Calling All Local Businesses

 

Can you help us to help you and really make a difference this year?

I’m sure you know already that we rescue abandoned, neglected or maltreated horses, but did you know that we receive calls daily asking for help? There is a wide-scale horse welfare crisis in this country and its getting worse. Our Sanctuary in Ingatestone now provides rehabilitation and care for over 200 animals.
This constant and increasing demand puts us under extreme pressure financially and we are currently contacting local businesses with regards to our 2015 sponsorship opportunities in return for donations, contributions towards animal feed and, additionally, items for sale or raffle. Our sponsorship opportunities for 2015 include:

• Dog Shows (multiple dates)
• Recipe Cookbook
• Healthy Horse Seminar (multiple opportunities)
• Christmas Raffle
• 2016 Calendar

Alongside these sponsorship opportunities we can also offer:

• Promotion of your company, products and services at our events
• A press release to local media regarding your sponsorship or donation
• Your company logo and a link to your website placed on our website
• References and mentions of your company via our popular Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts

Any assistance you can offer would be much appreciated to help these poor creatures who, through no fault of their own, are left abandoned, tethered, cold, hungry and afraid. And perhaps you might consider a talk at your offices? We would love to come and talk to your staff about the history of Remus and the wonderful work we do. You can find out more on our talks here.

If you would be interested in supporting Remus this year and/or sponsoring an event, please drop an email to Alison Page and she’ll be happy to talk your through the various packages that we’ve put together.

With heartfelt thanks,
Sue Burton – Founder of Remus Memorial Horse Sanctuary

Help Save Horses from Starving to Death

We are absolutely inundated with calls and emails at present, to help horses all over the country and, frankly, we are struggling to cope with the demand placed upon us!

The callers expect us to be able to remove the animals, yet we have neither the power, the space or the money to do so. Just last week I spent three days visiting horses in need: on the M11 at Stansted, Surbiton in Surrey and Hamble Airfield in Southampton, following cries for help from the public who were concerned for the horses’ safety and wellbeing. Additionally, again in the past week, Remus have been notified of a foal that died alone in a field, another shot to spare its suffering, a dead Shetland that was dumped and a living horse tied to a telegraph pole.

The UK is in the grip of a horse welfare crisis with thousands of horses at risk all of the time. The problem seems to be worse in the South East, as there is less land and a larger population of horses.

We are doing all we can to help but we are calling on animal lovers everywhere to help us to help more, by making a donation towards our Winter Feed Appeal to help us buy food and get care out to these animals.

We need to buy new food and rugs for horses both at the Sanctuary and for when we are called out on welfare visits. Please donate to our Winter Feed Appeal via Just Giving. Or, if you prefer, you can donate by mobile. Just text FEED36 £10 to 70070 – it doesn’t have to be for £10 you can enter whatever value you wish!

FOUNDER OF HORSE SANCTUARY IMPLORES THE PUBLIC TO HELP END ANIMAL SUFFERING

Ingatestone, Essex – Sue Burton, founder of Remus Memorial Horse Sanctuary in Essex, has spent three days over the past week visiting horses in need: on the M11 at Stansted, Surbiton in Surrey and Hamble Airfield in Southampton, following cries for help from the public who are concerned for the horses’ safety and wellbeing. Additionally, again in the past week, Remus have been notified of a foal that died alone in a field, another shot to spare its suffering, a dead Shetland that was dumped and a living horse tied to a telegraph pole.

Sue says, “The horse welfare crisis in this country is escalating. The scenes I’ve witnessed are replicated the length and breadth of the country and there can be no excuse for us to turn a blind eye and allow this suffering to continue. Horses on tethering chains with no food, no water, no access to the five freedoms and when you look into those dark sad eyes – no hope!”

The five freedoms that Sue refers to are a fundamental part of The Animal Welfare Act 2006 and the animal owner’s ‘Duty of Care’ in British Law. The five freedoms are:

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst.
2. Freedom from discomfort.
3. Freedom from pain, injury and disease.
4. Freedom to express normal behavior.
5. Freedom from fear and distress.

Sue was particularly struck by a thin piebald stallion, so desperate for water that he has learnt to rub his nose across his fetlock – effectively bowing in his request for a drink. Sue expands, “drink should be a natural bodily function and not something a horse should have to beg for. When I see these sights I am ashamed to be a human – part of a race who can treat animals so and a political system that turns a blind eye.”

Sue believes that we, the people are allowing the Government to turn a blind eye, because the people, ie, the animal’s voice, do not shout loudly enough. Says Sue, “we tut and we complain but we then go about our daily life having food and drink when we want, enjoying our freedom, enjoying the warmth of our houses leaving these animals to live another night deprived of all of its natural needs. How many of us care enough to this time really make a stand?”

Sue makes an important point and if the UK is to get a grip on the horse welfare crisis in this country, people need to take action. These gentle creatures, upon whose backs our history has been borne, suffer quietly on a daily basis, often only ending with the violent death that awaits them upon the chain. “We don’t even step in then”, says Sue, “and these animals are allowed to rot where they die. Shameful!”

For further information or to participate in the new Remus Welfare Watch, visit www.remussanctuary.org or contact Sue Burton on tel: 01277 356191. Anyone wishing to make a donation to the Winter Feed Appeal can do so via www.justgiving.com/rmhs.

