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Heydon Animal Shelter
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We
had a wonderful day out today at the Heydon animal shelter in Hertfordshire,
England. It was their Animal Awareness day and the sun was shining on
what seemed like the first hot sunny weekend of the year - even though
it's already getting near to autumn!
Our
regular visitors will already know about Wood Green Animal shelter from
reading our report about their open day at another of their sites at
Godmanchester in Cambridgeshire. This organisation has been rescuing
and re-homing animals since 1924 and now has homes in London, Cambrigeshire
and this one at Heydon. Nestling among the gently rolling hills and
lush green landscape of this beautiful part of the country, Heydon Animal
Shelter is situated in an idyllic setting. 
It is exclusively for cats and small animals like rabbits and hamsters,
which means that there is no constant barking from caged dogs to unsettle
the already anxious and traumatised cats. The care that these cats receive
appears to be of the highest quality, with an on-site veterinary clinic
and highly trained staff. These lucky felines all have large enclosures
to roam around in. The smallest of the pens still allow for each cat
to have a sizeable little hut for indoor warmth and shelter, and an
enclosed pen in which to exercise safely. Every cat has plenty of food
and water, a litter tray, comfy cushions and plenty of toys. Cats that
come in as a couple or as a family are kept, and re-homed, together.
The largest enclosures are fantastic! Whole areas are enclosed where
cats can mix and socialise with other cats. To allow potential new owners
to get to know the cats better, double door systems let people enter
and walk amongst them while preventing the cats from escaping.
On such a warm and sunny day like today, all the cats seemed very chilled-out
and friendly - many inviting a nice stroke or a tickle, and only one
out of the dozens that we met made it clear that he would much rather
be left alone! It occurred to us that many of the cats seemed so content
and well cared for that they might actually be sorry to leave this place
if they were found a new home!
But nothing compares to the love and friendship gained from being part
of a genuine and caring family, and with this event proving to be so
popular - we are sure that Heydon Animal Shelter must have found many
new homes for their cats on that day.
So what of the day itself? Well, for refreshments, there was a tea and
cake stall, ice-creams, and a barbeque with veggie burgers and hot dogs.
There were lots of stalls providing information and selling animal related
products, local organic fruit, a thrift shop, and at one o'clock they
held a gift auction, all to raise funds for the shelter. A local dog
agility club put on a fun display and there was even a local owl welfare
group with a beautiful rescued barn owl, tawny owl and eagle owl on
show, all looking majestic and enjoying the day out!
All together it made for a perfect Sunday afternoon, and when we discovered a warm and friendly country pub with a very pleasant beer garden that we stopped off in on the way home, we really wished we could spend more weekends like this one!
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