the vets he was in shock and he was limping on one of his hind legs.
I took him into our kitchen, in front of the fire, gave him a bed and a teddy bear to cuddle up to and a small feed. He couldn't even chew biscuits!
This is a baby animal, too young to be away from his mother. He has been found BUT what has happened to the rest of the litter? Have his brothers and sisters also been thrown over garden walls and fences and left to die?
Why do they still do this sort of thing? All they have to do is telephone us.
Bertie
Bertie is a little Jack Russell cross Beagle dog about 2 years old. He was picked up by the Dog Warden and taken immediately to the veterinary hospital where it was found that not only was he very emaciated, but that due to untreated injuries to his front legs they had become very badly infected. His left leg was so bad that the flesh was rotting and he had to be operated on to clean the diseased flesh from his leg.
He was then brought into Capricorn where he is being fed on Chappie, very small meals, five times a day and having his injuries bathed in salt water around six times a day.
I am having to massage and manipulate his hind legs frequently during the day, as the muscle wastage due to the malnutrition is so bad. His joints have stiffened quite badly and if he is to make a full recovery we must get his legs working again.
Twiggy
This poor cat was picked up in Ewloe by a lady who telephoned me to say that she had found a cat in a very bad way. I told her to take it to the vets immediately and this she did. That was Saturday. On the following Wednesday I was in the vets and they said that they had had this cat brought in and could I take it in to Capricorn.
They had checked her out and she was perfectly healthy, except that she was near death through starvation. She is literally fur and bones. She is short haired, but it was so matted on her back that the vet had to shave her back to clean the matted fur.
She is still a bit wobble and very weak, but she is eating five or six very small meals a day and has today tried to use the litter tray. She missed.
This cat is very loving, loves being nursed, cuddled and made a fuss of. She is wearing a plastic flea collar and it is so obvious that she has been a very much loved pet. It would be wonderful to find her owner who must be missing her dreadfully.
If you recognise Twiggy please telephone me on 01244 547938.
Upcoming Events
The ASDA cutest pet competition has now closed.
Shortly we will be organising events through Pets@Home, e.g. dog chipping days. More details will follow as dates are confirmed.
Also, we will once again be running a rabbit and guinea pig photo competition, starting at the beginning of March and being judged at Easter (mid April). Details to follow.
News from Capricorn
Over the years we have found that the majority of cruelty to animals is caused by ignorance. Now, you don't have to be poor, uneducated or working class to be ignorant as this case shows.
One afternoon we had a visit from a couple and their nine year old son. The couple were middle aged and very middle class. They talked of their son as "The Boy". They had, they explained, come for a rabbit for a pet. When I asked them if they had ever had a rabbit before the gentleman assured me that they had and were experienced with them. I questioned them further and they said that they had bought a rabbit the year before for The Boy to teach him responsibility. I asked what had happened to the rabbit. The gentleman explained that The Boy had become fed up with his pet after a few months, so to teach him what happens when you lose interest in something you are responsible for they left the rabbit alone, telling The Boy it was his responsibility and no one elses. When I questioned further as to what happened the gentleman told me quite simply that the rabbit died. I couldn't believe what he had just said, so I asked him did you leave that rabbit out in a hutch in the garden, without food or water to die? He said, of course, it was to teach The Boy responsibility. When I pointed out that what he had done was neglectful and cruel, he rounded on me as if I was stupid for not understanding that this was okay as it was to teach The Boy.
Spring and then Easter is on the way and people will be buying rabbits and guinea pigs for their children, but please think about it first, all the family MUST be involved in the care of the pet. They can live 9 to 11 years, they need feeding, cleaning, vet checks, grooming and loving.
These animals are the silent majority, they cannot let you or others know of their suffering.
Capricorn Animal Rescue has 18 rabbits and 6 guinea pigs waiting for homes at the moment.
