A new emergency fund has been set up to hand out grants of up to £5,000 to equine welfare organisations struggling from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Petplan Charitable Trust (PPCT) joined forces with World Horse Welfare and the National Equine Welfare Council (NEWC) to form the Covid-19 Equine Rescues Emergency Fund.
Its focus will be on helping smaller welfare organisations, with maximum grants of £5,000 and an expected average of £2,500 available to each. These will be decided by a committee, comprising representatives of NEWC, the supporting charities and an independent member, with PPCT administering the fund.
“The current situation, and the economic fallout from the pandemic, will just make a bad situation a whole lot worse,” said World Horse Welfare chief executive Roly Owers.
“There is no capacity within the UK’s equine rescue system so it is vital, as we start to rehome animals again, that we have as many organisations as possible working to support the inevitable tidal wave of welfare cases that will need help over the course of this year.
“We are hugely grateful to our sister charities, including the RSPCA, the Donkey Sanctuary, Redwings and the BHS for supporting the Covid-19 Equine Rescues Emergency Fund and to the PPCT for agreeing to administer this vital safety net to smaller, but no less important, equine welfare organisations during this extraordinary time.”
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The PPCT put forwards £50,000 to launch the fund, with a further £80,000 donated by the RSPCA, the Donkey Sanctuary, Redwings, World Horse Welfare and the British Horse Society.
PPCT chairman David Simpson added: “The Petplan Charitable Trust has always supported the tremendous work horse rescues perform and we are delighted to work alongside others to help in these difficult times.”
Applications are open to all organisations whose main focus is the rescue and rehoming of equines. If the amount of applications exceeds the funds available, priority will be given to NEWC members and smaller organisations that have not received emergency funds from elsewhere.
For more information, visit: https://petplancharitabletrust.org.uk/covid-19-equine-emergency-fund/
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