Gerald is a huge goat we’ve re-homed, HUGE!!!! Gerald had been kept in a small shed his whole life and when a lovely family saw this, they re-homed him and took him to live with their horses. Unfortunately the land owner wouldn’t let him stay there so they asked to bring him to Fripps. Gerald was a billy goat (meaning he still had his balls) so we had to keep him separate to all our female goats. We have since had him castrated so that he can live out his days with a load of goat friends. He’s a very feisty and confident boy and he doesn’t seem to like men which makes us wonder if he’s been abused at some point by a man. Here at Fripps we’re all in love with him. He’s so handsome and got so much character. He tries to head butt everyone all the time. Since being here he has become best friends with Chuck the donkey and they are now inseparable. It’s so cute. Gerald will have an amazing life here with us.

Gerald ended up breaking ALL of our fences, trying to get to the yummy bushes the other side. We couldn’t afford to re-do all our fencing or “Gerald-proof” it so Gerald had to be kept on tether for a while. It wasn’t fair on him as he could only come off the tether when one of us was in the field with him. Although he was happy living like that, we knew he deserved more so we asked the amazing Buttercups Sanctuary for Goats to take him as they are more than equipped to take strong and sometimes naughty goats!! Gerald has a home for life there and is now living his best life with 113 other goats!!!! Buttercups are open to the public so go and pay them a visit !! And if you do then please give Gerald a MASSIVE kiss from us!! www.buttercups.org.uk

Jodie was sitting in the pub one night when a friend called her and said “can you take another dog?” Because it was a good friend, Jodie said yes without even asking any questions so she had no idea what she was even going to get. The friend turned up at the pub with Caroline in a cat carrier and when Jodie got her out she was covered in urine. The back story was that the woman who had her no longer wanted her and that she was only a puppy. She certainly looked like a puppy. A quick check of her teeth confirmed that she was actually an adult and fully grown. Caroline is a mixture of about 10 different terriers so she’s a cross breed but she’s the cutest little dog ever and the best cuddling dog ever. Her favourite thing is to go to sleep in Jodie’s arms on the sofa at night. Being a terrier cross, Jodie has to be really careful that Caroline doesn’t get into where the chickens or ducks are as she would kill them!!

We persevered with Caroline for over a year as we loved her so much but in the end we realised she just couldn’t live on a farm. Her prey drive was too strong and she spent all her day trying to figure out ways to get to the other animals in order to attack or kill them. We ended up giving her to Wanderers Haven (another amazing animal sanctuary) for them to find her a home. David who runs Wanderers Haven is a good friend of Jodie’s and they’ve known each other for many years. It had gotten to the point with Caroline where she was having to be shut in all day which wasn’t fair on her so we asked David to take her urgently. She is currently still at Wanderers Haven and they won’t let her go unless it’s to the most perfect home. Everyone at WH loves her so much and she makes them laugh daily. WH are so amazing; they take in all sorts of animals and then find the best homes for them. They also have an Amazon wishlist for the animals so if anyone wants to help them, please look on their Instagram page @wanderershavenanimalsanctuary

Iggy came to us when his owner could no longer look after him. He is a massive iguana and so friendly. He loves a cuddle and a chin scratch. Although we all fell in love with him, we also knew that as he was fit and healthy, he could be re-homed to someone who loves iguanas and has a great set up for them. In comes Anna. Anna owns The Dragon Shelter and specialises in rescuing reptiles. Jodie met Anna 24 years ago when they both worked in the same London nightclub. Anna has dedicated her life to giving reptiles the best home and she built the most amazing enclosure for Iggy before she came to get him. She now has 4 iguanas along with a load of other reptiles and we are so happy that Iggy is getting everything he needs and all the attention he wants. He’s such a gorgeous boy and will have the best life with Anna. You can find her on Instagram @the_dragon_shelter

Charlie came to us when her owners no longer wanted her. We bought a huge indoor aviary for her and she was quite happy here although we knew there was a better life for her just around the corner. Our friend owns Get to Know Animals which is a petting zoo and they have the biggest aviary ever with other blue and gold macaws. They get to fly around all day and live their best life. We took her there and within an hour of being in with the other parrots, another macaw was feeding her from his beak. So cute!!!! Now we go to visit her all the time to see how she’s getting on and she’s so happy. She loves all the other birds in the aviary and we’re so happy she gets to fly about all day!

The chinchillas came to us when their owner could no longer look after them. They were so friendly and loved cuddles. We fell in love with them but we knew that they needed to be with a family who could give them all the cuddles and attention they needed. We ended up re-homing them to Anna who owns The Dragon Shelter. She has young children who are obsessed with the chinchillas and get them out every day to play and have cuddles. It was absolutely the right thing to do. They are such little sweethearts and now they’re getting fussed and cuddled every day. You can find Anna on Instagram - @the_dragon_shelter

Another animal rescue centre arranged the rescue of 4 dogs from a house in Essex. The night they got them out, they realised they had no where for them to go so Rudy got brought to us while Roc stayed with a friend of ours and the other two went to safe places (we can’t disclose where). These dogs were so mistreated. This was months of starvation and neglect. They had cuts and sores all over them and had been kept in tiny dog crates lying in their own excrement. It was one of the worst cases of animal cruelty we’d seen. One of the very big animal charities had known about these dogs for months but had done nothing to help them. We got them the treatment they needed and nursed them back to health. It was touch and go for a while with Rudy but he made a full recovery. He’s now living with a friend of ours as he didn’t get on with the other dogs at Fripps. We were having to keep them all in separate rooms and it wasn’t fair. We are so happy and proud that Rudy now has a loving home and will never know suffering again. He’s such a gorgeous boy and even sleeps in bed with his new mummy !!

Pepsi was brought into us as a “stray” - nobody wanted her and she’d been living on the streets for ages. She was so loving and friendly from the second she was brought in to us and we all fell in love. We had her spayed and she lived with our other cats for quite a few months until a friend asked if she could re-home her. We happily agreed as we know she’ll have the best home and life with our friend. She has one other cat and we just know that Pepsi will be so happy there. She’s the most vocal cat we’ve ever had. She talks to anyone who goes near her and makes everyone laugh with her constant chatter. She’s a very special girl and we’re so happy she’s gone to an amazing home!!

We have re-homed lots of rabbits. Rabbits come to us for all sorts of reasons, from neglect cases to people breeding them and then not wanting them. We work alongside dedicated rabbit rescue centres to find the best homes for them. We’ve had rabbits come to us in terrible states, from being massively overweight to having faeces stuck all over them. One pair came to us with so much faeces stuck to their behinds that they couldn’t go to the toilet as their whole behinds were clogged up. It took us an hour of gently clipping and washing to get them sorted. We always have spare rabbit runs ready to take any emergencies that come in. We’d rather not take rabbits just because an owner decides they don’t want it/them any more; there are dedicated rabbit rescue centres for that (a quick google search will show you that), we would rather take ones that need immediate help or that literally have no where else to go. Obviously like all animal rescue centres, we have limited space and so can’t be over run with things that are otherwise easy to find homes for. Rabbits make lovely pets but they’re harder work than people think (and they need more space than people think - they can’t just live in a hutch!) and we’d urge anyone to really think about it before getting a rabbit as a pet.

A lovely lady offered to help us find homes for the Guinea pigs so we jumped at the chance. We’re so conscious of not filling up all our space with small animals who have a good chance of being re-homed to good homes. We like to free up space for those animals that are emergency cases or that really don’t have anywhere else to go. Guinea pigs make lovely pets and are very friendly.