A city animal shelter is among those hard hit by the coronavirus outbreak and left desperate for help after having to refuse donations and bring a halt to re-homing work.
The current crisis means that beside being forced to close its doors, Newcastle Dog & Cat Shelter is also having to turn away donations of much-needed items such as pet food and blankets which it normally relies upon to keep going.
And at a time it is actually seeing a rise in people's interest in offering a new home to one of its pets, this is having to halt too.
The animal centre in Claremont Road, which also has a branch at Benton North Farm, is one of many left in difficulties, facing its usual bills - including around £15,000 a month for vet treatment alone, with medicines on top - without being able to hold its usual fund-raisers or rely upon its shop sales to boost the coffers.
As well as having to stop rehoming its animals, it is no longer able to accept any new volunteer workers or foster carers either, even though in the previous three weeks alone it had taken in 72 extra animals.
So the shelter, which was set up in 1896 and whose Benton branch also cares for the likes of horses, ponies, pigs, sheep and ex-battery chickens, has been coming up with ideas of how supporters can help it cope in the crisis.
It is unable to accept donations of food, pet toys or bedding because it does not have any spare space to isolate such items and keep them separate for 72 hours, in keeping with reports on how long the covid-19 virus could potentially last on certain surfaces.
A spokesman said: "We are very grateful for all donations but we must put this in place to protect our staff as we rely on them to look after our animals."
So, instead, the shelter is asking people who want to offer a donation to make it a financial contribution "as this will allow us to buy the things we need most urgently".
It has set up an online fund-raiser, telling people: "These are very worrying times for us. We desperately need your help to look after our animals."
In the meantime, the shelter is also helping others by offering a pet food delivery service for vulnerable people not able to get out to buy supplies. See here to apply.
Already the online appeal has raised £5,700.
Anyone able to make a donation can do so here or else make a payment via its online shop; by card on 0191 215 0435 or by posting a cheque to the shelter's farm branch at Benton Lane, NE1 8EH.
It has also set up a £1 text appeal, saying that a million donations of £1 would cover its costs for nine months. To donate £1 , text: APPEALNOINFO to 70450.
