A FUNDRAISING campaign to support an Asheldham animal sanctuary has been launched.

Jenna Miller, 24, of Burnham, joined a campaign launched by the British Hen Welfare Trust, which was looking to raise money to save chickens from slaughter.

She spoke to Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary, in Asheldham, to see if they would be able to take on the hens.

They agreed and Jenna looked to raise £100 to cover transport costs, food costs and vet bills.

She explained: “I did some paintings of chickens and posted them on social media to see if anyone would be willing to donate to get them.

“We managed to raise £70 from those and had more donations come in through paypal as well. We hit our target in two days.”

With the chickens on their way to join the 450 other rescued animals at Tower Hill, Jenna decided to start raising money to support the sanctuary itself, with the help of a fundraising group called Animal Rescue Support.

“It is a small group that began in 2014,” Jenna explained.

“They raise money for animal sanctuaries that do not get any funding and help them to continue doing the great work they do.

“Tower Hill are fantastic. They're run by a lady called Fiona Oakes who is an incredible woman.

“They take in all sorts of animals and care for them. Horses, pigs, chickens, dogs, sheep, cows.

“They are not open to the public other than on special open days because a lot of the animals they look after are traumatised or elderly, so they try not to have lots of strangers coming in and looking at them in order to limit the stress on them.”

Jenna, who has been working with animals for ten years and dreams of one day opening her own sanctuary wants to support Tower Hill and the work they do over Christmas.

Donations could be made via the ARS’ paypal at arsfundraising@gmail.com with the reference ‘TowerHill’.