‘We just need a safe, practical building’: Fire destroys facilities at Leitrim animal shelter

A recent fire at Leitrim’s only animal shelter has led the centre to make a call for donations, as the damaged building served several essential purposes.

Leitrim Animal Welfare Centre made a post on Facebook detailing a recent fire at one of its main buildings, which houses its office, veterinary room and cattery.

The centre detailed that the fire was thankfully brought under control quickly and that “things could have been so much worse.”

However, the damage has left the building no longer safe to use, and the cost of repairing the existing building would not represent good value. Instead, the safer and more financially viable option would be to remove it and replace it with a new building.

“Under one roof, this building contained our office where calls, enquiries, animal records and the day to day administration of our centre are managed. Veterinary room, an essential dedicated space for the veterinary care and treatment of animals at our centre and our safe indoor accommodation for cats and kittens coming into our care,” the shelter detailed, adding “in one incident, we have effectively lost three essential spaces.”

The shelter explained that losing the cattery was particularly difficult, as every day they receive calls from people looking for help with cats needing to be surrendered, strays, unwanted litters and more.

“We know how upsetting it can be when someone desperately needs help and we have to explain that we cannot take their cat. Unfortunately, we have had some people become frustrated with our staff when we’ve had to say no,” the post continued.

“We aren’t refusing because we don’t want to help. We physically don’t have a safe cattery to put another cat into,” they added.

“At the same time, so many people have been incredibly patient, kind and understanding when we’ve explained what has happened. To every single person who has shown our team that understanding, thank you. It means more than you know.”

The shelter described the cost of rebuilding as “significant” and “unplanned,” but ultimately, they need the building back to house their office, veterinary room and cattery.

“So we’re asking our wonderful community to help us rebuild. Every €5, €10, €20 or €50 donated gets us one step closer to replacing what we’ve lost and reopening these essential facilities,” the post continued.

The money would go towards removing the damaged building and replacing it with a safe cabin, restoring their office and veterinary room, reopening the cattery and starting to help cats again.

“We just need a safe, practical building that allows us to get back to doing what we’re here to do efficiently, helping animals. This is a setback we never expected, and an expense we certainly didn’t plan for,” the post continued.

Donations can be made to Leitrim Animal Welfare Centre on GoFundMe.