Wildlife charity's donation plea as rescues surge

Cleethorpes Wildlife Rescue said donations are dropping

A wildlife rescue charity is appealing for financial donations after seeing an increase in animal drop-offs, but a decline in contributions.

Cleethorpes Wildlife Rescue reported nearly 80% of people who drop off sick or injured wild animals do not donate towards their care.

This marks an increase of about 30% compared to last year.

Aaron Goss, lead rescuer at the charity, described it as "quite a surprising statistic" and said it was a pattern rescue centres across the UK were seeing.

The volunteer-led organisation helps to rehabilitate injured wildlife in North East Lincolnshire and relies solely on donations.

They sometimes tend to over 20 animals a day and had more than 1,000 wildlife casualties last year.

The charity rescued ducklings that fell down a drain in Cleethorpes

When a member of the public reports an injured bird or mammal they are given the option to donate and 79% of people have declined so far this year, according to the charity.

Mr Goss said: "I do think it is a case that sometimes just actually at the time of finding the animal, it can be hard for people to donate at that time."

He added: "We're always struggling, but we always make it work. If we are at a lower point financially, it does mean that we can't accept as many animals in maybe we could do."

An escaped emu was rescued by the volunteers last year

Mr Goss works night shifts at a paid job and volunteers for the wildlife rescue during the day.

When working with the charity, he often carries out rescue missions in the wildlife ambulance - which includes situations like helping a fox cub trapped in netting or tending to a deer that has been hit by a car.

Donations go towards rescuing and feeding animals, as well as paying for their wildlife ambulance and training volunteers.

"So it is really important that if we can get a few more monthly donors, that would be brilliant."

Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.