Food firm's donation to site's cats and pooches

Cats and dogs at Easterleigh Animal Sanctuary in St Annes were each donated a special hamper by pet food giant Webbox after sanctuary bosses were given an eviction notice after 20 years on the site.

The Blackburn-based company also donated hampers to families who recently adopted animals from the shelter.

Sharlene Biksas-Hassall, manager at Easterleigh Animal Sanctuary, which is hoping to eventually continue in a new location, said: “We had about 50 hampers donated and had to find a lot of storage boxes to put them in.

“We still have around 20 animals to re-home before the end of March. The cats have been fantastic . We only have three left. Some of them had been here for three-and-a-half years and were semi-feral –- the sort of cats you’re only going to see once in a while.

“It’s always hardest to re-home big dogs. Any animals that are left will go to private kennels and the horses will go to private yards and we will support them. We’re not closing, we’ve just having to make some changes to how we work. Some of the pens are being taken down and staff have been quite upset. At least the dogs are still having a good time.”

Julie Butcher, head of marketing at Webbox, said: “We were very sad to hear about Easterleigh Animal Sanctuary’s struggle to find a new home. Here at Webbox we are huge animal lovers and wanted to help in any way we could. By donating the hampers we hope that we could relieve some pressure from the charity so all the cats and dogs would have food and treats.

“We also wanted to donate the hampers to the families who have adopted animals from the sanctuary, as their kindness has helped these poor animals.”