00:00Well, I'm in Cannon Hill Park on a lovely, glorious day with Laura from Blue Cross.
00:06I'm here to look at the work they do.
00:07So, for those who don't know you, you are one of Britain's leading animal charities.
00:11What exactly are you involved with?
00:13We help people to rehome their pets where they need extra support.
00:16We help with veterinary care, food banks and behaviour work if people do need extra help.
00:23You've got your roadshow here today.
00:26Is that a regular thing and what do you hope to achieve by doing the roadshow?
00:30Yeah, it's a new thing that we've started and we're hoping to get out and about and meet the community,
00:34talk about the services that Blue Cross provide and how we can help them if they are looking for some
00:40support
00:41and how the community can help us as well.
00:44At the moment, there is a cost of living crisis.
00:47Many people are struggling.
00:48Have you seen an increased demand for your services?
00:50We have indeed.
00:51In the last four years, we've seen over 120% increase in people looking to rehome their dogs
00:56and over 80% increase in people looking to rehome their cats.
01:00And we are seeing that people are struggling just to provide the daily care that their pets need,
01:06either for simply food or even veterinary care services.
01:10You are a charity that relies on donations.
01:12You've got this extra workload.
01:14How are you managing to achieve that?
01:16How are people supporting you?
01:17We're very reliant on the support that we get from the general public.
01:21We have lots and lots of ways that people can help us through fundraising, fostering, doing volunteer work at the
01:30centres.
01:30There's always lots of jobs to be done that we need extra help with.
01:33So what we would say to people is get in touch with us and we can talk about how they're
01:38going to be able to best offer their support
01:40and what the needs of each individual centre is.
01:42There might be people out there who perhaps maybe have got a cat already or a dog or a pest
01:47who are thinking of adopting.
01:49What would you say to them?
01:50What does an animal bring to their life and what responsibilities does that entail also?
01:54Oh, I think it's endlessly what an animal can bring to your life.
01:59We have lots of people that come to us because their pets have been their main companionship.
02:04They've offered them support when they've gone through a bereavement in their life.
02:08They've had just any personal problems and they can really get that emotional support from a pet that they might
02:14not have from other people.
02:16We see a lot of families that really love to get out and about with their animals so it can
02:21provide lots of activities for the whole family.
02:24You've got the roadshow today. Are there going to be more?
02:26Hopefully. We're really hoping that it's something that we'll be able to continue getting out and about across the country.
02:31So where is our local Blue Cross Centre?
02:34Our local Blue Cross Centre is in Bromsgrove, Cats Hill and Bromsgrove, and we rehome cats, dogs and small pets
02:40from there.
02:41We also do fundraising events, local food banks.
02:46We offer support for people that are struggling to feed their pets and veterinary care as well if people do
02:51need that extra support with their, providing vet care for their animals.
02:55Well, thank you for doing such great work and thank you for your time today.
02:58Thank you very much.
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