The animal Superheroes
As Yours begins a new partnership with Blue Cross, we celebrate the charity’s amazing work helping tens of thousands of animals every year...
Ever since a group of animal lovers first got together in 1897 to create an organisation caring for working horses on the streets of London, Blue Cross has been dedicated to putting animals first. From the tiniest hamsters to the most majestic mares, Blue Cross look out for all creatures great and small and in whatever situation they find themselves in.
Whether they’re doing big things like standing up for animal welfare or educating young people about treating animals well or smaller things like helping one stray pup find a home, we love the amazing work Blue Cross does for the animal kingdom.
That’s why we’re excited to announce that Yours has started a new partnership with the 121-year old charity to raise awareness of their brilliant work and hopefully help raise funds to fuel a future where they can do even more life changing work. Over the next few months, we’ll be telling you about how Blue Cross can help you, your pets and animals in need that you’ve never even met as well as giving details of how you can help them. But we thought we’d start by celebrating some of the Blue Cross’ most amazing achievements that made us want to get involved in and support their work.
Nearly 8,000 pets rehomed
Rehoming is a huge part of what Blue Cross do – giving unwanted or abandoned pets a second chance at finding that happy, forever home with people who love them as they deserve. In fact, in 2017, Blue Cross rehomed 7,813 animals which is an awful lot of wagging tails and purring pusses! Blue Cross has 12 rehoming centres around the UK and each offers a tailor-made service to match pets with the right owner for them, changing animal and human lives in one go.
One of the charity’s latest and biggest projects is to renovate their Hertfordshire rehoming centre. Opened in 1949 it’s in desperate need of an update to improve out-of-date facilities. Once finished it will help Blue Cross take in 100 more dogs and 200 more cats every year to be rehomed. If you’d like to give an animal a home, visit your local rehoming centre, call 03007909903 or visit www.bluecross.org.uk
Supporting owners
We know animal lovers come all different shapes and sizes, with all different backgrounds and circumstances. But for any owner on certain means-tested benefits who find themselves unable to pay for private vet fees when their beloved pet becomes sick or injured, Blue Cross will step in to provide free veterinary treatment to help get pets back on their feet. In 2017, Blue Cross treated 28,049 pets at their four animal hospitals – in Hammersmith, Victoria, Merton and Grimsby – as well as at their network of clinics around the country.
Educating for the future
Blue Cross is helping foster a nation full of animal fans who know how to treat their pets properly thanks to their hugely successful education programme, involving speaking to school children, youth groups, prisons and families. In fact, in 2017 the charity managed to reach more than 95,000 people with their powerful message of treating animals well.
A listening ear...
Most of us will have sadly known the pain of losing a pet but Blue Cross has done a great job in providing a listening ear and a helping hand for the times this grief is hard to bear. Trained volunteers of the Pet Bereavement Service handle more than 5,000 calls and nearly 2,000 emails from grieving people every year.
■ If you think you could benefit from this service call 0800 096 6606 or email pbssmail@ bluecross.org.uk