£20,000 raised for new Nairn–based animal rescue charity

A Nairn–based animal rescue charity has been hard at work to raise money for new kennels to rescue 80 dogs in need, who are currently living in temporary accommodation.

Animal rescue charity, Tia Rescue, takes on former working animals including, with a primary focus is on Greyhounds, Lurchers and horses.

Tia rescue recently moved from a farm in Doncaster to Nairn in April 2022, so that they could keep operating as a charity. Unfortunately, this meant the charity lost all of their fundraising appeals, but the charity has been working hard to raise £20,000 for a new kennel block to rescue more dogs. The charity has also recently received a grant from the Alpkit Foundation, to help with 'sprucing up' outdoor areas of the rescue centre.

The Alpkit Foundation is a charity who awards small small grants to people, groups and schools. Tia Rescue hopes to use the money from Alpkit Foundation to help offset some of their emissions from buildings the kennels, by creating wildlife corridors and keep the woodland surrounding the rescue centre healthy.

Tia Rescue was founded by Debra Rothery, who was a policewoman until she was forced to retire after a work–related injury. Debra named the animal rescue service 'Tia' after her first rescue dog, which she took in whilst working with the police. Unfortunately, Debra could only look after Tia for a few days, before Tia sadly died from parvovirus – a highly contagious virus affecting dogs. It was then that Debra decided to start rescuing all types of dogs, and in 1996 she officially started the Tia Rescue.

Fundraising manager Alex Lancaster from Tia Rescue said:"We also have raised over £20,000 towards erecting a new kennel block, which will house a further 50–80 dogs! This has left us exploring other ways to raise money for our planned environmental projects.

"Our new home next to the Moray Firth is a little patch of heaven, and given the surroundings of the site, we wanted to give back to Nature by improving the natural habitat conditions, which we know may face disruption in terms of noise, when it comes to the building of the kennel block. The area is also apparently teeming with wildlife and we have daily sightings of the local fox, along with various bat and owl species.

"Once the new kennel blocks are erected, we want to plant hedgerows around the perimeter of the farm, hopefully contributing towards offsetting some of our associated carbon emissions, but also connecting hedgerows to existing woodland in order to improve wildlife corridors.

"The money that the Alpkit Foundation means a lot to us, because currently, all our fundraising goals are to raise money to build the new kennel block, with all the greyhounds we have currently still in adequate but temporary accommodation. Any extra funding we can receive towards our woodland and environmental projects is a welcomed bonus!"

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