The Birkett~Smith Animal Sanctuary was founded a couple of years ago on a smallholding in Dorset and formalised as a registered Charity not long after. 
We provide forever homes for domestic, farm and wildlife animals. Most have behavioural issues, are aggressive, old, disabled, human scared etc...so we basically take the animals that stand little or no chance or gaining homes let alone the security of a forever home.
Our 150 animals include dogs, cats, pigs, sheep, horses, all farm birds, emus and even a seagull! We are one of the the very few UK sanctuaries that will take aggressive and fear aggressive dogs as we have a no kill policy full stop. We rehabillitate these animals as much as we can over time to enable them to enjoy their forever homes.
Due to the nature of the animals we have their care can be intensive, and timely and very costly.

 

 

This year we undertook to build SOS SAFE HAVENS for human/dog reactive/aggressive dogs. There will be 5 short to medium term spaces available at the Sanctuary for professional rescues/rescuers that need to get dogs to safety as a stopover before a new placement. We have been unofficially sheltering short term dogs who were at risk for the past year or so at nil charge for reputable rescuers. With there being an ever increasing demand for SOS spaces, the project will be launched as soon as the Rest Bite housing is built. Our experience of such dogs is built on a foundation of 75 UK/European aggressive/ reactive dogs we have here in Sanctuary, all progressing gradually into the dogs they can become. Our rehab methods ensure that with no expectation or pressure, the dogs begin to feel safe and secure and re-establish human contact; this is daily life at the sanctuary. We have on-site air lock system boundaries and high security for the dog yards, CCTV, substantial play areas, on-site live capture darting and sedation, experienced veterinary treatment at hand from Girling and Bowditch Veterinary Practice and daily rehab to bring the dogs forward in a place of total safety.
We are stage building the SOS Rest Bite Housing. 5 individual heated dens with concrete flooring, galvanised panels to sides and roof, padlocked security gate, external perimeter fence and play areas. As you can imagine the build's are not cheap and we are busy fundraising to get more spaces up and running. The sooner we raise the funds the sooner we are here in a unique capacity to SOS back up for rescues.

We are unable to re home our dogs due to their natures and cannot open to the public due to the nature of the animals on site. We do not have the income of a rescue from adoption fees so we continually fund raise to cover the cost of this vital project. The first Safe Haven House's are already full, we have 12 SOS spaces complete so far and these spaces will continue to save dogs lives over and over in the years to come.