Charity’s big plans 
for animal hospital

Wild Things Rescue is a county-wide rescue charity founded by Lucy Steele in 2018 which aims to care for ill, injured or stranded wildlife and release them successfully back into the wild.

Over the years, the charity has rescued a huge variety of animal and bird species, including deer, badgers, foxes, hares, rabbits, ducks, kestrels and more.

Wild Things now has more than 5,000 Facebook followers and Lucy has a team of admin volunteers and foster carers who specialise in many different species, as well as help from vet practices all over the county to help with the medical side of animal care.

Now Lucy has put plans in place to set up their own premises to offer an in-house rehabilitation facility for the animals they rescue and secured a lease for their own premises near Langrick, which is estimated to cost around £100,000.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Lucy said. “I’ve wanted to do this since we first began and want to have a facility where people can come in and volunteer and to allow people to come and work with animals and learn about wildlife.”

Animals will continue to receive care at the nearby vet practices Wild Things has been able to use, and the centre will allow the animals to recuperate and receive care until they can be released back into the wild. The new centre will include a gift-shop, an isolation and assessment room where the animals will be examined when they arrive, with several isolation cages already in place which have been donated by Boston College.

There will also be a hospital room, as well as a training room, office and fully functioning kitchen.

At present, the charity is aiming to raise £3,000 on their Go Fund Me page to cover additional costs that have occurred during the planning of their animal hospital, including a planning permission and change of use application for their premises, solicitors and other admin fees, which have eaten into the charity’s reserves.

Wild Things is currently operating two Amazon wishlists – one where people can pay for essentials for their animals including feed, bedding and other medical supplies (available to view here), and a second where people can purchase items for the new hospital including essential safety equipment, admin supplies, office equipment and furniture (click here to view the centre list).

Now the charity is gearing up for a busy spring, as April are very busy months as last year proved:

“Last year we admitted 35 animals throughout the whole of March, but in April we admitted 130 and this April we’ve already admitted 10 animals in the first four days of the month,” Lucy said.

l To find out more, or to help make a donation to Wild Things’ appeal, visit the charity’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/WildlifeInLincolnshireandDistrict/