The harsh economic climate and big winter freeze have forced an Angus equine sanctuary into its most desperate situation since it was established more than 25 years ago.
Record numbers of horses and ponies are arriving from all over the country at the Mountains centre in Glen Ogil just as the charity is coming under pressure from rocketing feed prices.
Sanctuary owner Alan Fraser said the kindness of the country’s animal-loving public was helping ease the financial burden on Mountains but sadly the growing toll of suffering has taken the organisation beyond an unhappy milestone.
“We have now passed the 500 total of animals Mountains has taken in since it set up, ” said Mr Fraser, who moved the sanctuary from Kent to Angus in the 1990s.
“This year the situation has been terrible. In the last month alone we have had to take in 17 in an average year we would take in around 19.
“Our year runs from August and before this month we had taken in 13 so it is certainly the worst year since the sanctuary started, and sadly it doesn’t look like getting any better.
“I am getting calls every day and we have taken in cruelty cases from as far away as Essex because it seems all the sanctuaries down south are full and we are the only ones still prepared to take them.
“We have been forced to help in some cases because I have heard that people have been advised to have their animals put down if they cannot look after them and have nowhere to send them that it just terrible and something we could never let happen.”More than 180 horsesWith more than 180 four-legged residents presently at Mountains the tally is well over the normal level of around 140, and the bitter winter gave the sanctuary’s 25 staff a major welfare task at the turn of the year.
“The weather made life very, very difficult for my staff, but they coped admirably just as they have done again this week with the return of poor weather, ” said Mr Fraser.
“The feed bill was sky high and still is. We have been in dire trouble trying to get hay and been paying through the nose for it.
“The amount we have gone through so far this year is ridiculous and it looks like we may have to keep buying it in because we will probably need all our own fields for grazing.”
He added, “Thankfully the public have been very kind and have responded to our advertisments. We have also had four bequests in the past six months and I would thank people for being so generous, but make a plea to them to keep up the good work.
“But unfortunately we have lost one source of income because we have been forced to drop our annual open day this year.
“To comply with all the red tape you now have to complete an events pack and with everything involved it was going to cost us money to run the open day.
“In this climate we just cannot afford to do that.
“It’s utterly ridiculous that we would be out of pocket to put it on as we had planned it for the end of May, but have now decided not to hold it, ” he said.