26 February 2021

#CoronaChronicles 2021: Week Eight

Could the end of Covid restrictions really be in sight?!

We’ve all got an extra spring in our step following this week’s announcements from the Westminster and Scottish governments, but equally we know there is still some way to go before we can truly say goodbye to this extraordinary time.

All being well, outdoor leisure facilities in England - including zoos and animal parks - should be given the green light to reopen from 12^th April. You’ll appreciate that readying our visitor centres to safely welcome supporters once again takes careful consideration and time, so we are yet to confirm a reopening date for our English centres but we hope to be able to bring you more news next week.

Similarly, from 26^th April, the majority of Scotland is expected to move into Level Three restrictions which should pave the way for us to reopen the doors to our Mountains visitor centre. Again, we can’t bring you a reopening date just yet, but we’ll let you know as soon as we’re able to.

Lindy and Ruby are looking forward to seeing visitors again at Redwings Ada Cole

This wasn’t the only boost we received this week! Thanks to your amazing support, we have now reached over £5,000 in donations towards our urgent hay appeal!

This winter we’ve been forced to spend much more on hay than usual to keep our rescued residents well fed due to the extreme wet weather conditions. Over the last few days, our appeal has been shared by many media outlets, including Horse & Hound, Horse & Rider, Your Horse, BBC Radio Norfolk and ITV Anglia News. We even had a visit from a cameraman from BBC Look East. As you can see, someone was very ready for their close-up!

Thank you to everyone who has helped spread the word about our appeal. You can still show your support by sharing our posts on social media or by donating here.

Your money will support all of the 1,500 rescued horses, ponies, donkeys and mules in our daily care, including new arrivals to the Sanctuary.

This week we took in eight ponies in poor condition from a site in Suffolk. Unfortunately, we can’t go into any further details at this time while investigations are ongoing.

However, we’re delighted to be able to share some new images of the ponies we offered a home last year following their removal from Whispering Willows Sanctuary in Wales, as mentioned in last week’s #CoronaChronicles. You may remember that, for legal reasons, we were unable to tell you about them until the prosecution against the sanctuary’s former owner had concluded.

The ponies in our care were all named after NHS hospitals in honour of our frontline healthcare workers, such as Alexandra, Paget, Gwent and Princess Royal, who you can see below.

Due to their previous lack of handling, the majority of the group are now receiving specialist behaviour training to help them feel more confident around humans. It will be some time before any of them are ready to be assessed for possible rehoming in the future, but for now they’re enjoying happy and healthy new lives at Redwings.

Gwent and Alexandra

With brighter days on the horizon, we thought we’d end this week’s blog with some stunning images of recent winter sunrises at our sites. Here’s to sunnier days ahead for all of us!

Thank you #RedwingsAngels

Dawn at the rehoming centre at our Norfolk headquarters