Seal Rescue Ireland is in danger of closure without funding from the Irish Government.
Please sign our petition demanding that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Mr. Simon Coveney, and the Irish Government, provide funding for the sanctuary to stay open. Closure is a frighteningly real possibility if funding cannot be obtained, as the sanctuary’s founders can no longer afford to sustain it from their personal savings. What this means is there will be no help or rehabilitation for these beautiful creatures that wash up, injured, on our shores. Instead, the seals will die, in plain view, on our beaches.
Seal Rescue Ireland is one of only two functioning seal & wildlife rescue and rehabilitation sanctuaries in Ireland. They currently receive no funding whatsoever from the Irish Government. They are funded entirely by public donations, admission fees to the sanctuary and the personal savings of the rescue’s founder Ally McMillan, an Australian who has made Ireland her home.
An application has been made to the government for funding under the Animal Welfare Scheme*. Seal Rescue Ireland is in dire need of substantial funding in order to remain in operation.
Please help us to help them. Sign and share the petition. Thank you.
Friends of Seal Rescue Ireland
*A total annual budget of approximately €1,500,000 is granted to various Irish animal welfare organisations, although I am informed that this year's budget will be in the region of €5,000,000. Historically, out of this purse grants awarded have ranged from €1,000 to €210,000. The sanctuary’s annual expenditure runs at approximately €75,000 and of this, approximately 50% is generated through a small entrance charge paid by visitors to the sanctuary. Charitable donations for the months May to August this year amounted to only €1,900, so there is a major shortfall in income. As a result of relocation**, visitor revenue fell considerably short of the estimated income from that source.
**Formerly known as Dingle Wildlife and Seal Sanctuary, it lost its home in Co. Kerry to Storm Darwin in February 2014. The devastation was complete. The disaster forced the sanctuary to seek a new home; the only suitable accommodation was in Courtown, Co. Wexford, where they are currently in situ.
Minister Simon Coveney,
We demand that you award funding from your Animal Welfare Scheme to Seal Rescue Ireland in order that they might continue to operate their sanctuary, one of only two functioning seal and wildlife rehabilitation sanctuaries in Ireland. The doors of the sanctuary, now based in Wexford, will close without your intervention. The result of this is that there will be no help or rehabilitation for these beautiful creatures that wash up, injured, on our shores. Instead, the seals will die, in plain view, on our beaches.
Please approve their application and issue adequate funding to them.
