Thousands of wildlife and farmed animals have benefitted from a six-figure grant awarded to the charity.
A £350,000 grant, split into two £175,000 instalments, from Postcode Animal Trust, thanks to funds raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery has helped to fund the charity’s work with wildlife and farmed animals. The first £175,000 instalment, provided in October 2022, saw approximately £150,000 go towards our National Wildlife Rescue Centre. It funded enhancements to facilities, including the creation of a bat flight that gives bats the chance to fly, roost and build their strength before release back into the wild. The centre has successfully rehabilitated 46 bats so far in 2023.
The devastating outbreak of bird flu has made it challenging to rehabilitate birds over the past 18 months. The funding allowed us to install bird quarantine units, which has allowed the centre to continue to rehabilitate and release birds safely whilst meeting strict biosecurity standards. Such has been the success of the quarantine process; the centre’s vet team is now advising other organisations and supporting the creation of national guidelines.
Rehabilitation rates have improved across most types of bird at the centre, including blue tits and goldfinches. This is down to a change in working practices due to the improved biosecurity standards.
The fund also helped improve the centre’s water treatment system, which is critical to the rehabilitation of thousands of seals, waterfowl and seabirds.
The National Wildlife Rescue Centre treated almost 5,000 animals in 2022. The centre provides world-leading rehabilitation to a rich variety of wildlife, including some of Scotland’s best-loved and most-threatened species. Due to improvements in the animals’ environment and diet, the team have been able to rehabilitate them more quickly and the average days animals spend in our care has fallen from 44 days to 38 days. Last year, we responded to over 3,000 reports of hedgehogs in need and cared for raptors, otters, pine martens, water voles and more. The centre works with landowners and partners when animals are released to monitor their welfare.
The remaining £25,000 from the first instalment went towards our work with the farming community. The grant supported over 1,000 visits by inspectors to farms across the whole of Scotland, to both inspect welfare standards and respond to reports of potential neglect. This covered cows, goats, sheep, pigs and poultry. The grant has also helped us to scope out what additional support farmers need to care for animals.
On an average day in 2022, our animal helpline fielded six calls regarding farmed animals, amounting to over 2,300 throughout the year. The second instalment, provided this October, will further work with both wildlife and farmed animals even more.
Kirsteen Campbell, Scottish SPCA chief executive, said: “We are extremely grateful to players of People’s Postcode Lottery for this support. As we are entirely reliant on grants to deliver our services, and we’re in the face of an animal welfare crisis whilst facing increasing costs and pressure on income, their help has allowed us to not only maintain but improve our service provision for wildlife and farmed animals.”
“We’ve been able to use this generous award to enhance the rehabilitation we provide wildlife through pioneering facility enhancements and changes to the way we treat wild animals. It has also allowed us to be there for farmed animals, through proactively supporting farmers and responding to reports of farmed animals in need, as part of our efforts to ensure standards are first class.
“At the Scottish SPCA, our vision is to make Scotland the best place in the world for an animal to call home. That means doing everything we can to support Scotland’s wide array of wildlife, which is facing unprecedented pressures from climate change and habitat loss. It also means providing more support to farmers and supporting efforts to improve welfare standards for farmed animals, as they face their own rising costs and pressures.
Postcode Animal Trust is a grant-giving charity, funded entirely by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. Since launching in 2005 players of the lottery have raised hundreds of millions of pounds for thousands of organisations across Britain and internationally. By providing financial support for charities and good causes. Postcode Animal Trust helps educating, supporting and promoting animal welfare and conservation, and demonstrating positive enjoyment that animals bring to people’s lives.
