More than 650 Donegal Animals Rescued by AIN in 2023

In what turned out to be another busy year for the volunteers at Animals In Need (AIN), the charity rescued over 650 animals in 2023.

The greatest numbers were 442 cats and kittens and 192 dogs and pups, but also included a number of rabbits, guineapigs, birds and other wildlife.

The latest wild animal that needed help was a Collared Dove, which was in the road in Donegal Town.

Two cars passed over the Dove, but miraculously did not injure the bird, and the second driver stopped, caught the Dove and brought it to Animals In Need.

AIN later transferred the bird to Dooletter Wildlife Rescue, where it could be tube fed. Luckily, he has no breaks and is making an excellent recovery and will be released back into the wild soon.

The number of cats needing to be rescued so far this year has got off to an epic start, with 36 cats and a litter of five tiny, orphaned kittens taken in during the first two weeks of the year.

The five kittens are only about 19-days-old and were orphaned when their mother was killed on the road.

ABOVE: Five orphaned kittens are being bottlefed

They were not in the best shape when they arrived as they were cold and had not been fed overnight, but they are doing well in their foster home, where they have quickly adapted to being bottle-fed with special kitten milk formula every few hours around the clock.

The cat helpline received a number of calls from landlords recently, where tenants have moved on and left their cats behind.

The latest report was regarding six cats who had been abandoned at a property.

The landlord had managed to find homes for four of the cats but was struggling to rehome the remaining two cats, who are now with AIN.

The volunteers carried out a major operation during the week, when they were asked to rehome 25 cats and kittens, as their owner had to go overseas for medical treatment.

All the cats proved fairly easy to catch as although they lived outside, they were used to people and had been well looked after, with around half of the cats already neutered.

Four of the cats have already found homes and AIN is seeking homes for the remainder, in sets of two.

The cats are looking for outdoor homes with the potential to go inside once they have settled.

If you can offer a home to any of these cats, please contact the cat helpline or send a message on AIN’s Facebook page.

The helpline for dogs is unbelievably busy, with daily calls from people who want to give up their pet dog.

The unwanted dog situation is out of control and with new enforcement rules that dogs transferred to Northern Ireland from rescues in the Republic now have to have a Pet Passport, the situation is only going to get worse.

On top of this, to get a Pet Passport, a dog has to be fully vaccinated, including receiving the rabies vaccine, and then has to wait a minimum number of days before they can travel.

Previously, the timeframe allowed travel after 21 days, but this has increased to 30 days, meaning dogs have to stay even longer in foster homes or boarding kennels before they can go to new homes overseas or in Northern Ireland.

AIN rescued 16 dogs over the Christmas period, all of which were collies, a breed for which there is little demand locally when homes are sought, though thankfully they are very popular abroad in the UK and Scandinavia.

ABOVE: A Collared Dove needed help this week

Finally, AIN’s Charity Shop in Donegal Town has sadly had to discontinue their zero-waste table of free items outside the shop as recently there have been incidents of theft of donated items left outside the shop at the drop-off point.

If you have donations for the shop, please aim to drop them off during the shop’s opening hours, which are from 11am to 4pm on Tuesday to Saturday.

To help AIN’s animals, please donate €2 to AIN’s ‘Help Us To Help Them’ fundraising appeal via your phone by texting the word ‘KITTEN’ to 50300. Every cent goes directly to the rescued animals for their food, bedding, vet bills, worming treatment and vaccinations.

For further information on adoption, fostering, volunteering etc, please contact the main helpline on 087 1356188. For cat/kitten enquiries please call 087 7644420. Animals In Need Donegal is also on Facebook and has a website at http://www.animalsinneeddonegal.com.