AN animal rescue centre hopes to raise thousands of pounds for fencing to protect more than 500 animals.

Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary, in Asheldham, is aiming to raise £30,000 to fence the 40-acre perimeter at Gracedale Farm.

The sanctuary bought the farm last summer but it did not have full fencing around it.

A spokesman said: “Whilst the farm has around 40 acres of fantastic grazing for the rescued horses and cows all the fields are not fenced, meaning we can’t use them for animals.

“We need to raise a significant sum to pay for the fields to be securely fenced.

“We have very large and powerful horses – Percherons and Clydesdales – and the cows will ‘test’ the fencing so we don’t want to do this work more than once for the foreseeable future, which means we need to get it done properly, securely and safely.

“We won’t be using barbed wire, we will instead be concreting in posts every two metres and using scaffold boards instead of the usual thinner rails as these simply will not be strong enough to stand up to the size and type of rescued animals we have at the sanctuary.

“Additionally, we will run sheep wire underneath the scaffold boards to facilitate sheep in the fields too “To start the work we have already pre-ordered 100 scaffold boards at a cost of £1,000 and we will need a further 700, plus all the five-inch square posts that will be concreted in place.

“Phase one of the fundraising will be to purchase 800 scaffold boards at £8,000.

“Any amount people can help with will be very gratefully appreciated.

“If we can’t fence the fields, we can’t use them to graze the rescued animals, so we simply have to find a way to make this work.”

The sanctuary relies on volunteers helping with caring for the hundreds of unwanted domestic and farm animals.

Supporter Katy Fosdike said: “The work that Fiona Oakes and her partner Martin do at the sanctuary is incredible, looking after 500 animals and ensuring they have a peaceful life is a 24/7 commitment.

“The fencing project is a huge undertaking but ultimately essential for the animals, so if anyone can help with donations then the animals would be forever grateful.”

The team hope to get the fencing up by May.

For details, visit goldengiving.com/fundraising/gracedalefencing.