Can you help your local Cats Protection League?

Despite the challenges faced as a result of the pandemic, the charity is still very much operational and the East Lancashire branch continue to support the Cats Protection aims during the pandemic via focusing on fundraising through online methods to ensure the charity can continue functioning effectively beyond COVID-19.

A few ways you can support Cats Protection is by sponsoring a cat, playing their online lottery, joining the charity as a member and gifting donations. In addition, the branch social media channels and phone lines remain active to provide cat welfare advice.

The East Lancashire branch isn’t able to re-home cats as yet due to limited volunteer resource, however, other Cats Protection branches across the UK are caring for the cats they are fostering currently and re-homing will start again as soon the government guidelines change to allow a safe way to do this. In the meantime, remote re-homing is being looked into and trialled by some branches.

As the East Lancashire branch grows, they will also be working to rescue and rehome stray, homeless or unwanted cats and are looking for volunteer fosterers so that they can offer this service in the near future. Currently, the branch is taking the details of anybody who is interested in volunteering going forward and will be in contact to progress this further once government guidance states it is safe to do so.

Some of the key roles the branch require are a branch co-ordinator, branch treasurer, fosterers and fund-raising. You can register your interest for these roles by emailing [email protected] - if you don't fancy any of the specific roles but would still like to help, the East Lancashire branch would still love to hear from you as there are lots of other areas they need support with to help cats in need and ensure the branch runs successfully.

Helena Brailsford, branch development manager for the North West, said: “Volunteering is a fun and rewarding experience, particularly if you have a skill that would benefit the charity or would like to develop new skills by taking on a fresh challenge.

"Our volunteers gain a great deal of satisfaction helping cats to get a second chance in life, while meeting like-minded people along the way.

“We work hard to match people’s skills, interest and time availability to the roles on offer, so if you think you have something to contribute, please get in touch.”