How the community came together during the big freeze at Hertfordshire!

Back on the 12^{th of} December 2022, you may remember waking up to a thick blanket of snow in the South of England after heavy snowfall overnight.

It unfortunately affected our Hertfordshire centre the worst, as staff had to close due to there being too much snow and ice for members of the public to walk around. As the gates closed, our staff then worked tirelessly to clear as much of the ground as possible, and by Wednesday enough of the area had been cleared to reopen again.

Sadly, conditions only got worse throughout the week, as although the snow stopped, the temperatures dropped below minus sitting at around -2 to -5 degrees. This then caused the pipes to freeze at the centre, causing a string of problems.

The first problem we encountered; was we were unable to wash any laundry. As we were needing extra bedding to keep the animals warm, we were running out of bedding supplies very quickly. We then faced a new issue running out of water completely, as the last working tap on site had now frozen over, meaning we now couldn’t even supply the animals with fresh drinking water.

This is where the amazing community came in, as we put out a plea asking for the public’s help as we were now desperate for bedding, supplies, and bottled water for the animals. We were absolutely blown away by the support received, as people brought in blankets, duvets, towels, and even carpets! We also had electric heaters donated, as well as a very large volume of water through online deliveries and drop offs. We even received a donation of water from the local Tesco store.

We cannot thank everyone enough for all their kind donations, and for helping to spread the message. When times get tough, we are always reminded just how generous our supporters are, and how important it is to be part of a community.

We also want to say a special thank you to all our volunteers who collected as much bedding as possible and were on hand to offer any additional support during this challenging time.

Should you wish to support us, you can always check our Amazon Wishlist’s to see what supplies we are most in need at that current time. Thank you!

In the meantime, some of our animals had a lot of fun in the snow! You may also have seen on our social accounts recently; we shared some throwback snaps of a few of the dogs from various centres playing and taking it all in! Some even experienced it for the very first time!