We can offer work experience placements at our charity shops at 188 and 184 Mill Road, Cambridge and 156 High Street, Newmarket. Activities there are varied and can include:
Income from our shops is vital to our continued ability to help animals and by working there you would be making a real contribution to the welfare of animals and their owners. Charity shops also play a valuable part in reducing the environmental impact of clothing and textiles by increasing the amount of clothing which is recycled or re-used.
If you are interested in a work experience placement or just volunteering, please phone 01223 212 644 or drop in at 188 Mill Road, Cambridge CB1 3LP or 156 High Street, Newmarket CB8 9AQ and ask to speak to the manager. You can call in any day at the Cambridge shops, but Saturdays are best at Newmarket. Alternatively, write to the shop manager at the shop where you would like to work.
If you want to work with animals you need to be aware that this is a highly competitive and often very poorly paid field. Even vets, who are probably the highest potential earners, can expect to start their working life with a substantial student debt and to work very long, hard hours. Jobs working with animal charities are scarce because nearly all charities struggle to raise enough funds to employ many helpers. If you are thinking about selecting a college course ask questions about the kinds of jobs it will qualify you to do. You need to be aware that basic "animal care" courses won't necessarily lead to a qualification which will get you into employment and you may be better off with something more specific, such as veterinary nursing, farriery or pet grooming which will be of direct use to a potential employer.
Running our animal welfare activities costs an average of £96,000 each year. This money is spent on keeping animals alive and relieving suffering by paying for veterinary treatments and on boarding unwanted animals until we can rehome them. In an average year we help around 3,000 individual animals. A very large proportion of our welfare work consists of providing low-cost veterinary care for animals whose owners cannot afford the full cost of treatment. There is no National Health Service for animals and without us most of them would either go without treatment or be put to sleep. It is often true that their owners ought to have been more responsible, but we have to deal with society as it is - and unfortunately we are all too often presented with a desperately ill animal and an owner with no money at all. You can view a flow chart explaining how we manage animal intake for veterinary treatment elsewhere on this website. The majority of the animals we take in for rehoming are not simply healthy unwanted animals but are either ill, injured or neglected so they usually require a considerable amount of expensive treatment before they can be rehoused.
We do not receive funding from the Government and it is comparatively rare for us to be given large donations or legacies, so we have to work hard to earn the money that is needed. Most of our funds are raised by a combination of charity shop sales, annual box collections, and a variety of stalls and events.
We particularly need more helpers at our shops, collectors for RSPCA week and volunteers to help with our annual dog show
Last updated 12/06/2008