Local wildlife charity prepares for growth
The dales based charity Craven Wildlife Charity (CWR) has announced the appointment of three new trustees as the charity prepares for future growth. These appointments bring a wide range of additional experience to CWR's board: Penny Hunt, co-founder of CWR, joins from the arts and education sectors along with Pat Porter from the charity and mental health sectors, and Jill Franklin from the broadcasting and PR sectors.
Jane Carpenter, the other co-founder of CWR, says: "Since the rescue was set up in 2019, we have become the first port of call for anyone finding an injured or sick animal in Craven. We have received over a thousand animals since we began - including hedgehogs, owls and birds of prey, swans, herons, otters and many other mammals and birds. Most of the animals we rescue are red and amber listed. They need help because, typically, they have been injured (many hit by cars), diseased, poisoned, or are badly affected by climate change.
"We are receiving more and more animals as people learn about our work, which is fantastic news for the animals but provides us with a number of logistical challenges. We are absolutely delighted to welcome Penny, Pat and Jill as Trustees. Their collective experience will bring a huge amount to the Rescue."
Craven Wildlife Rescue's aims are rescue, conservation and education. Currently housed in temporary accommodation in Horton in Ribblesdale its dedicated team of almost 30 volunteers keep the rescue running on a day-to-day basis and care for the animals' short and medium term health to ready them for release when they are well enough. Any animal coming to CWR for rehabilitation gets returned to its home territory, where possible. The changing climate and CWR's growing reputation has meant that the charity has had an extremely busy winter. At a time when the team would normally have been putting their feet up on the approach to Christmas, they had 70 hedgehogs, along with several birds of prey, who were struggling with their health - an unprecedented amount for CWR.
"We need to urgently plan for improved premises" adds Jane Carpenter. "Our temporary accommodation has given us a good centre of operations, but there is no doubt we need more space, better facilities and a permanent home from which to build our future. We are proactively putting out feelers right now - whether it be for pockets of land or unused buildings in Craven which we can lease or buy. We really want to do more - whether it's improving the facilities for those in our care or working with the community with more talks, events and community projects. It would be wonderful to have a site where we can do that."
CWR became a registered charity in March 2024, to prepare for future growth. It recently appointed Sarah Brown, a chartered accountant with many years experience, as treasurer and, as well as launching its first website at www.cravenwildliferescue.com where the public can sponsor animals, it has also started a wider fundraising push to support its work this year.
[News item based on material supplied by Craven Wildlife Rescue posted by Eagle Intermedia - March 2025.]
The Yorkshire Dales is designed and maintained by Eagle Intermedia Publishing Ltd.
