Wildlife Rescue Sanctuaries charity bids to convert former Ingrow and Hermit Hole Conservative Club (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Wildlife Rescue Sanctuaries charity bids to convert former Ingrow and Hermit Hole Conservative Club

2:30pm Saturday 11th February 2012 in News

Hedgehogs, foxes, badgers and birds could be taking over a former members’ club if plans to open a wildlife rescue centre there are approved.

Animal charity Wildlife Rescue Sanctuaries wants to convert the former Ingrow and Hermit Hole Conservative Club, in Keighley, into a rescue centre with a classroom, cafe bar and charity shop.

The charity’s founder Marianne Crowley says the move is urgently needed to cope with the increasing number of admissions.

“We are absolutely inundated with animals all the time,” she said. “There is nowhere else in this area for wild animals to go.

“Vets euthanise them because they don’t know what to do with them.

“I have been running the rescue centre from my house in Keighley and from people’s gardens where we have cages and sheds, but it has all become too much.

“We now need one centre for them all.”

If approved, the rescue centre would include an intensive care unit for injured creatures, a recuperation room, an aviary and a pre-release area where animals can prepare for return to the wild.

There will also be a classroom where the centre will cater for school visits and offer courses in wildlife care, which will provide a small income for the charity.

There is already a lift in the building for disabled access.

Mrs Crowley said the rent would cost £26,000 per year and there was enough money to fund the centre for two years.

She said the charity, which was formerly called Keighley Hedgehog Rescue, was currently run by volunteers and she hoped to offer work placements to students once the centre was up and running.

“We have worked ten years to get this unit together,” she said. “We are now running out of time to get it up and running. We need to get the cages ready and in before the beginning of March when all the sick and injured babies start arriving. If we are not ready by then it will be chaos.”

The charity, which has a shop in Shipley, has over-wintered 64 hedgehogs, which were too underweight to survive hibernation. Last year it rehabilitated and released 377 of the hedgehogs, along with countless other wild animals.

If the planning application is approved, volunteers will be needed to help get the centre up and running and to staff it once it opens. People with carpentry skills and donations of wood and wire mesh are especially needed to make the cages.

Contact Mrs Crowley on 07954 165084 to help.