Charity registration may
launch larger problems

AT last the UK Government is to let the public have their say on where Lottery money goes. Brilliant!! Maybe it will be spent on good causes like animal rescue centres ... but sadly I bet it won't. Why? Because after doing years of research, I have found that businesses or big companies with sponsorship deals will not (or only a few will) deal with charities that are not registered and this will set the precedent for the Lottery. I feel very sad about this, because I used to run my own dog rescue kennels for 12 years and because the public expect you to be a registered charity, compliance makes you proper and correct and above board, so to speak.

The trustees nearly ruined our rescue centre, severely undoing all the good work we had done for the previous 10 years. I got rid of the registered charity, and went back to being just a kennels. Boy, I'm so glad I did. What the public or businesses fail to realise is that being a registered charity is not all it's cracked up to be!

Wetnose is a non-profit-making company, limited by guarantee Reg. No. 3124133. That means we still have an accountant and have to register our accounts every year with Companies House. The directors of the company still do a written report at the end of every year. But the big difference is that we, as hands-on founders, are in control. If things don't work out it's our fault. I think it's so wrong for people to expect small rescue centres to be registered charities, when many have not enough people to join them as trustees or committee members. I think more and more rescue centres are saying 'no' to registration as a charity, and are becoming non-profit organisations so they still have control without trustees coming in and saying "You must do this" or "You must do that or we will vote you off the board". And believe me many bigger centres have had bad experiences.

A lot of big charities still seem to waste their money on excessive administration costs, or even stocks and shares, which I totally disagree with. After doing a lot of work I've realised it's the little rescue centres that do the real work without uniforms, flashy vans, big million-pound centres, expensive websites and glossy magazines that frequently cost large sums of money. They are the forgotten people of the animal world, the real workers, who get very little recognition or financial support at all.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Lottery were to help the smaller animal welfare centres nationwide? But I bet once again only the large charities are recognised and are beneficiaries. Wetnose will endeavour to correct that.

The Wetnose Campaign aims to seek out, help and promote these smaller centres and put details on its new (freely donated by Cosmos Designs) website at: www.wetnose-campaign.com

Many of these centres also have to deal with animals that have behavioural problems, or are flea-ridden with bleeding eczema; some even come in with collars literally embedded into their necks and need pliers to remove them. Then they still have to raise funds to pay for repairs and much needed medical supplies. Their jobs are endless. We all know animals make a lot of mess and wreck all sorts of things, bless them, and I know how hard it is I've done it myself.

For 12 years I ran my own dog rescue centre and saw many terrible and sad sights of animal abuse. Frankly, I get so angry at the apathy around when it comes to animals. So many follow like sheep on the big campaigns connected to children, but the "Nation of Animal Lovers" suddenly goes very thin on the ground when it comes to putting their hand in their pocket for their animal companions.

What I find so sad is the emphasis in this country on humanitarian help, but we so often forget that animals play such a big part in our lives, always being there, giving us a joyful bark, a wagging tail, always pleased to see us, ready to listen to us as we pour our hearts out to them in our private little world. It's time things were changed.

Fireworks should be banned here as they are partially in New Zealand and only used in big organised events. Horses, dogs and cats are petrified of bangs and flashes and many are injured or even killed by running into trees, or onto the road to be killed there! When will people take notice of these things; what does it take to drive the message home?

Raising £25 million or more every year for children for the last 12 years is of course wonderful; but why can we not do the same thing for our animals? In my opinion the national media seems to have corridor vision on this issue and they should not all be like sheep. Wake up media people please, by helping animal campaigns to educate readers.

Do not be confused into giving your readers the impression that anybody in the field of animal welfare is automatically an extremist animal rights campaigner. There are so many animals that give us so much pleasure, it is time for us to give some back. Without these small rescue centres, domestic and wildlife animals would be in a very sorry state indeed. In my world all creatures should be helped ... old people, children and last but not least, our animals.