Swan Sanctuary, Shepperton

Last updated

The Swan Sanctuary
Founded1991
FounderThe Late Dorothy Beeson MBE BEM
Type Charity
Location
Revenue
GBP £214,000 (2018)
Website Official website

The Swan Sanctuary, Shepperton is a wildlife hospital dedicated to the treatment, care and rehabilitation of swans and wildfowl in the UK and is situated close to the village of Shepperton in area of Middlesex, England. The Swan Sanctuary is registered with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons as Veterinary Premises No. 7002114 – Sally Goulden, B. Vet. Med., Cert. G.P. (SAM), MRCVS [1]

Contents

History

Originally run from the back garden of Dorothy Beeson's home in Egham in the 1980s and the first purpose-built site was rented from Runnymede Borough Council on a derelict allotment site in Field View, Egham. When the council wanted the land back a new site was needed with more permanent tenure, so a site in Shepperton, Middlesex was found and the new sanctuary built there in 2005. Despite a major setback when the Sanctuary was targeted by criminal fly tippers [2] major developments were completed in 2010. The Swan Sanctuary is recognised by other notable animal charities as a centre for the treatment of swans such as the RSPB, [3] Battersea Dogs and Cats Home [4] and Twycross Zoo, [5] as well as the traditional swan keepers on the Thames the Worshipful Company of Dyers and the Worshipful Company of Vintners. [6] Local supermarkets donate their waste food to help the sanctuary feed their patients, [7]

Aims

To provide treatment, care, rehabilitation and, where possible, release back to the wild of all wildfowl species where they are injured or in distress.

To provide training for organisations who may find themselves faced with wildfowl casualties in the capture and handling of the birds.

Education of groups of all ages in the work done by the Swan Sanctuary. [8]

Achievements

1991 Founder Dorothy Beeson awarded BEM [9]

2000 Lord Erskine award from the RSPCA in recognition of the contribution to animal welfare.

2001 Daily Mirror Pride of Britain award for conservation work.

2015 Founder Dorothy Beeson awarded MBE [10] [11] [12] [13] for services to swan rescue and rehabilitation.

2015 Founder Dorothy Beeson awarded International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) prestigious Animal Action Award [14] [15]

2018 The Swan Sanctuary awarded Queen's Award for Voluntary Service [16]

Funding

The sanctuary receives no government funding and is run entirely on donations from the public and corporate sponsorship. [17]

The Swan Sanctuary on television

The sanctuary has appeared in the following television programmes:

Key people

Founder

Patrons

Former patrons

Trustees

Further reading

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Scott</span> British ornithologist and conservationist (1909–1989)

Sir Peter Markham Scott, was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest in observing and shooting wildfowl at a young age and later took to their breeding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Clunes</span> English actor (born 1961)

Alexander Martin Clunes OBE DL is an English actor, director and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Martin Ellingham in the ITV comedy-drama series Doc Martin and Gary Strang in Men Behaving Badly. Clunes has narrated a number of documentaries for ITV, the first of which was Islands of Britain in 2009. He has since presented a number of documentaries centred on animals. He has also voiced Kipper the Dog in the animated series Kipper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trumpeter swan</span> Species of bird

The trumpeter swan is a species of swan found in North America. The heaviest living bird native to North America, it is also the largest extant species of waterfowl, with a wingspan of 185 to 304.8 cm. It is the American counterpart and a close relative of the whooper swan of Eurasia, and even has been considered the same species by some authorities. By 1933, fewer than 70 wild trumpeters were known to exist, and extinction seemed imminent, until aerial surveys discovered a Pacific population of several thousand trumpeters around Alaska's Copper River. Careful reintroductions by wildlife agencies and the Trumpeter Swan Society gradually restored the North American wild population to over 46,000 birds by 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battersea Dogs & Cats Home</span> Animal rescue centre in London, England

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home is an animal rescue centre for dogs and cats. Battersea rescues dogs and cats until an owner or a new one can be found. It is one of the UK's oldest and best known animal rescue centres. It was established in Holloway, London, in 1860 and moved to Battersea in 1871.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pileated gibbon</span> Species of ape

The pileated gibbon is a primate in the gibbon family, Hylobatidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monkey World</span> Zoo in Dorset, England

The Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre is a 65-acre (26.3 ha) ape and monkey sanctuary and rescue centre near Wool, Dorset, England.

