Our current Casualty Centre at Whitesmith has served the charity well for over 15 years but with the growth of demand on our services it is not possible to expand any further.
WRAS has been working to build financial reserves over the past few years to purchase land for a new, purpose-built Casualty Centre that will support wildlife rescue efforts for future generations to come.
Finding a suitable site, however, remains a significant challenge. The ideal location must offer at least five acres of land, have reasonable access, be suitable for planning approval, and remain affordable for both purchase and development. Unfortunately, many suitable sites are also prime development land, making them financially out of reach.
WRAS continues to search for the right location to secure the future of wildlife rescue in East Sussex.
Our vision for the future has to be long term and any new site will have to help generate an income potentially with the development of a visitor and education area encompassing a shop and café too. Education is an important aspect of our work especially in wildlife gardening and addressing hazards which our wildlife face on a daily basis.
Our key aims of the new Casualty Centre would be to increase our capacity, and have either new, improved or expanded facilities for:
This will also involve having on-site outdoor aviaries and pens where staff and volunteers can better rehabilitate species without the current need for casualties to be moved off site.
The centre will be upgraded to improve further our veterinary and diagnosis facilities as well as to meet the ever increasing challenges in isolation and biosecurity in the face of Avian Influenza and other notifiable diseases playing a vital role in helping to reduce the impact of these diseases on wildlife, farming and the local community.
WRAS is ideally looking for a site which is in the following area:
The yellow area is the key region we are looking in, but we have extended our search to cover the green area too.
We would consider locations further afield if the site had significant location or cost benefits.
Our plans for a new Casualty Centre have been supported by Olympic Gold Medalist and host of Dancing On Ice Jayne Torvill, who has used our service numerous times.
If you own land and believe it may be suitable for us to develop and you would be willing to sell or donate the land to our charity please get in touch on 01825-873003 or e-mail admin@eastsussexwras.org.uk.
We need ongoing support to help cover our expenses and expansion at the same time. By making a regular donation via direct debit will help us plan for the future and allow us to use funds from legacies to help with this expansion.
We know this is not going to happen quickly, but we must look forward to the future, for our wildlife, future generations and to benefit the location community.
WRAS continues to search for the right location to secure the future of wildlife rescue in East Sussex.
