Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ

With recent cases of animal cruelty being brought to Islanders’ attention and with the Christmas Season just around the corner, now is the time children begin to pester their parents about what they would like as a Christmas present.

And it's also the time the JSPCA Animals’ Shelter will start to plan its campaign to try to ensure that as few pets are given as presents as possible.

With its annual Open Day at the end of this week this seems an ideal opportunity to highlight the work of the charity.

The Animals’ Shelter itself was founded almost fifty years later as a place to house and care for the rescued animals before finding somewhere to rehome any which were healthy enough.

Unfortunately nowadays there is still a requirement for the JSPCA Animals’ Shelter who is continuing to do a wonderful job.

The shelter looks after both domestic and wild animals and birds and offers boarding facilities for cats and dogs and these facilities have become increasingly popular since they were introduced and approximately 490 disclaimed animals were given to the shelter last year.

The JSPCA Animals’ Shelter also has the facilities to care for the more exotic species bequeathed to them for nurture and rehoming and last year had several snakes and lizards given to them.

As well as caring for the animals themselves they have a dedicated Education system at the Shelter where they enable public access to literature on many aspects of animal welfare which can be obtained from the Shelter itself.

They also help students who have chosen Animal Care as their field of study through work experience placements for schemes such as Trident and the Duke of Edinburgh Award to name but two.

This helps ensure that it’s not only the fit and healthy animals which are given the chance of a new home whilst providing no extra expense to the people who take a less than healthy animal in.

To this end staff at the shelter often send a member of staff around to the potential owners’ house to inspect the property for its suitability and to ensure they are in a position to be able to provide properly for the animal.

The Shelter itself is still open around this period but no animals are put up for adoption.

The shelter also provides extra information as to the reasons why giving animals as Christmas presents is maybe not the best course of action in the local media through its Christmas Campaign.

Open Day

This year the JSPCA’s Open Day falls on Sunday 18th November, starting at 10am and finishing at 4pm and will provide an ideal opportunity for you to find out more about the work of the Animals’ Shelter and what you can do to ensure that this valuable service can be continued.

Parking will not be available onsite for this event and no visiting dogs will be allowed.

Further information may be obtained from the Shelter by telephoning 724331 or check out their website at www.jspca.org.je.