John Ernest Briggs was an English actor. He was known for his role as Mike Baldwin in the soap opera Coronation Street, in which he appeared from 1976 to 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Cronin (zookeeper)</span>

James Michael Cronin MBE was the American co-founder in 1987 of Monkey World in Dorset, England, a sanctuary for abused and neglected primates. He was widely acknowledged as an international expert in the rescue and rehabilitation of abused primates, and in the enforcement of international treaties aimed at protecting them from illegal trade and experimentation.

Peter Joseph Egan is a British actor and animal rights activist.

Monkey Business was a UK TV series that premiered in 1998, focusing on the various primates living at Monkey World, a rescue centre and sanctuary for primates in Dorset, United Kingdom. The series featured Jim Cronin and Alison Cronin, directors of Monkey World, as they travelled around the world rescuing primates often from abusive situations, and bringing them to the Monkey World sanctuary. The goal of Monkey World was the rehabilitation of the rescued primates, who were then released to live within the sanctuary in as natural-a-habitat as possible. The series was narrated by Chris Serle.

Carole Boyd is a British actress. She has had a career in theatre, television, and radio, and plays Lynda Snell MBE in BBC Radio 4's The Archers. In 1998, she won the Audie Award for Best Female Narrator for her narration of Angela Huth's Land Girls.

Jill Robinson MBE is a British animal welfare activist. She is the founder of Animals Asia Foundation.

Tanika Gupta is a British playwright. Apart from her work for the theatre, she has also written scripts for television, film and radio plays.

Simon Maxwell Cowell is a British conservationist, television presenter, and author best known for hosting the Animal Planet documentary series Wildlife SOS from 1996–2014. He is the founder of Wildlife Aid Foundation, originally titled Wildlife Aid, which is a charitable organization dedicated to the "rescue, rehabilitation, and release of British wildlife".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molly Badham</span>

Molly Winifred Badham MBE was a co-founder of Twycross Zoo. She trained the chimpanzees who appeared on the Brooke Bond PG Tips television advertisements in the 1960s to the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mute swan</span> Species of bird

The mute swan is a species of swan and a member of the waterfowl family Anatidae. It is native to much of Eurosiberia, and the far north of Africa. It is an introduced species in North America, home to the largest populations outside of its native range, with additional smaller introductions in Australasia and southern Africa. The name "mute" derives from it being less vocal than other swan species. Measuring 125 to 160 cm in length, this large swan is wholly white in plumage with an orange beak bordered with black. It is recognizable by its pronounced knob atop the beak, which is larger in males.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelly Hunter</span> English actress

Kelly Hunter is a British film, television, radio, stage and musical actress, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. She is a Laurence Olivier Award nominee and Radio Academy Award and TMA Awards winner.

Les Stocker was a British wildlife campaigner and expert who founded Tiggywinkles, the United Kingdom's first hospital for wild animals, in 1983. Stocker has been credited with revolutionizing the treatment of sick or injured wild animals in Britain through the practice of wildlife rehabilitation, which is now commonplace across the country. He received numerous honors for his work at Tiggywinkles, including the Rolex Awards for Enterprise in 1990, an appointment as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to wildlife in 1991, and recognition as an honorary associate of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in 2002.

Alison Lorraine Cronin, MBE is the American director of Monkey World in Dorset, England, a sanctuary for abused and neglected primates. She is widely acknowledged as an international expert in the rescue and rehabilitation of abused primates, and in the enforcement of international treaties aimed at protecting them from illegal trade and experimentation.

References

Stories regarding swans treated by the Swan Sanctuary.