It is completely understated how important animal sanctuaries are, not just in Essex, but nationally. With rising costs and the current economic instability, one Essex animal sanctuary is struggling to cement its long-term future due to a lack of funds.
Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary in Asheldham, Essex, which cares for around 400 rescued animals, is fighting for survival after being “hammered” by falling donations amid soaring running costs – including the climbing cost of food. The sanctuary has just “two or three months” of financial reserves left after plunging donations have led to a ‘critical’ shortfall in cash.
Closure would mean leaving hundreds of animals without a home. EssexLive spoke to Martin Morgan, who co-owns Tower Hill Stables with his former wife – the world record marathon runner Fiona Oakes.
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He says that the cost-of-living crisis has led to a stark drop in donations that could prove fatal for the sanctuary. Martin used to fund much of the sanctuary himself, but since retiring, his pension only provides enough money for himself.
He said: “Since I retired, the sanctuary has expanded a lot. We acquired a farm site in 2018, meaning we have a lot more animals, a lot of which are cows and horses.
“I think people underestimate how much cows can eat – they’re twice the size of horses! And they just eat and eat and eat, and it is so expensive to feed over 400 animals.”
Co-owner Martin with one of the pigs
Following the pandemic, Tower Hill Stables lost a lot of their support. This was due to people losing their jobs and having much less spare money. Martin said: “We just don’t have any funds to support the sanctuary, especially since I retired. We are completely reliant on donations.”
The sanctuary needs about £30,000 a month to keep it open, which leaves each animal with about £2 per day for food. The business has a reserve which they use to top up donations, but rising costs means that the reserve gets less and less each month.
When discussing the future of the sanctuary if it couldn’t get any more donations, Martin explained the situation that the animals would be put in. He said: “If we don’t get any extra donations, we would eventually have to sell up.
The stables are home to 52 cows
(Image: Tower Hill)
“Fiona says that she would close the farm ‘over her dead body’, and we want to keep the sanctuary open for as long as possible. People say that we would have to donate the animals to other sanctuaries, but this isn’t reality.
“There are sanctuaries across the country that are full to bursting, and homes just aren’t there for them. People also don’t want old sheep or horses that can’t be ridden. If we ended up having to close, our animals would be facing a really grim future indeed. It’s an appalling situation to be in.”
Both Fiona and Martin are doing everything they can to keep the sanctuary open. They are huge fundraisers themselves, as in n December Fiona ran 25 miles every day up until the Christmas Day – a total of 625 miles, in a bid to raise much-needed funds for Tower Hill Stables.
Fiona managed to raise more than £70,000 through the running challenge with the support of a sponsor, however the money will only cover around 20% of the annual running cost of the sanctuary. Aside from the astronomical cost of animal feed, the sanctuary also has to cover the cost of vet bills, farriers, maintenance work and muck disposal.
Martin also records albums, the proceeds of which go to the sanctuary, which can be found at yaksongs.com. In a bid to help balance the books and rebuild its reserve, the sanctuary is asking its supporters to start using the easyfundraising website when shopping online.
Those who want to raise funds for the sanctuary simply need to sign up to easyfundraising with Tower Hill Stables as their chosen cause, and then do their online shopping via the platform with more than 8,000 retailers offering free cashback donations – including the likes of M&S, eBay and Just Eat.
Martin said: “It’s not like we’re starting from scratch, we have over 1000 supporters who we are so completely grateful for. We just need some extra people each month to solidify the future of Tower Hill Stables.”