Hey everyone,

We are a not for profit organisation (currently in the process of the paperwork side of becoming a registered CIC) that goes out to care homes, hospitals, schools including SEND, and other organisations providing animal assisted therapy to individuals.

We also rescue and offer forever homes to animals in need from the local areas in Devon but also further afield when we can. We have over 75 animals to care for ❤️ (we get requests frequently asking if we can help but until we can expand the housing and shelters we are at full capacity).

This is our plea for financial support to help toward the care of the rescue animals and for the expansion of services so Therapy Tails can reach and help more individuals in need. We’ve set the budget to an amount that will enable us to fulfil projects/ animal care needs we have lined up for the next 6 months.

By bringing our Therapy animals into facilities like care homes, hospitals and schools we can provide animal interactions and connections, help people relive childhood memories, reduce stress and anxiety amongst so many more benefits. Animal Assisted Therapy is a wonderful way of providing comfort, happiness and positivity to one’s day however they may be feeling. AAT can help reduce anxiety barriers when individuals are struggling at school, it can help teach compassion and empathy, and can even improve cognitive function.

We have all the necessary licensing and insurances, trailer, housing etc which we have fully funded out of our own pockets to enable Therapy Tails to go out to organisations providing vital support to individuals through Animal Assisted Therapy sessions.

We are planning ahead for 2025 and in desperate need of financial support to go toward extra housing, another shelter for the donkeys/ sheep and goats and a new project to build a round pen or ideally arena for exercising the equines (2 ponies, 1 surprise foal, 2 miniature shetlands, 3 older donkeys), this area will

also be used for restricted grazing as and when needed. This will help keep the animals in their best health and also reduce the risk of laminitis which 5 of the equine are prone to, and this can be life threatening.

Building the arena for the equines project involves equipment to dig down where the arena will go, the floor membrane to stop weeds coming through and assist with drainage, fencing to secure the area, gate way, and base material like sand or chopped rubber.

An average sized arena, with no coverage or lighting could cost in the region of £25,000, but there are ways to achieve what we need and on a budget for up to £15,000.

We also need to build up a bigger supply of general care equipment for the animals and the constant supply of feed, hay, straw, supplements, enrichment equipment is growing and growing.

With costs continually rising, and without any external funding support it is really tough, we are working 7 days a week trying to keep our heads above water whilst providing the best level of care for the animals but in order to help offer a forever home to more animals in need, we need more stabling/ another field shelter/ more hard standing/ feed buckets/ feet, the list is endless...

We have all the love, compassion, care, dedication and experience necessary to help so many (animals and people) in so many ways but we are limited by funding in what we can do. I've had a message this evening asking if we can urgently help 4 soon to be homeless goats and I'd love to say yes, but we need more field shelters first (approx £1500).

This is the first time we’ve asked for support and I’ve never run a fund raiser page before so I hope I’ve done it correctly, we would be ever so grateful for any support you can offer, even just sharing our fund raiser can help our cause and the animals massively.

Here are a few of the costs we have coming up...

Farriers, to trim the ponies/ donkeys hooves... £30 each (£240/ 6-8 weeks)

Rubber matting, just for the donkeys alone £50/ mat, we need 8 but could manage with 6 for the time being (£300)

Feed... roughly £10/ bag, I'd approximate we go through at least 5 bags/ week... (£200/ month)

Hay £40/ round bale, we use 2/ week... (£320/ month)

Straw £50/ bale (thankfully this lasts a month)

Dental visit for ponies & donkeys £70/ each = £560 (ALL due in Jan)

Rabbit vaccinations £150 (ALL due in Jan)

Thank you for even just taking the time to read about us ❤️

And if you know of an organisation in Devon or Cornwall that could benefit from a visit from Therapy Tails do keep us in mind ❤️

Natasha & Dave