THE owner of an animal sanctuary given only four weeks to pay her mortgage arrears feared the 400 animals under her care would be killed unless she could find the money.
Paula Campbell, runner of the Rainbow Ark Animal Sanctuary from her farm in Willington, County Durham, had until May 3 2011, to pay the arrears to Redstone Mortgage Company.
Bishop Auckland County Court heard no mortgage payments had been made since September 2010, and that she had previously faced eviction after defaulting on payments.
District Judge John Mainwaring-Taylor agreed to adjourn the case until May 2011 to allow time for her to pay and prove she could make regular future mortgage payments.
Ms Campbell, 45 at the time, said her financial predicament began in 2008 and came about partly as the result of her home being overvalued and partly because of the harsh winter, which left her snowed in and unable to find work as a freelance writer and artist.
The sanctuary, home to a range of animals, including exotic birds, dogs and cats, ferrets, livestock, waterfowl and turtles, had been at Milkup Bank Farm since 2002.
A representative for Redstone Mortgages assured the court that no harm would befall the animals and they would all be rehomed should Ms Campbell be evicted.
Meanwhile, a daring donkey who defied danger to save a sheep from a dog attack was to receive an animal bravery award.
Dotty the donkey stepped in when her friend - Stanley the sheep - was targeted by a baying hound on the farm where they live near Scarborough, North Yorkshire.
She was presented with a bravery award by representatives from pets charity PDSA.
Dotty's brave deed occurred when a dog entered the animals' shared paddock and launched a frenzied attack on defenceless Stanley.
Seeing the sheep's plight, heroic Dotty intervened and pinned the dog to the ground until it let go of Stanley.
As a result of the attack, the terrified sheep lost two teeth and suffered facial paralysis.
But in 2011 two years after the incident, Stanley was fully recovered and never far from his rescuer - even sharing the same stable at night.
Meanwhile, a historic clock in the centre of a market town chimed once again after undergoing repair work.
Specialist engineers were called in to fix the clock in Darlington market place after it stopped chiming at the right time.
The bells for the clock were made by the same people who made Big Ben, at the Houses of Parliament, and the clock to which they belong is one of only four of its type in the country.
Clock repairer Smiths of Derby was called in after it stopped chiming on the quarter-hour.
Designed by Cooke of York, the clock was donated to the town by Joseph Pease and the tower designed by Quaker architect Alfred Waterhouse in 1861.
It which was finished in 1864, originally had a coloured dial and gilt hands, which made it impossible to tell the time and so, after consultation with Mr Pease, white glass and black hands were installed instead.
Until December 1977, the clock was hand wound three times a week. Weights were drawn up from the basement through cut-outs in the staircase onto cable drums.
The faulty chiming was caused by a rod which had broken and needed to be recast.
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