Animal centre considers redundancies after £1m loss

An animal welfare centre in East Sussex is looking to make redundancies and close its aviaries due to financial pressures.

Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare, in Ringmer, said that it made a loss of more than £1m in the last financial year due to rising costs.

The charity, founded in 1952, closed its site on 28 and 29 April, with staff informed of the plans.

It said it was consulting with impacted staff and that it will look to rehome all the birds in its care if it goes ahead with the closures.

Chief executive Stephanie Smith said: "We have been facing really significant financial challenges. Last year, we finished our financial year with a really big deficit of more than £1m.

"We've done lots of things to manage our finances. Our income just can't keep up with the costs that are rising."

Smith said that the costs included food, bedding, vets and energy bills for animals, as well as minimum wage increases and additional National Insurance costs for staff.

She said that the charity could not share the number of staff cuts until the consultation period was over, but that staff roles could be "changed, merged or no longer required".

"The public have always been so generous to Raystede. Our income has actually grown over the last five years through fundraising and opening [charity] shops," Smith said.

"But the pressures on the animal welfare sector, we can't keep up. We can't do nothing; we have to take some action. I'm keen to safeguard the long-term future of Raystede."

Part of the review will be to potentially close its onsite care for its 92 aviary birds and fowl.

These include parrots, budgies and cockatoos, as well as chickens, ducks and geese.

The charity said that the birds had complex needs and were confined for about 45% of each year due to Avian Influenza restrictions.

Smith said that they would "gradually withdraw" from caring for birds and fowl if they closed the aviary.

The charity said that the plan would be to rehome all birds after assessing their health and welfare and they had "very positive initial conversations" with other avian organisations.

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