Busiest year ever as wildlife sanctuary helps 4,000 animals

And if working to Covid guidelines wasn't challenging enough, the Whitby Wildlife Sanctuary had moved into a new home on Stainsactre Lane in February, just before the first lockdown, and it resembled 'a building site'.

Despite this, they managed to rescue and care for over 4,000 birds and animals from all over Yorkshire and County Durham.

The majority were birds but the charity also helped hundreds of hedgehogs, rabbits and smaller mammals, along with some deer, badgers, foxes, amphibians and bats.

A kestrel rescued near Pickering on Christmas Day, likely to be struggling to find food due to the cold, wet weather

There was also the additional challenges of the Avian Flu outbreak, and the sanctuary’s fundraising shop being closed for much of the year.

Thankfully, the public rallied by donating items such as wood chippings and used Christmas trees for the enclosures.

A spokesperson said: “It’s all thanks to the donations and support we’ve received, as well as our volunteers.

The new owl aviary being tested out 

"We couldn’t have achieved all of this in 2020 without this help.”

The end of 2020 saw the completion of the new aviaries, including a 60ft long one for recovering owls.

Contributions to the building works or environment enrichment would be very welcomed by the charity and donations can be made here.