FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
In order to reply to the many queries that we receive we have prepared these frequently asked questions for you. We hope that you find the answers to your questions.
How do I arrange for you to take in my animal?
What animals are available for adoption?
Do you make a charge or ask for a donation for adopted animals?
What is done for the animals you rehome?
What is the procedure involved in adopting one of your animals?
Are you looking for particular homes for your animals?
Can we walk a dog if we are interested in adopting it?
How do we find out if you have what we require?
Do you have kittens or puppies?
What areas do you rehome animals to?
Do you charge for the admission of an animal?
Can we sponsor an animal?
I have been trying to get in touch by phone but cannot get through?
Do you need volunteers?
Can I volunteer to take your dogs out for a walk?
Can I bring a school or special interest group for a guided tour?
Do you accept work experience?
Can I bring clients with special needs to volunteer or walk dogs?
What times is the shop open?
What times is the café open?
Are there any staff vacancies?
How are you funded?
What do you need to know about a potential admission?
How long does it take before you can admit an animal?
Can you recommend other organisations that might have shorter waiting lists?
Can I bring my own animal to see the vet at Bleakholt?
What arrangements do you make for elderly animals or animals with particular needs that are adopted from Bleakholt?
What items do you need for donation?
Where are your shops?
What are the dates of the Open Days?
What are your opening hours?
Can I email you?
Can I send you a fax?
This will depend what kind of animal you want us to take in.
Dogs:- The first thing to do is call us on 08700 620530 during opening hours (10am until 4pm every day). Our reception staff will take the details of your pet and refer it to the Head of our Dog Section. He will then contact you as soon as there is room. Please understand that due to the very high demand for our services there is always a long list of several hundred dogs waiting to come in. The dogs coming in from homes that are on our waiting list the longest are those that are not properly protected with current vaccinations. These dogs will need to spend 3 weeks in our isolation section whilst they are being vaccinated. As these are the kennels in highest demand unvaccinated dogs take longer to admit. If you are going to ask us to admit your dog please have the vaccination certificate handy when you phone us.
Cats:- The first thing to do is call us on 08700 620530 during opening hours (10am until 4pm every day). Our reception staff will take the details of your pet and refer it to the Head of our Cat Section. She will then contact you as soon as there is room. Please understand that due to the very high demand for our services there is always a long list of several hundred cats waiting to come in. The cats coming in from homes that are on our waiting list the longest are those that are not properly protected with current vaccinations. These cats will need to spend 4 weeks in our isolation section whilst they are being vaccinated. As these are the cages in highest demand unvaccinated cats take longer to admit. If you are going to ask us to admit your cat please have the vaccination certificate handy when you phone us.
Horses, Ponies and Donkeys:- As our horses are not rehomed, we only have a small number of places available for these animals each year. As with all admissions we prioritize on the animal's needs rather than the circumstances of the owners. If you want us to admit your equine please put the circumstances of the animal in a letter and address it to the Manager. He will then telephone you and probably ask for some extra information before putting your details to our board of Trustees for a decision. The Trustees meet once per month. If you are contacting us about an emergency you should phone on 08700 620530 between 10am and 4pm. The Manager will then advise you if your case can be presented to the Trustees immediately.
Rabbits, Ferrets, Guinea Pigs, Chinchillas etc:- As with cats and dogs you should ring on 08700 620530 between 10am and 4pm. Our reception staff will take the details of your pet and refer it to the appropriate staff member who will then contact you as soon as there is room.
Farm animals:- Regrettably we are not currently able to admit cattle, sheep, goats or pigs.
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We usually have the following available for rehoming: Dogs, Cats, Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Ferrets and Chinchillas.
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We ask for fixed donations of £95 for dogs (£120 for a pedigree dog), £60 for cats (£80 for a pedigree cat) and £25 for small mammals. This is a donation towards costs not a purchase. Actual costs to the Sanctuary per animal are greatly in excess of this. If you can afford more then this would be greatly appreciated and the extra may be able to be treated as a Gift Aid donation in which case we can increase that additional donation by 28%. Our dog gallery and cat gallery contain details of the sort of average costs we have.
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Dogs are all de-flead, de-wormed, vaccinated, neutered and microchipped. They also have any treatment that is required for any conditions they might have arrived to us with. Puppies may not have had their second vaccination before leaving us; if this is the case they come back to us to have that done on the appropriate date. If puppies are under six months of age they will not be neutered. In these cases we arrange for their neutering as soon as they are six months old. This is not optional - all our animals are neutered. There are no charges for these procedures. Our qualified behaviourists will also assess many of our dogs. This will allow us to help you choose the right dog for your home and family. If the dog has been assessed you will be given a copy of their assessment if you adopt that dog.
