A CHARITY is offering a £1,000 reward to help catch the culprits responsible for the slaughter of geese at a Teesdale animal sanctuary.
Some 23 birds, mostly goslings, were beaten to death or had their necks broken at the Wetheriggs Animal Rescue Centre, near Greta Bridge, earlier this month.
The massacre left volunteers at the centre upset and mystified as to who carried out the attack and what their motive was.
After reading about the incident, the Newton Aycliffe-based National Animal Sanctuaries Support League (NASSL) has come forward to offer the reward for any information that leads to the arrest, conviction and imprisonment of those responsible.
Ray Mackinlay, founder trustee of the NASSL, said he was “absolutely incensed” when cases of cruelty such as that involving the Wetheriggs geese came to light.
Mr Mackinlay said one of the charity’s key aims was to educate children about the importance of animal welfare at a young age, so they would carry this through into adulthood.
“Animal welfare should be a subject taught as part of the curriculum,” he said.
Mr Mackinlay has been in touch with Wetheriggs owner Terry Bowes with the offer of the reward and also a suggestion that the two organisations work together in future.
Mr Bowes said the wave of support he and volunteers at Wetheriggs had received since the geese were killed had restored his faith in human nature.
Following the incident, an online fundraising appeal has been launched in an effort to raise £2,000 for CCTV at the centre.
Mr Bowes said this had come after supporters had queried the lack of security at the site.
“The issue with this is that we don’t have the funds to dedicate to security measures such as CCTV,” he said.
“With no government funding, we rely almost completely on admission fees and donations to keep Wetheriggs alive.
“In light of this, a member of the public suggested crowdfunding to help us cover the costs of installing security.”
Mr Bowes said after speaking to a local firm, £2,000 was needed to buy and install CCTV and cover maintenance costs.
Consequently an online appeal was launched and a quarter of the target was reached within 24 hours.
Anyone wishing to contribute can go to https:// www.gofundme.com/cctv-at-wetheriggsarc
A Durham Police spokeswoman said an investigation into the incident remains ongoing. Anyone with any information should call police on 101, quoting incident number 140 of July 9.
