Reprieve on Gentleshaw Wildlife Centre closure threat

Under-threat Gentleshaw Wildlife Centre will be safe until the end of the year, bosses revealed today.

Manager Jenny Morgan said it was not out of the woods entirely but safe until 2013 – a target that was not certain before the summer season.

Attendance had slumped by 25 per cent at the Eccleshall attraction, with only 7,500 people passing through the doors in the last 12 months.

However, charitable individuals and companies have drummed up enough support to keep the business going for another few months.

Mrs Morgan said visitor numbers had picked up slightly over the summer but more support was needed. She said she would re-evaluate the situation again at the end of the year.

"It's crunch time again now with the kids going back to school but things have got better and we will be fine until the end of the year, we'll certainly make it till Christmas and then look at things again," she said today.

The animal sanctuary in Stone Road was set up by her late father Rob Smith and Mrs Morgan says she been bowled over by the help she has had from people across Staffordshire.

"We have begun to get support from all sorts of places," she said back in July. "We have people rolling up offering us bunches of bananas, which is great, it's obviously hard cash we need to survive but all these things help save us money by not having to buy them."

The long-running tourist attraction used to attract more than 10,000 people from all over the country. Its drastic reduction in numbers has been put down to the recession and this year's awful weather.

Mrs Morgan, aged 31, is also appealing to Staffordshire businesses to sponsor some of the enclosures at the site.

The attraction funds its work by charging an admission to the sanctuary, providing school talks and carrying out charity collections.

The charity organisation has to constantly shell out money to provide veterinary care, animal food and lighting and heating. Gentleshaw was opened in 1993 by Mr Smith who appeared on Blue Peter and The Really Wild Show.