Hillside Animal Sanctuary

Hillside Animal Sanctuary, based in Frettenham, Norwich, and with a site at West Runton, North Norfolk, is the United Kingdom's largest home for different kinds of farm animals and horses. The vegan-run sanctuary is funded entirely on public donations. The sanctuary was established by Wendy Valentine and its patron is actor Martin Shaw.

Formation

Valentine formed the sanctuary in 1995 after she witnessed the farming of battery hens, and has since helped and campaigned for and on behalf of animals. She is quoted as saying Hillside's aim is to:

Evolution

When the Norfolk Shire Horse Centre at West Runton came up for sale in 2007, Hillside Animal Sanctuary stepped in and purchased the site. Shire horses are still homed at West Runton, but also other rescued animals may be visited here too. Between the two sites, 1,200 rescued horses, 300 cows, 600 sheep & goats and 150 pigs are spread out over 1,000 acres. Hillside has also helped re-home animals on the closure of a number of other animal sanctuaries, notably the Quality of Life Animal Sanctuary (QoLAS) in Devon in 2011, Rainbow Ark Sanctuary in 2014, Green Meadows Sanctuary in 2015, Blossoms Sanctuary in 2016, and Derwent Valley Donkey Sanctuary in 2019. The sanctuary was further enlarged by the purchase of Church Farm, Haveringland, occupying part of the site of the former RAF Swannington, in 2017.

Today

Hillside is now home to over 2000 rescued animals including horses, donkeys, cattle, goats, alpacas, sheep, ducks and chickens. and claims to be "one of the UK's most successful campaigning organisations for the animals' cause." In June 2017, a herd of 59 cows, formerly intended as beef cattle, was rehomed to Hillside after its vegetarian owner concluded he could no longer justify farming animals.

Undercover investigations

Hillside has an animal cruelty investigation unit that acts directly on tip-offs from members of the public. The unit provides video evidence that often leads to prosecution in cases of animal cruelty. They have carried out many undercover operations to highlight cases of alleged animal abuse within the British farming industry.

Some of the more well known cases include in 2006, involvement in the successful prosecution of two employees of Bernard Matthews Beck Farm in Felthorpe, near Norwich, who both admitted ill treatment of animals after they were secretly filmed by a member of the Hillside unit beating turkeys with metal poles held like baseball bats. The case was brought to court by the RSPCA and the two men were found guilty. The court's sentence was 200 hours community service. Later the same year another investigation by Hillside, at Cherrydene Farm in Bergh Apton, Norfolk (which produces for MFD Foods Ltd.) uncovered animal cruelty. The farm was a member of the animal welfare charity RSPCA-owned 'Freedom Food label'. The 'Freedom Food' stamp of approval informs consumers that any meat carrying its logo is from a farm where animals are kept in the best possible conditions. The footage showed animals kept in squalid conditions and ducks being punched, picked up by the neck and kicked. The farm has since been sold and closed down. In 2012, Hillside investigated Red Lion Horse slaughterhouse, Nantwich, and the footage was used by the Guardian whose reporters were able to trace a number of consignments of horse to Dutch distributors who were then being investigated as part of the 2013 horse meat scandal.

Television

Hillside the animal sanctuary and also Hillside's separate work in uncovering animal cruelty have both featured in television programmes, including Channel 4's ''It's Me or the Dog'', BBC Three's '' The Baby Borrowers'' and the BBC Two programme ''Escape to the Country'' which had an episode dedicated to Hillside. ITV's ''Tonight with Trevor McDonald'' featured Hillside's investigation footage and the RSPCA defending their Freedom Food Scheme. The BBC
...