"Powys Animal Welfare Trust, incorporating Powys Cat Rescue, is a registered charity founded in Newtown in 2003 to address the heartbreaking and unacceptable number of homeless and abandoned animals in the area. Whilst most efforts are concentrated in the Powys area and adjoining regions, we have accommodated animals from throughout Britain. The trust accepts any needy animal and whilst predominantly rescuing cats and dogs, we have horses and a wide range of abandoned household pets. Since its foundation, the trust has rescued over three and a half thousand animals.

A network of foster carers bear responsibility for their welfare until suitable new homes can be found. We believe that allowing the animals to be kept in a home environment, we are more able to assess their needs and observe their behaviour. We are then able to rehome them appropriately, thus avoiding problems later on in their new homes. After an intitial visit by the foster carers to the homes of prospective new owners, they are invited to visit the animals in their foster homes.

The sanctuaries are reserved for animals deemed difficult or inappropriate for homing for a variety of reasons. After a suitable period in one of the large isolation areas, the animals are free to roam the extensive garden and pasture areas totalling several acres. Freedom, shelter and care of the best order are available for several hundred animals, who otherwise would have had no future. We only agree to euthanasia when an animal is irrevocably suffering.

Powys Animal Welfare Trust is a community project. We feel it is essential to the positive development of animal welfare that the community at large feels a part of the effort to this end. We work with a wide range of local agencies from the local police forces, South Montgomeryshire Volunteer Bureau, Family Crisis Unit, Probation Service and Pont Hafren Drop-In Centres for those with mental health and depressive illnesses.

We are particularly aware of the needs of the elderly and the disabled in our community who are often deprived of their much-needed companionship of pets due to the impracticalities often involved. We support this element of the public by transporting them with their pets to the vets, paying their bills when necessary, providing them with food and offering help with any practical care of their animals when needed. Some elderly people enjoy working amongst the animals or in other areas of the daily running of the trust.

In addition to general rescue and care work, the trust has an ongoing neutering programme for cats, dogs and even rabbits. We have neutered about a thousand animals since we were founded. This includes colonies from sixty farms in the area, and many hundreds of domestic cats and dogs. Neutering is the only way to avoid unwanted and sick animals - a message we are relentless in trying to convey to the public.

We address children in schools etc, and permit them to visit the Newtown sanctuary.

Running costs to the trust are obviously enormous. We have spent almost £70,000 alone on veterinary costs since 2003. As a local charity we have no input from a national funding base.

All our finances are derived from local fundraising events and from the income generated from our shops in Broad Street, Newtown - which is also Newtown's largest secondhand book shop, and in Severn Street, Welshpool. The shops also serve as help centres for people requiring advice or help with animals.

We are indebted to the wonderful people of the area for their kind generosity and continued support. Without their donations to the shops, we would be unable to continue this invaluable work. We are also grateful for the co-operation of other hard working local charities - the local RSPCA Inspector Phil Lewis, the Montgomeryshire and Radnor branch of the RSPCA, Montgomery Cat Rescue and Homes For Pets, Llanyr. It is only through the co-operation of genuine animal lovers, be they individuals or organisations, that we will solve some very serious animal welfare problems.

We are always anxious to recruit anyone with even the smallest amount of time to offer to help us in any capacity! Contact us on 01686 628011 or call at 18 Broad Street, Newtown, Powys, or Severn Street, Welshpool, Powys."

Written by Andrew Doran from the Powys Animal Welfare Trust