AN at-risk animal sanctuary has hit back after another volunteer accused it of not caring for its animals, saying the ‘hurtful’ allegations could damage its efforts to move to a new site.

We were given exclusive access to Didcot Animal Sanctuary yesterday after Caroline Luckraft, who worked there for two months, called for improvements to be made to the way animals are homed and fed.

Ms Luckraft detailed her concerns in a more than 1,800-word Facebook post prompted by the news that the sanctuary could have found a new home near Wallingford.

Oxford Mail:

She called for a ‘positive way forward’ and has asked animal experts in the area to get together to advise the sanctuary and make sure it is set up appropriately at its new location.

Sharing pictures of what she claimed was a rabbit cage 'soaked in urine and full of poo', Ms Luckraft, a 'lifelong animal owner', criticised the sanctuary for keeping animals on their own, which the owners say they have to do because the animals are not neutered.

She also criticised the owners for not neutering animals. Ms Luckraft said the sociable creatures got depressed from the lack of interaction with others and were rarely allowed out.

Oxford Mail:

During The Herald's visit, the rabbit cages appeared clean and owners David and Julia Vaughan assured the paper that the animals were fed twice a day and cleaned out twice a week.

They admitted that they had not been neutered but said this was because the procedure can cost nearly £100 and that cost would have to be passed on to people looking to adopt animals.

Ms Luckraft said she had taken pictures and created Facebook posts advertising which animals were available for rehoming after becoming concerned about the lack of effort to advertise animals for adoption. However some of these were later changed by the sanctuary owners to make it clear they were in fact ‘not for rehoming’.

The new concerns come after a previous volunteer, Kriz Wood, spoke out last year when she offered to help on the site following a fire which destroyed a caravan and three buildings, killing two sheep.

In light of the new allegations, a Facebook group with 154 members has been set up calling for the sanctuary to be closed and owners 'prosecuted.'

The charity was set up by the Vaughans five years ago but had been under threat because the Hill Farm land it is built on is due to be developed as a new Didcot science park.

Residents rallied around last year after the fire and donated nearly £6,000 to help the sanctuary recover.

Mr Vaughan said the sanctuary had been inspected by the RSPCA on numerous occasions and no wrong-doing had been identified, although this has not been confirmed by the RSPCA itself.

He confirmed Ms Luckraft worked on the site for ‘a few weeks’ but said the sanctuary will now no longer be accepting volunteers.

Mr Vaughan also said the charity took a more informal, offline approach to finding new homes for its animals and said hundreds of rabbits had been rehomed in its five years of operation.

He said the recent bad weather and flooding had caused problems and had forced the sanctuary to close to the public for more than a week and the preparations for the move meant the site was more disorganised and messy than it would normally be.

This made letting the animals out of their cages difficult, but efforts were made to exercise the creatures at any opportunity.

Mr Vaughan added: “All we are trying to do is look after animals that no one wants. "This is just really getting me down now, there is no need for it."

The RSPCA said it could not confirm if it had received any official complaints but reassured people that it would look into any complaints it received.

Spokeswoman Suzanne Norbury said: “Unfortunately we are unable to discuss complaints about specific people and what action may or may not have been taken.

“We understand how frustrating that is for animal lovers but releasing information could prejudice a future investigation or could lead to us being fined.

“We would like to reassure people that we will always look into and, wherever necessary, investigate complaints about animal welfare."