Trustee Offers to Resign in Animal Sanctuary Funding Controversy
Posted By Freelance Writers Date: 3/05 Posted Under: Animal Charities, Animal WelfareLast night’s BBC One Inside Out featured an investigation into controversial animal sanctuary Westlea Rescue Centre.
You can watch the report for 7 days using BBC’s iPlayer (UK only) - CLICK HERE TO WATCH
For years, the Westlea Animal Rescue centre has enjoyed a reputation as a safe haven for abandoned or abused animals in the Wye Valley.
However, Inside Out West has uncovered evidence of financial mismanagement at the heart of the charity and of conditions at the sanctuary itself that are questionable at best.
Stella Harris runs the sanctuary near Coleford, Gloucestershire, with her husband, George.
They have been rescuing animals for more than 30 years and the sanctuary became a registered charity in 1995.
The sanctuary’s fundraising shop in Ross-on-Wye sells goods donated by the public.
Customers are led to believe the money – about £400 to £600 a week - goes straight to the charity.
In fact, none of it is ever declared in the charity’s accounts.
The money goes straight to Stella and George Harris, who keep it in a box at the sanctuary.
The BBC’s report goes onto reveal:
Derek Holland, who is the sole trustee overseeing the charity’s finances, says the money (£40,000 left to the centre in a will but not declared in the accounts) was spent on paying off the sanctuary’s debts and on animal pens.
But he admits it was a mistake not to have declared the income.
He says: “I was doing it under pressure. I didn’t want to get an accountant in just for a one-off situation.”
“It appeared on our expenditure list and we have got cheques and invoices to balance it up so no-one has actually not spent it on the charity.”
Trustee resignedOn being confronted with the evidence Mr Holland said he would stand down as the charity’s trustee.
“If I have failed then it’s my responsibility and I have to say ‘right-ho, I give up’,” he said.
Stella and George Harris have decided to take early retirement and close down both the rescue centre and their fundraising shop.
Arrangements are being made to re-home the animals.
The expose raises concerns shared by many in the animal welfare industry that some shelters and rescue centres are run under less than ideal circumstances. Accusations have been made that a minority of animal shelters are under-regulated and act as a ‘legitimate front’ for animal dealerships or animal hoarders.
What do you think?
Should UK animal rescue centres be more accountable and better regulated?
Have your see on this and any other animal welfare issue by joining the Pet Owners Parliament. It’s free and acts as a positive voice for pets and their owners.
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Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at 3:24 am and is filed under Animal Charities, Animal Welfare. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
It was a great disappointment to me that the introduction of regulations for the registration or licensing of rescues/welfares/sanctuaries under the Animal Welfare Act was put on hold with no introduction date now planned. I know of many small and not so small charity and non charity centres which do wonderful work. I also know of some which are more than questionable in both husbandry and ethics.
Yes, there does need to be more regulation in both welfare and administration.
This sad case highlights the problems when you have persons who put the animals first at whatever cost. It is commendable but when you start to get financial irregularities it makes people wonder where the money has gone and did all the money get spent on the animals.
Why are they all now walking away form the sanctuary and rehoming the animals elsewhere, how does that show their commitment to animal welfare?
It looks like they have been found out and are walking before they are pushed!
Hopefully a proper investigation will get to the bottom of all this.
In regard to regulation, the Animal Welfare Act 2005 is supposed to have sections that deal with animal charities and organisations but as usual DEFRA is not bringing the specific legislation in until sometime in the future.
Hopefully when it does come in, the major animal welfare charities will be included to and not exempted because of some kind of seal with the government whilst the small ones fall within the scope of the legislation.
How big is this animal centre that it has £40,000 worth of ‘pens’
Like all aspects of society there is good and bad, there are well run animal charities and then there are ones that ‘wing it’ and then you have a number of well intentioned but financially incompetent people who get themselves into a complete tangle.
There is a report on this site about another animal charity called ‘St Francis’ that has got itself into some kind of trouble as well, perhaps there is a pattern forming here?
I was disgusted and appauled to see the ‘inside out’ exposure of Westlea Animal Rescue.
The programme revealed how the charity were left an astonishing 40,000 pounds, however if they used this money towards the animals welfare; why are the animals living in filthy, dirty old barns and lying on straw? Surely if they used this money on the animals, they would have been provided with proper living accomodation. However surely a few pens would not accumulate to the sum of £40,000?
Westlea have reported that they are closing the rescue, however if they did nothing untoward, surely they would remain open and invite the public in to see what a good job they are doing.
Come on Westlea,If you have nothing to hide, open your doors and let us see the conditions the animals are living in. We can then come too our own conclusion on the aniamal sanctuary known as ‘westlea.’
It is very easy to believe what you watch on television, however in this case the BBC has not made a fair account of the work done by Westlea.
The owners of this rescue centre have devoted the last 30 years to animal welfare, over that time hundreds of animals, some abandoned, some in desperate need of veterinary care and some just not wanted anymore have come through their doors and they have been rehabilitated and then rehomed into new loving homes.
I agree that they should of had some financial advise regarding the accounts of the charity, however all the money donated to Westlea has always gone directly to the animals, (vets bills, food, cat litter, staff wages, the list will go on!) The BBC made the conditions of the animals look poor but they failed to show any of the new housing that has been built or the animals being exercised throughout the day - every day.
The owners of the rescue centre have now decided to retire, and at the age of 73, i dont blame them when they received this critism, it is just such a shame that all the good work that they have done has to end on this note.