Animal sanctuary damaged in heavy snow

4 days ago

Joan CumminsWest Midlands

Some of the animal enclosure roofs at Brockswood collapsed under the weight of the snow

BBC A wooden framed mesh covered enclosure, with a large amount of snow on top of it, as well as snow on the ground inside and out — Some of the animal enclosure roofs at Brockswood collapsed under the weight of the snow

An animal sanctuary has been badly damaged by heavy snowfall during Storm Goretti.

Five large enclosures at Brockswood Animal Sanctuary in Sedgley collapsed under the weight of the snow, and a duck was killed.

Sanctuary manager Claire Thompson said she "sobbed her heart out" when she saw the damage, as "we lost one animal, and we could have lost so many more."

It is thought the duck - called Lilly - was pinned underneath an enclosure after the roof and side came in.

The sanctuary, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2025, said it was facing one of the darkest moments in its history.

Claire Thompson said she sobbed her heart out when she saw the damage and thought about the animals

A woman with long dark hair, wearing a black top looks to the camera. Behind her there is snow on the ground, with two people pulling wheelbarrows. — Claire Thompson said she sobbed her heart out when she saw the damage and thought about the animals

Neil Swann is director of the sanctuary, and said they built their enclosures to cope with snowfall as they were in a valley and used to it, but this was the worst he had seen in 20 years.

"On Thursday night when the snow hit us, we just got deluged with a massive amount of snow, " he said.

It had drifted up the valley and "dumped between six and eight inches of snow" on top of the aviaries.

The five large enclosures were going to be very expensive to repair or replace, Swann said, but locals had already been offering help, and they were also setting up an online fundraising page.

The sanctuary cares for sick, injured and mistreated animals

A small brown pony on a snow trodden path between two fenced areas, also covered in snow — The sanctuary cares for sick, injured and mistreated animals

In the meantime, the animals displaced by the damage, including the ducks, chickens and geese, have been moved elsewhere on site.

The peafowl have been put in the raccoon enclosure "not ideal, but obviously we've separated them away from each other," said Thompson.

"It's very strange, we've got animals in places we wouldn't usually put them, and we wouldn't usually put them near each other, but needs must in an emergency."