Bristol Animal Rescue Centre (ARC) has issued a plea to the public after a burst pipe has flooded its food storage space. The rescue centre - which provides care for and rehomes over 14,000 vulnerable animals each year - shared the news of the incident on Instagram.
Footage shows water pouring from the ceiling and flooding the floor, but the full extent of the damage is yet to be assessed. In a statement on Instagram, an ARC spokesperson said: "Could it get any worse? Not only are we dealing with rising bills, a huge increase in demand for our help and support and freezing conditions which have placed extra pressures on our team (and increased our electric bills even more to ensure we keep our animals safe and warm) but the cold snap also led to burst pipes across site at the weekend – with our food storage space being the worst hit area on site.
"We haven’t been able to assess the full extent of the damage as yet, and will not be able to do so until the area has dried out enough to safely allow further inspection.
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"Our animals are safe, and as always remain our top priority, but we really need your help to start repairing our damaged site. Please, if you can, donate to our Christmas Appeal to help us at this incredibly difficult time.
"Unfortunately we are unable to accept food, treats, toys or bedding (any items) as we literally have nowhere to store them right now."
Following the incident, Coralie Farren, Chief Executive of Bristol Animal Rescue Centre said: “First, we would like to reassure everyone that that our animals and team are all safe and remain our top priority - no animals, staff or volunteers were harmed. The sub-zero temperatures caused some of the pipework to rupture, with our food storage spaces among the worst hit areas on site.
"Luckily we were able to salvage quite a bit of the food, which was stored in air tight containers, but there is damage to the buildings.
“We have been unable to assess the extent of the damage as yet, and will not be able to do so until the area has dried out enough to safely allow further inspection. Areas that appear to be damaged so far include our main kitchen and store room and pipe damage on the outsides of two kennel blocks and the cattery – although crucially (and thankfully) not on the inside where the animals currently reside.
“All of this has placed extra pressures on our team, who were already battling rising bills here at the Centre and a huge increase in demand for our help.
“We know that so many generous people will be wanting to donate food and goods to us, but sadly we're really struggling for storage space after all of this so we would ask everyone to please avoid bringing donations directly to the site. Instead, we would kindly suggest that anyone wanting to help please offers a donation to our Christmas Appeal, which goes directly towards caring for our animals.
“Please be assured our animals are all safe and well cared for and we thank all of you for your kind support at this difficult time”.
ARC has published a link to a donation page which can be viewed here.
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