The Perfect Valentines Gift from Remus Horse Sanctuary

Share some love with Remus Horse Sanctuary and show someone that you care today!

To celebrate Valentine’s Day this year we’re giving away a free cuddly toy with a ‘Be My Valentine’ badge with all new sponsorship orders. To sponsor an animal as a gift for your loved one this Valentine’s Day, click here.

Choose from:

• Pony (3”)
• Donkey (4”)
• Cow (4”)
• Sheep (4”)

Offer available on all new Sponsorship orders placed between 1 and 14 February 2015. Gift Value £6. To ensure delivery of your gift in time for Valentine’s Day, please place your order by Tuesday 10 February. Sadly we will not be able to supply the cuddly toys and badges for Sponsorship orders received after 14 February. No cash alternative or reduction in the Sponsorship price is available.

Just tell us your choice of cuddly toy when you place your order. There is limited supply on some toys, so orders will be fulfilled on a first come first served basis. You will be offered an alternative if we can’t supply your chosen toy. Additional toys can be purchased separately via our online shop here.

To sponsor an animal as a gift for your loved one this Valentine’s Day, click here.

Here’s some pictures of the cuddly toys and also the Valentines badge that you’ll receive – the sheep and the cow are just as cute!

 

WINTER 2015 NEWSLETTER

May we take this opportunity to wish you a healthy and happy 2015 and thank you all so much for all your support that is given to the Sanctuary in so many different ways. Without you, we couldn’t do the work we do and the many animals we help would be homeless, alone, hungry and suffering – so thank you very much from the very bottom of our hearts.

We always feel that Remus is a very special place and the animals are cared for and looked after so well. We are proud that we are able to get out and help the many animals that we hear about that need our help in the Essex and surrounding countryside. It is already proving to be a very busy winter and we have been inundated with calls about so many horses that need our help in these freezing conditions…

However, this winter has been different as our funds are depleted as the work we are being called to do increases each year with the horse welfare crisis that exists in the UK. This is where we need to call on your help again in two ways.

1. We need to buy new rugs for the horses here at the Sanctuary and indeed some to go on horses that are tethered and left. We have found a supplier who can give us a good quality warm rug for £40. Can you help buy a rug for a horse that needs it in this cold weather or help pay towards a rug?
2. Last year we helped a lot of horses that were left in fields by getting hay to them to keep them alive – we don’t have that money this year. Are you able to help fund some bales of hay for some of these unfortunate animals? Hay costs £4 a bale at present.

The link to the Just Giving website makes this process really easy for you. Alternatively, if you prefer, you can donate by mobile. Just text FEED36 £10 to 70070 to donate to Remus. It doesn’t have to be for £10 you can enter whatever value you wish. Please note that text donations are one-offs and not the same as a monthly direct debit. Any help that you can offer in any way would be so much appreciated to help us help these poor creatures who through no fault of their own are left abandoned, tethered, cold, hungry and often afraid.

Shopping List

Items that the Sanctuary always need;-

• Jeyes Fluid
• Exterior white masonry paint
• Coffee/tea bags for the workers!
• Tins of Whiskas or Felix for the cats
• Cat Biscuits & Dreamie cat treats
• New postage stamps
• White copy paper
• Actimel for the horses medications
• Rolls of cotton wool

Can you help us?

Can you help the Sanctuary this year with any of the following:

• Do you have any unwanted Christmas presents you no longer need?
• Do you have anything that Joy Williams can auction?
• Can you help run or man a stall on the Open day?
• Sign a friend up for membership?
• Run a fundraising event?
• Sign up for Gift Aid?
• Sponsor a Remus animal as a gift? Join the fundraising team?
• Can you make things we can sell ie jams etc.?

Any help you can offer would be so much appreciated.

Gift Aid

If you are a UK Taxpayer there is one way you can help us it makes an enormous difference to us – Gift Aid.

GIFT AID costs you nothing at all, but it makes your generous donation go even further and enables us to do even more for sick, ill treated and neglected animals.

Please if you are a taxpayer and have not already done so, do sign up for Gift Aid. It truly makes such a big difference to the Sanctuary and our animals. Remus can claim an extra 25p on every £1 you give. If you haven’t yet signed up please complete the form via the website here.

Roger Green Solicitors

Billericay Solicitor Michael Murphy from Roger Green Solicitors has kindly offered to help the Sanctuary by donating his fee/charges to the Sanctuary on the first 6 people who have their wills written up by him.

If you are interested, please contact him directly at 100 High Street. Billericay. Or by phone on 01277 659441.

Thank you Michael!

Milo

You may recall that Little Milo came in and spent his day with his head in the corner of the stable, eyes squeezed closed as they were so sore, and he was in such poor condition that two Vets said he was unlikely to survive. Just a few months on, his eyes are open; he is out of the corner and is enjoying life. He goes into his paddock during the day to graze with his friend Toffee and is slowly putting on weight. He still has to have surgery on his mouth and his eyes have been assessed by the Animal Health Trust Ophthalmologist and he has a long way to go but he has come on so much and improved so well.

The sheer joy on Milo’s face as he eats his food! Thanks to everyone who has donated towards his care.

Christmas Draw Tickets

1st Denise & Nigel Kirby of Chelmsford
2nd Lillian Atkins of Romford
3rd Linda Croton of Billericay
Thank you to everyone who bought tickets.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.