Cats are all de-flead, de-wormed, vaccinated, neutered and microchipped. They also have any treatment that is required for any conditions they might have arrived to us with. Kittens may not have had their second vaccination before leaving us; if this is the case they come back to us to have that done on the appropriate date. If kittens are under six months of age they will not be neutered. In these cases we arrange for their neutering as soon as they are six months old. This is not optional - all our animals are neutered. There are no charges for these procedures.
Small mammals are also de-flead, de-wormed, vaccinated and neutered before leaving.
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The first step is to visit us between 10am and 4pm to see the animals. There are always hundreds of animals here so you will probably find what you are looking for quickly. However if we do not appear to have what you are looking for please ask a member of staff for help. We may have what you are looking for in a staff only area or it may be due to arrive very shortly. The staff that can help with this are the staff on each particular section. Please note reception staff will not have this information.
When you have found the animal that you would like to adopt one of our staff members will ask you some questions and fill out an adoption application for you. This will be passed to one of our team of home visitors who will make an appointment to visit you at home. Their purpose is to talk with you about the animal's needs in relation to your home environment and your needs in relation to the animal. When you are both happy that we are doing the right thing the home visitor will ring and let the staff know that we have found a good home for one of our friends. The staff will then have our vet see the animal again for a final pre-homing check. If all is well you can collect your new family member the day after the vet check. Please note the vet is on duty Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; therefore collection days are Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. We do not book animals out on vet days.
If you are going to collect your new pet on Saturday or Sunday please telephone reception for an appointment. As we have a large number of animals arriving and leaving at weekends we work to an appointment system. This ensures that the staff will have time to give you the attention you need and deserve. Please understand that if you have an appointment for a weekend it is important that you stick to the appointed time.
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As our animals are all rescued from whatever situation they used to be in there are certain things that we do and others that we don’t. For instance, we are not looking for homes with children under 5 years of age, or homes where the animal would be left for long periods for our dogs and cats. Dogs adopted from Bleakholt will be going to homes where the walls or fences are sufficient to prevent them escaping when using the garden or yard for their toilet. Equally we are not looking for homes on or near to main roads or railway lines for our cats.
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Yes. We encourage adopters to walk and get to know a dog that they are considering adopting. In order to register for walking our dogs we ask you to bring some address identification with you. We only need this on the first occasion; thereafter you will be able to walk dogs without re-registering unless you have a change of address. (Please also see FAQ below: Can I take your dogs out for a walk?). All dogs that are being walked by members of the public must be returned to their kennels by 3pm. This is very important. We suggest that if you will be walking one of our dogs you arrive no later than 2pm. As we have a maximum number of dogs out of their kennels with members of the public at any one time there can sometimes be a wait before you will be able to walk the dog. This is especially so at the weekends. If you will be walking one of our dogs please make sure that there is at least one adult per child under 16 years old. This is very important for safety reasons and cannot be varied at any time.
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Bleakholt has a large number of animals arriving and leaving every week. Consequently we cannot answer availability questions by telephone, email or letter. We recommend that you visit between 10am and 4pm and speak with the staff concerned. To put this matter in to context, we always have over 400 animals reaching up to 500 seasonally.
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The only exception we make to the above policy is if you are looking only for a puppy or a kitten. Both puppies and kittens regularly come in to Bleakholt. Our vet checks them regularly and when she feels that they are old enough and well enough to be viewed she will release the litter for viewing. We do not allow viewing of puppies or kittens before this.
If the vet has released a litter for viewing it will always be on a Friday afternoon. These puppies and kittens will then be available for viewing from 10am the following day, ie Saturday. Quite often homes will be found for these young animals on their first day on view.
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We rehome animals over a wide area. This is not a fixed radius around Bleakholt; it is determined by the areas that we have volunteers available for home visits and support of adopters for. If you are not local and you want to check if we are able to rehome to your area you can give us a ring and speak to reception who will check for you.
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No. We don’t put a mandatory charge on the admission of the animals. If we did there could be deserving animals that didn’t get our help because their owners weren’t in a position to pay. We do however appreciate a donation when an animal is being admitted. There is no fixed or even suggested amount as what could be a lot of money to one person is very little to the next. We are grateful for donations of any amount.
