[Animal] Deeping St James Exotic Pet Refuge sees bills double to £4,000 a month

[FazzNoth]

An animal sanctuary is ‘just about keeping our heads above water’ after seeing its electricity costs double.

Exotic Pet Refuge - which is home to around 300 unwanted, abandoned or neglected creatures - is facing bills of £4,000 per month this winter.

And with animal owners also feeling the pinch, the Deeping St James’ centre is seeing a rise in people asking them to take in their animals - to the point they even discovered a snake curled around their gate after it had been dumped.

“It’s going up from £2,000 to £4,000 per month - that’s a hell of a lot of money,” said owner Pam Mansfield, discussing an energy bill that could now stand at £48,000 a year.

“We’re feeling the pinch quite a lot. We haven’t got any more open days, we’re allowed six a year.

“At the moment we’re just keeping our heads above water

“We’ve got enough to last a normal winter, but if electricity goes up and up then I don’t know what we can do.”

The reptile house - which is home to alligators, 20 snakes, lizards, turtles and a pygmy hedgehog among other beasts - needs to be permanently heated.

Animals used to warmer climates, such as the 25 monkeys and kinkajous - a tropical rainforest mammal - are also dependent on warmth, especially is the cold winter months.

“We can’t just turn the electricity off to save money, some animals need heat all year round,” added Pam.

“It’s mostly the cost of electricity, but our feed has also gone up.”

Owners struggling to look after their pets in the cost of living crisis are also turning to the refuge for help, which is putting an additional strain on resources. “Somebody rang us asking if we could take eight boa constrictors, we’re also getting calls about corn snakes and lizards,” added Pam.

“We’ve just taken in two baby skunks.

“They’re coming in all the time, people just can’t afford to keep animals at the moment.

“We can’t keep taking them in as we won’t have enough to look after what we already have here. It’s an awful situation but we have to say no.”

Others unwilling to take no for an answer have their own methods of passing on their pets.

Pam said: “We found a corn snake that had wrapped itself around the gate. It was loose, somebody had just left it.

“It was freezing. We got it into the reptile house and it slowly warmed itself up.”

The refuge - which is also home to animals including lynxes, raccoons, fruit bats and wolf dogs - has one employee and an army of volunteers who help with the day-to-day running.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/news/amp/bills-double-for-animal-refuge-as-owners-fear-for-future-9282929/