‘To keep things fair, we’ll work split shifts over festive period’
Nigel Mason (60), CEO of Assisi Animal Sanctuary near Newtownards, says there is an increase in the number of animals needing rehomed even before Christmas. “What tends to happen in the run-up to Christmas is that we get many calls from people asking us to take animals because they’ve decided they can no longer keep them,” he says.
The reason there are so many calls at Christmas, he says, is because people may have been thinking about rehoming a pet, but it’s only when they’re preparing for visitors and the bustle of Christmas that things come to a head and they do something about it.
“We get requests to take animals in all the time, but we can’t take everything in the timescale that people want,” he says.
“At the same time most people decide not to take a new pet at Christmas and they wait until the New Year.
“So it can be a double whammy come February or March.”
It’s been a busy time for Assisi, which is just embarking on a three-week period of modifications to its cattery.
“We have been able to find foster homes for all the cats we have in the sanctuary at the moment and it’s an opportunity to get units in that will be better than the old ones,” he says.
“We’re not closing to the public at Christmas. We will rehome animals to people right over the Christmas period on a case-by-case basis.
“For some people, it will suit them down to the ground to have a new cat or a new rabbit if they are having a quiet time. But if they’re having a busy Christmas with lots of visitors, it might not be the right time to get a new pet. We won’t necessarily say no, but it’s caseby-case. We want to rehome animals so shutting down altogether would be a bit daft.”
Staff will be in the centre every day from 7am until 7pm and are currently sifting through all the items donated through shoebox appeals, many of them food items.
“On Christmas Day they’ll give presents to the animals, it’s usually food. But we always say spare a thought for those who are coming in from the cold and dark and cleaning cages and they work from 7am to 7pm. They work a 12hour day for 365 days of the year.”
The staff make sure it’s a festive atmosphere for the animals, Nigel says.
“We’ve got the Christmas decorations up, and the lights, and in our three charity shops we’ve just had Santa Paws where people can come along and have their photo taken or their dog’s and cat’s photo taken with Santa.
“We had more than 90 people who came with their pets to have their photos taken in Bangor alone. People always look forward to that.
“Generally there’s a very festive atmosphere in the centre and they celebrate every animal that gets a home prior to Christmas because it’s another space for somebody else to come in.
“They may shed a tear when some animal has been here for a while and is rehomed, they want them to be rehomed but they’ve formed a bond with them. So they’re constantly losing their friends, but that’s part and parcel of it. We’d rather that they were in a home than a shelter.”
In order to spend some time on Christmas Day with family and friends, many of the staff split shifts, each taking an early or late eight-hour shift.
“It means they get some time during the day to spend with their family and we try to ensure that if one works on Christmas Day, another works on Boxing Day and they split it as best they can,” Nigel says.
“On Christmas Day I will come in with some goodies for the staff. But people are so generous that we have a kitchen table with goodies.
“The dogs and cats will all get a special Christmas dinner — usually chicken — and they make a celebratory day of it,” Nigel says.