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Definitely, yes please! Many wonderful people help support our work financially. Among these methods of support are the animal sponsorships. The sponsor animals are our long stay animals and therefore they can have longer-term relationships with their sponsors. Sponsors get a certificate with the animal’s photo. They also receive our newsletters during their sponsorship. Animals can be sponsored for whatever amount you wish, subject to a minimum of £15 per annum. Most sponsors pay by bank standing order. We are very grateful for this as it greatly decreases our paperwork and therefore costs.
If you are a UK taxpayer, through "Gift Aid" we can claim back the tax you have paid on your donation. This means that for every £10.00 donated we can claim an additional £2.80! All you need to do is complete a "Gift Aid Declaration".
To sponsor an animal simply fill out the application form or visit the Sanctuary in person. If you have sponsored a dog you will be able to visit and take him or her for walks. If you are going to want to walk your sponsored dog, before you commit to a sponsorship, please make sure that you ask the staff what the dogs walking requirements will be, particularly in relation to children if you are going to be accompanied by a child or children. (Please also see FAQ below: Can I take your dogs out for a walk?)
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Frustrating isn’t it! Sorry about this but we cannot afford more than one person to answer the phones. This is why we have put an Auto Attendant on the telephone line and have prepared these frequently asked questions for you.
If however neither of these can help, the phones are permanently manned during opening hours, ie 10am until 4pm. There is only one person to answer the phone so we have made it possible for the system to queue calls. If the system tells you that our staff are busy and asks you to hold, please do so. If you hang up and redial you will go to the back of the queue again. If you are in a queue this queue will never be longer than 3 calls so it is definitely worth hanging on. Our telephone number is 08700 620530.
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Yes we do. Bleakholt couldn’t manage without our team of volunteers. If you would like to register you can do so with our volunteer registration and have a chat with the Manager or the Deputy Manager on one of our Volunteer Induction Meetings. These are held on Sundays at 10.00 am in our Visitor Centre. In 2008 the meetings will be held on:
24th February
6th April
4th May
11th June
13th July
3rd August
7th September
5th October
24th November
Volunteers help Bleakholt with a very wide range of duties. These include animal care and walking our dogs but also include clerical work, help in the shops and café and many other duties. If you are thinking of volunteering and have a talent or skill we can probably use it. Due to health and safety restrictions we cannot take regular volunteers below 16 years of age. We can make an exception to this if a young person is 14 or 15 years old and part of a specially approved learning plan. This is usually young people who would like to be a vet when older. These exceptions require meetings and specific risk assessments agreed with parents. Once these are agreed all involved have to be very diligent regarding the agreed risk assessment.
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Yes you can. The dogs benefit greatly from these walks with new friends. Many families that can’t have a dog at home enjoy visiting us and walking our dogs. For reasons of safety and security there are a number of precautions that we have to take. These can be found on the Dog Walker's registration. The main ones to note before you visit are:
- You will be asked for some address identification on your first visit when you register.
- We need any children in your group to be equal to or less than the number of adults.
- There are a maximum of 8 dogs being walked in this manner at any one time. If 8 are out when you arrive we will ask you to wait until one comes back before you take your chosen dog out.
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We have regular visits from a wide range of young persons' groups. If you are a teacher or a carer it is important that you speak to us about your potential visit. We can then discuss staffing levels, times and other important matters. Guided tours are given supervised access to areas that wouldn’t otherwise be open to visitors.
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Bleakholt is a host for work experience opportunities from most educational establishments. Booking early is absolutely essential as we can only take a limited number of students and we get applications from many sources. Our furthest work experience student came from Israel to learn how we do things! Students coming to Bleakholt must be seriously considering a career with animals to be accepted.
In all work experience opportunities we can provisionally book the dates that are required over the telephone. However it is essential that the applicant arrange an interview with either the Manager or the Deputy Manager within the following 14 days. After that period we will assume that the place is no longer required.
During their interview, students and any accompanying parents or guardians will be told how we handle health and safety and the importance we attach to this. If, when the student is on their work experience, they fail to keep within these health and safety requirements the placement will be cancelled immediately.
Students who are under 18 years of age will need to attend the interview with a parent or guardian.
All work experience students must have a current tetanus vaccination.
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Regrettably the answer has to be no. Experience has taught us that these situations have too many health and safety considerations. The only way we can involve people with special needs is as part of an organised tour where staffing levels and needs can be accommodated. As to how we define “special needs”, we mean clients who have support from professionals with their day-to-day living. This mainly occurs when the client is in residential care but we also include those who live independently but have professional support.
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Bleakholt Shop Ltd is open every day from 10am until 4pm. It is only fully staffed at weekends and Bank Holidays but purchases can be made any time from reception.
