BRENT KNOLL ANIMAL CENTRE. Brent Road, Brent Knoll, Nr Burnham-On-Sea TA9 4BL Tel: 01278 782671    Fax: 01278 794312 REVISED Opening Times - We are now open between 11am - 1pm and 2pm - 4.30pm. CLOSED ON MONDAYS.

Registered charity number 205284

All enquiries regarding animals should be either by phone or visit during the Centre opening hours.

News from the North Somerset Branch

Bringing you all the current news and photos from across the branch including fund-raising events, local and national media coverage and more!

RSPCA BRENT KNOLL ANIMAL CENTRE (June 2008)

Cattery Sleepover photos! 27 June 2008

RSPCA BRENT KNOLL ANIMAL CENTRE (June 2008)

'Picka Pooch' Day, Sunday 8th June 2008

The Staff at Brent Knoll are very pleased that the 'Picka Pooch' day was a roaring success.

A VERY BIG THANKYOU to all the Dog Walkers that volunteered their time to have a RSPCA dog each for the afternoon. The dogs all enjoyed their walk around the fields at the centre and loved meeting the public coming in to hopefully adopt one of them!

We had wonderful weather for the day. We also raised £100 on the refreshment stall and a special doggy shop - so THANK YOU to all of you who had a cup of tea and a cake!!

Another BIG THANK YOU to Elaine Hart of Pets Behaving Better. Who provided us with a fantastic demonstration of obedience with some Ex-RSPCA dogs that attend her training classes. It was lovely to see the dogs with their new owners, they all looked VERY HAPPY.

I spent the day photographing the event along with participating in the dog obedience demonstration - I hope you all like the photos. Katy.

A selection of some of the Dog Walkers with the RSPCA rescue dogs
Some Ex-RSPCA Dogs back for a REUNION with their new owners.
Elaine Hart - Pets Behaving Better - Dog Obedience Demonstration

Domestic Violence Given A Face (Wednesday 23 August 2006)

A Devon dog has been chosen as the face of the RSPCA PetRetreat scheme, which helps the animal victims of domestic violence.

Staffordshire bull terrier, Petra, who now lives with her new family near Newton Abbott, was taken into the temporary care of the RSPCA as her former owner was fleeing domestic violence inBerkshire. The friendly black and white dog had to have one of her back legs removed after her former owners’ partner broke several places by repeatedly kicking her over a series of month.

PetRetreat fills the gaps left by refuges, very few of which can arrange pet fostering and most of which cannot shelter pets due to health and safety regulations and allergy concerns. Pet owners seeking refuge are usually forced to rely on the kindness of friends when it comes to looking after their pets. If friends can’t step in to take temporary care of the animals, then often a traumatic decision must be reached to give them up for re-homing or have them put to sleep.

For many, leaving home without a safe refuge for their pets is not an option, so they stay in a dangerous situation where they, and often their pets, are subjected to recurring threats and violence. However, pets taken in under the RSPCA PetRetreat scheme will be offered temporary homes with a network of specially selected fosterers until the victim relocates from the refuge. 

Due to the confidential nature of the scheme, it is impossible to name or identify clients that have used the scheme in order to fundraise or appeal for fosterers. So in order to give the scheme an identity. Petra will now become its face and logo and serve as a reminder that with help, their can he a happy ending for animal victims of domestic violence.

Carolyn Southwell, the RSPCA PetRetreat co-ordinator said: “It is common for animals involved in the scheme to be fostered for anything from a few weeks to eight or nine months.

“But when Petra was taken in under and fostered under the PetRetreat scheme it soon became apparent that her owner was going to have an unusually long wait before she and her children could be re-housed.

“For that reason, her owner took the selfless decision that it would be fairer on Petra if she signed the dog over to the RSPCA so she could be found a loving new home.”

The PetRetreat scheme, formerly known as ‘Petsafe’, started in June 2002 as a pilot project working with refuges in Somerset, Bristol and Bath. It has since grown to cover the whole of the South and South West and is due to spread into Wales and the West.

In order to help as many people as possible, more animal fosterers are desperately needed to help care for animals that go through the scheme, like Petra.