Words by Smiley Team
Victoria Bryceson, founder of animal welfare charity, Miracle’s Mission, was over the moon earlier this year when she won a bid on a plot of land in Lincolnshire to officially have a place to start building the UK’s first disabled animal rehabilitation centre.
Disabled animal rehabilitation centres are rare – both in the UK and across the world – which is why Victoria had been looking for the perfect site, where she and her team can rehabilitate the most vulnerable animals, before finding them their forever homes.
She set up Miracle’s Mission in 2018 – an animal welfare charity that protects and improves the lives of stray and disabled animals – because of the number of street dogs in danger is “so vast”, she says, that more neutering and education of neutering is the only way to solve this.
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"We run neutering campaigns in Borneo and Egypt as well as educating local communities on the importance of neutering, on basic animal welfare, and how and why to look after animals,” Victoria tells Smiley News. “We also rescue disabled dogs and bring them to the UK for rehabilitation in the form of wheels, surgery, prosthetic legs, physiotherapy and hydrotherapy. When the dogs are as mobile as they can be they are then adopted into their forever homes."
The rehab centre is important, says Victoria, because there aren't enough facilities in the UK or anywhere else in the world for disabled dogs. “We need to raise awareness of the dogs and educate people about how happy and active they can be after their rehab and how the rehab completely transforms their lives,” she says.
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“The site is absolutely perfect. It has a bungalow, a derelict cottage that could be re-built in the future, a further large useable building, two sheds that need re-building and 7 acres of land.
"The fact that it has a bungalow built already on it means that we don't need planning permission which is a huge bonus, as every other piece of land without buildings already on that we’ve applied for pre-planning permission has been rejected. And the amount of land is absolutely amazing – the dogs would be able to run free all day long.”
The two things the centre needs before it’s up and running is getting the land fenced off to make it safe for the dogs and getting a centre manager in place. You can donate to Victoria’s appeal here https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/disabled-animal-centre-lets-get-it-up-and-running and get in touch if you would like to organise fundraising on their behalf, on [email protected].
