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One of her particular concerns is for animals forced to stay in rescue centres for long periods. She recently visited Blackberry Farm an RSPCA shelter in Buckinghamshire. She spoke to visitors and staff who told her about some of the worst cases of cruelty they'd seen. In one example an ex-guard horse had been placed with someone and they had neglected it and sadly it died. A huge animal that had served queen an country and was virtually left to starve to death. But this is just the tip of a very large and seemingly insurmountable ice burg. As the manager of Blackberry Farm, Richard Musgrave explains "you never get used to seeing the state that some of the animals are in, no hair on them, or covered in sores, or so emaciated you can see the whole skeleton. Those are the things that always get to you. They're all bad." The growth in popularity in exotic pets has meant places like Blackberry Farm regularly receive spiders, reptiles and other cold blooded creatures.
 | | Freddy and Tilly. |
"Lots of people buy snakes, for instance. You can buy them not much bigger than a Biro pen to start off with, but they need specialist attention and sadly we've found an increase in people literally throwing a snake away. We've had many snake that people have come across in woods. The biggest one we had was an eight foot Python that a person walking a dog found in a woodland. Now if a person thought that animal would survive they were very wrong." Richard Musgrave continued. Abandoned dogs Freddy and Tilly are two of Blackberry Farm's longest stayer's. They're both desperate for a home but must stay together because according to their keeper, "they love each other very much". Freddy is thirteen years old and a shaggy cross breed and Tilly is five years old and a brindle cross breed. If you think you can provide a home for them both please contact Blackberry Farm on 08700 101 852.
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