The exotic pet refuge
From hand-rearing a tiny monkey to bringing up a baby owl, Pam Mansfield has dedicated her life to giving a home to unwanted exotic animals with nowhere else to go
There’s a cacophony of noise as birds and monkeys chatter, emus screech and owls hoot. This is the Exotic Pet Refuge in Deeping St James, Lincolnshire, a place where a very special lady, Pam Mansfield, gives a loving home to around 250 wild animals, many of which have been kept as pets and arrive on her door unwanted and in need of some TLC.
Now celebrating its 35th year, it all began when Pam’s equally animal-mad husband Mel started bringing animals home from work that his colleagues had taken in as pets but later didn’t want. Starting with budgies, parakeets and the odd tortoise, soon it snowballed into much larger animals, from snakes to monkeys, and in no time the garden of their council house was like a wildlife park.
Realising this was their real calling in life, they moved to a derelict four-acre plot and with their own money built dozens of homes for their current animals and the new ones that soon came flooding through the door once word of their work spread.
Sadly, in 2004 Mel passed away, but Pam was determined to continue their dream on her own. And all these years later, now aged 69 and affected by sight problems, Pam still fills her days with looking after the animals she loves.
But this is no mean feat. After all, feeding a wolf, tending to a lynx and keeping an otter happy all require totally different and specialist approaches. Pam has learnt it all on the job as each new species has come in.
“While every animal is different, to me they’re basically all the same in that they eat food and drink water,” says Pam, who gives all the animals in her care a ‘forever’ home.
The majority of the animals in Pam’s care come from the pet trade – owners are ill-prepared for the demanding care an exotic animal needs. While it’s hard to imagine people keeping monkeys and foxes in their homes today, Pam explains that it’s still a sad reality with little legislation in place to stop it. With many of the animals kept in unsuitable conditions or treated like domestic pets,
Pam and her team often have to work hard to help them recover their natural behaviours and instincts and learn how to interact with their own species once they arrive at the refuge.
In the more serious cases, especially with young or injured animals, Pam opens up her home to hand-rear these most vulnerable of creatures who probably wouldn’t survive without her help.
Thor the owl was one such case, hand-reared from an egg after his parents killed the first clutch of eggs in the nest. Meanwhile, Adam, the capuchin monkey now nearly 30, was born at the refuge but needed extra help when he couldn’t get milk from his mother, so Pam hand-fed him herself. Most recently Pam hand-reared a tiny spider monkey called Stephie who had to be fed every hour initially and had the run of her house before she was old enough to join friends in the monkey enclosure, where she’s now a happy member of the gang.
“With all the animals I hand-reared, there’s a very special bond between us,” says Pam.
When she’s not caring for the animals, Pam spends a lot of her time working out how to raise the £80,000 a year they need to keep the refuge open. With so many exotic pets who are used to hotter climates, it often costs her £2,000 a month in electricity bills alone to keep residents such as George the alligator warm. He came to the sanctuary after a lady got in touch with Pam to say the lizard she’d just bought was walking down the stairs and kept snapping at her!
With so much to pay for, Pam and her team run regular open days, parties, events and talks to raise funds as well as educating people about the demanding care exotic animals need. “It’s alright to see animals on TV but unless you actually get to know an animal in the flesh you can’t understand its needs,” says Pam.
With so much passion to continue her mission, Pam insists she’ll never retire.
“How can I leave this when I’ve known these animals all these years?” she says. “I’ve had some animals such as Merlin the monkey for 40 years and he’s the same age as my son. It’s like all the animals are my mates and they’re very special to me.” ■ If you’d like to help, please send a cheque payable to The Exotic Pet Refuge, to: 102 Station Rd, Deeping St James, Peterborough PE6 8RH. To find out more about their work and upcoming open days, call 01778 345923 or visit www.exoticpetrefuge.org.uk