Pet portions

Keeping pets well fed

By Sophie Bullock

I launched Haringey Pet Foodbank at the start of the year with the aim of keeping pets well fed, and reducing the number of animals being taken to pet rescue centres.

It is my hope that pets are able to remain with their owners during times of hardship, by relying on food and pet care donations from the local community.

With the help of the staff at Downhills Park Café who kindly accept donations and give out what is asked for by beneficiaries, we have been able to ensure that anyone in the community who might be struggling financially doesn’t have to worry about how they will feed their beloved pet.

According to Trust for London 34% of Haringey residents are living in poverty, this rate is significantly high compared to the London average of 28%.

Statistics also show that of all the inner London boroughs, Haringey has the second largest proportion of residents earning below the London Living Wage.

Pets deserve to be looked after, but now more than ever people have less money in their pocket. We aim to take some of the stress away from struggling pet owners so that they can use any spare money on electricity, food or other outgoings.

One local resident rescued a stray cat and needed food but couldn’t get to the food bank, so we posted food to her. Another resident was struggling to feed her dog and managed to get a large bag of dry dog food from the pet food bank.

Morning donations to the pet food bank, (located at Downhills Park Café, in the North East corner of the park by the tennis courts) are best, and this also goes for item collections, which are available to pet owners in need, a few times a week. We accept food donations for any local pet!

For more information: We are on Facebook at Haringey Pet Foodbank and Instagram: @haringey_pet_foodbank.

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