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The café is open from 12 noon until 4pm every weekend and Bank Holidays. We sell tasty snacks and home made fare.
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Staff vacancies do not come up very often as we have very good and reliable staff. If you have qualifications and/or experience in this field you are welcome to put in a written application stating the area(s) that you are interested in. Young people (under 20) looking for work in this field would be well advised to enroll for NVQ’s or other suitable training. Myerscough College offers a number of suitable courses. Older applicants could well have experience that might compensate for a lack of formal qualifications.
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Bleakholt is entirely funded by donation. Our annual funding requirement is now approximately £1,000,000. The largest single source of income is by way of legacies that usually make up approximately 70% of our income. The remaining 30% is from fundraising of every type imaginable. If you are thinking of organising some fundraising for us we would be glad to hear from you. We have no income from national or local authority and no national or parent charity to draw funds from.
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What we need to know is the animal's situation rather than that of its owner. By that we mean we need to know the animal's vaccination status, welfare needs and any problems the animal currently has. There is a sample admission questionnaire on this site.
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This varies considerably. We are always working from waiting lists of many hundreds of animals needing admission. In all cases we will admit the animal as soon as possible. Regrettably due to the extremely high demand for our services, animals with a low priority will be on our waiting list for a long time. The only way that we could shorten or have no need for a waiting list would be if we were prepared to put animals to sleep in order to make room. This is not our policy and never will be. Therefore we have waiting lists. Equally, because we do not put animals to sleep in order to make room, we are a preferred choice by animal owners wanting to give up their pets. This in turn makes the waiting list even longer.
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Yes we can. We have a list of other organisations that have similar ethos to ourselves. This can be viewed on our Links page or obtained from reception.
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No we cannot provide treatment for non-Bleakholt animals. Our money will only go so far.
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In many cases we will provide treatment for elderly cats and dogs adopted from Bleakholt and can also help with younger animals with special veterinary needs. Details can be obtained from the senior staff.
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Our supporters help us with the donation of a wide variety of items.
Animal Food: We can take advantage of most donated animal food. This will be by either using it ourselves, sharing it with other charities, or by selling it in our shops. The foods that we can feed directly to our own animals include; most cat foods in jelly rather than gravy, good quality dog food such as Pedigree, Iams, Bakers in both tinned and dried form. The large animals can eat carrots, cabbage, apples and other vegetables and fruits.
Bedding: We have a never-ending need for bedding. This can be blankets, towels, sheets and other similar materials. We cannot use duvets, electric blankets, cushions, pillows and other bedding that could easily be taken apart by the dogs. These last items block both the drains and the dog’s digestive tract. In both cases the results can be serious.
Items For Selling: We have a tireless team of people who use a number of ways to turn your donated items into cash. However the rise of stores such as Matalan, Primark and discounting by the larger retailers coupled with the greater affluence of recent years has severely reduced the number of items that we can profitably sell.
The Items We Can Sell: include unwanted gifts, good quality bric-a-brac, household items, books that aren’t elderly and are in good condition, recent boxed and complete toys and items of furniture up to the size of a bedside table.
The Items We Cannot Sell: include all clothing, electrical items, large pieces of furniture, shoes, damaged or incomplete toys, any items that have clearly had a hard life.
Please, please, please do not bring items to us that we cannot sell. The cost of skips to take away these items is a major expense that we are trying to reduce. We know you are donating items to help us raise money and are very grateful, but it is a great shame to spend that hard-earned money on skips to remove unsalable items.
If you are unsure if we would benefit from any items that you have, you could give us a ring so that we can advise you. Or you could use the litmus test:"Would I go into a charity shop and buy this item?” If the answer is "No”, chances are that most other people would feel the same way.
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We have two shops off site. They are in Blackburn at 46 King Street and in Accrington at 3 Cross Street. We also have the gift shop on site at the sanctuary.
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The 2008 Open Days are on:
27 April, 13 July, 28 September, 30 November.
Open Days include a wide range of entertainment and items for sale. There are games of skill and chance for both adults and youngsters alike. Most Open Days also include a horse parade or other entertainment with our horses. For additional details you can contact reception in the weeks prior to the event.
If you are attending one of our Open Days the car parks will be marshalled for your convenience. On the busier Open Days we use a field for an overflow car park and operate a one-way system on local roads. We would be grateful for your patience and cooperation with these matters.
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We are open every day from 10am until 4pm. This includes weekends and Bank Holidays.
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Yes you can. If you cannot find the information you need in these FAQs our email address is "bleakholt.animal@globaluk.net"
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Yes, our fax number is 01706 822812.
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