Crisis Appeal: Help Us Care For Animals In Need

Thank you for taking the time to look at our Crowdfunding appeal. We are Refuge4Pets and we urgently need to raise funds to pay for veterinary treatment for the animals in our care.  Can you help? In return, we're offering rewards which include annual Refuge4Pets family memberships and the chance to have your name featured on our website.

We are a small charity based in Cornwall and we provide an animal fostering service across Devon and Cornwall for people fleeing domestic abuse. This means the person can flee to safety without having to leave their much-loved pets behind. Most emergency housing and refuges do not accommodate animals, which makes our service so important.  

It's probably something you may not have considered, but animals can also be victims of domestic abuse.  Animals are often abused by perpetrators to coerce, control, and entrap families in the abusive relationship. Recent research which captured the experiences of 107 victim-survivors of domestic abuse found that animals were abused by the perpetrator in 94 of these households. Animals were abused in similar ways to people in the household. They were physically abused, threatened, intimidated, denied their basic needs, and intentionally murdered in 13 of the 94 households. 

If you are a victim-survivor of domestic abuse with no money, your children to keep safe and with animals, it is almost impossible to escape. By providing foster homes for their animals, we empower people to access the vital safety and support they need by removing this significant barrier which prevents many people from leaving an abusive relationship.  

Since Refuge4Pets was founded in 2017 by Dr Mary Wakeham, we have supported over 350 families to escape domestic abuse by fostering 500 animals. 

This recent coverage on BBC Spotlight highlights our work:

Animals typically stay with us in foster care for 6-9 months and we have some amazing foster families including John and Elaine (pictured). We cover the cost of everything animals need while in foster care including food, bedding, toys and treats and our biggest cost, veterinary treatment and medication.  We do this because families often leave with absolutely nothing and must rebuild their lives from scratch. 

As you can imagine, this can be extremely costly. We find animals that come into our care can be neglected as they themselves have been victims of abuse. Perpetrators control the finances and may have refused to pay for necessary vet treatment. We are committed to ensuring any animal that comes into our care has the medical treatment they need, whatever the cost may be. If you yourself have a dog or a cat, you will know how much it can cost to keep your pet fit and healthy.  

How We Help...

The following story is sadly not unique and highlights the vital role we play in helping people and their animals escape domestic abuse. 

Wendy and Charlie's Story 

Wendy and her dog Charlie were referred to our service by Devon and Cornwall Police. They were at serious risk from the perpetrator, Wendy's ex-partner, who had controlled all aspects of her life for many years as well as psychologically, emotionally, physically, and sexually abusing her.  

When we met Wendy her ex-partner had violently assaulted her, smashed up her home and threatened to harm Charlie. We met Wendy and Charlie in a supermarket car park, the abuse that they had endured was clearly visible and we all shared tears and hugs (pre lockdown). Charlie is Wendy's best friend, he offers unconditional love, companionship, and a sense of purpose to his Mum. Charlie is his Mum's world. Tami, who is a project worker with Refuge4Pets took Charlie to his foster home where he was greeted with open arms and big hearts.  

During Charlie's time in foster care he received the vet treatment that he needed and enjoyed lots of lovely walks and time with his foster family. Wendy was determined to find somewhere safe for her and Charlie to live and she managed to find private rented accommodation for them, which is often hard with animals. When the time came for Charlie's foster family to say goodbye, they were sad but took great comfort knowing they had helped Charlie and his Mum at such a difficult point in their lives.  

When Tami met Wendy with Charlie there were more tears, but this time tears of happiness. Charlie was so excited to see Mum and Wendy was just so grateful to the wonderful foster carers who provided such amazing care to Charlie.  

Wendy wrote: 'I dread to think where I would be if Charlie had not been fostered. I was in such a low place and didn’t see a way out. I could not handle another beating. Charlie was the only reason I could not leave, but knowing how safe and looked after he was, it motivated me to leave him and sort my life out. We are now so happy and safe forever'. 

Can You Help Us?  

We are at a crisis point and we really need your help. Our costs are rapidly rising. We are currently spending on average £3,000 a month on veterinary treatment alone-even with many veterinary practices kindly offering us discounts. This is not a cost we can cut back on, and it is only going to increase as demand for our service increases.  Denying animals veterinary treatment is unthinkable, that's why we need your support.

If you can help, however large or small your donation, you will be helping the animals in our care get the vital treatment they both need, and they deserve. If you can spread the word and encourage others to donate, that would be incredible. If you think you may have a reward we could add to our appeal to encourage donations, please get in touch at [email protected]. 

Thank you from us all at Refuge4Pets.