Love, loss and bunnies: How the pandemic has affected Cheltenham Animal Shelter

The staff describe their job as tiring and emotional, but say the good outweighs the bad after what has been an incredibly rough year.

On a bright lockdown morning, the equally sunny staff of Cheltenham Animal Shelter switched on their webcams, ready to talk to Journalism students from the University of Gloucestershire.

But they weren’t alone. Fortunately, social distancing doesn’t apply to furry friends and we had the joy of virtually meeting Willow the rabbit, Alfie the dog and the fabulous Duchess, a longhaired cat who seemed to enjoy walking across the desk in front of Nicky Spanswick, the Shelter’s Operations Manager.

“Duchess wants to steal the limelight, clearly,” Nicky smiled, evidently used to the chaos caused by working with animals. Throughout her three years at the shelter, she’s had the joy of supporting the team to the best of her ability.

Rosie Taylor-Trigg, is the shelter’s animal behaviourist. She specialises in dog training and in normal circumstances runs community classes, alongside dedicating her time to rescue animals. Her colleague Tasmine Iles-Potter who takes care of smaller pets also joined us, sat in a rabbit pen. The virtual room was filled with joy every time bunny Willow popped her head in view.

Currently, the shelter is home to little over 100 animals, who need just as much financial support as before the pandemic. Unfortunately, circumstances mean the shelter has lost an estimate of £1,000 per day, every day since March last year.

The shelter’s rehoming process has also been adapted. Family visits are currently not permitted, only virtual appointments can be made for those looking to adopt.

“Our cats and small animals team has been working to rehome some of our easier animals via online meeting, we haven’t yet rehomed any dogs in this way,” Nicky explained.

Some of the dogs have therefore been at the shelter longer than expected, and don’t get to meet as many new people as before. The staff have made sure to keep the animals in a good routine, with daily walks and plenty of enrichment, but their demeaner has been a lot calmer this past year.

“When the first lockdown ended, we did then find it was a bit overwhelming for the dogs to see new people,” said behaviourist Rosie.

The pandemic has forced the team to adapt, but fortunately not too much has changed for their rabbits, they’re happy to be hopping around, and the shelter is starting 2021 with a lot of them. Tasmine puts this down to the cold, dark nights of lockdown three.

“More people tend to sign their rabbits over to us in the winter. It’s more difficult for them to be looked after,” she said. “At the moment we’re seeing a lot of younger rabbits which suggests they were bought in the first lockdown.”

Rabbits may be small but have just as much love to give as either a dog or a cat. They’re happy to approach you for treats and provide great company in lonelier times.

The rabbits and their fantastic personalities can be found on the shelter’s Instagram page, Tasmine has even taught one bunny, Smokey, some pup-style agility.

As we said goodbye to the staff, and animals, it’s clear they have hope for better days. Before leaving the call, Nicky welcomed us to the shelter.

“Hopefully one day we’ll all be back to normal, and then we’d love to have you here.” She smiled.”

And from what I gathered, that offer extends to the rest of Gloucestershire.

For more adoption information, visit https://gawa.org.uk