Urgent appeal from wildlife hospital looking for cage donations
New Arc Wildlife Hospital is asking people to check for old animal cages
An Aberdeenshire animal centre is urgently seeking cage donations for small animals.
New Arc Wildlife Hospital is encouraging people to check their lofts and garages for old pet enclosures that they're happy to donate.
The centre cares for all types of native Scottish wildlife, from deer and badgers to birds and rabbits.
Manager, Paul Reynolds said: "One of the things that were after at the moment is small animal caging, particularly made by companies such as ZooZone or Ferplast, and old small hamster cages that are very useful for small tiny baby birds."
Summer is the busiest time of year for many wildlife charities due to the amount of young animals venturing from their nests for the first time.
The caging is used for temporary animal care, and often only last a few years due to high levels of disinfectant and cleaning.
How to donate
Before dropping off any caging at the centre, Mr Reynolds is advising people to get in touch.
"We can actually be quite particular about the type of cage we need which includes things like the thickness of the bars, or the gaps between the bars because the last thing we want to do is end up injuring a wild animal that is in a cage."
He Added: "We ask that you email us on contact@wildliferescue.org or you can send us a message on messenger from our Facebook page with a photograph of the cage and we can see if it's the style that we can use here at the centre."
New Arc is also seeking volunteer drivers throughout the north east to help transport wildlife to the hospital.
"We are looking for members of the public that are willing to collect animals, in a box. They don't have to do any rescue work, it is just collecting a contained animals and bringing it down to our centre."