The First Chapter....Casey's Creatures
How it all began.....Casey's Creatures
Hi my name is Casey.
I've loved nature since I was a child and always knew I wanted to work with animals. While all the other kids were playing football I was the wee weirdo over in the long grass looking for bugs and frogs and snails.
I started my rescue as a young teenager, around 13, taking in injured or abandoned wildlife and rehabilitating them for release. Things quickly escalated over the years, and eventually I started specialising in reptiles, birds and exotic mammals.
Things grew and grew over the years, and I now run one of the UK's largest private exotic animal sanctuary. At 30 years old, my life is full of raccoons, skunks, parrots, possums, foxes, otters, birds of prey, coatimundi, hedgehogs, snakes, lizards, turtles, armadillo, marmosets, kinkajous, tanuki and many more species!
The vast majority of the animals in my care are rescues or rehomes from the exotic pet trade, or have came to me from other sanctuaries or conservation centres across the UK. These creatures require extremely specialist care which can be difficult to provide for in captivity - I've dedicated my life to making sure I can meet their needs - they live in spacious enclosures where they are able to express all of their natural behaviours and receive the specialist diet, veterinary care, appropriate social structures with company of their own kind and a life full of enrichment.
It costs around £1,000 a week to care for the animals here, and I have been funding this through my non-profit business - Casey's Creatures - which provides interactive, educational wildlife workshops to over 500 schools and youth groups per year.
Unfortunately, this year changed everything.
Due to COVID-19 and schools/youth groups being forced to close, the income that I depend on to care for the animals disappeared over night. We did not qualify for any of the government support or grants, and with limited savings to work off, we were facing some terrifying times.
We would not have survived without the support of Cloud Corp. From the very beginning of lockdown when we announced the troubles we were facing, they got in touch to offer their help. Thanks to them and their new range of e-liquid, we are now able to continue caring for the animals here.
We have had to adapt to this new world. Casey's Creatures has now ceased trading, as the interactive wildlife workshops are no longer viable due to social distancing. In order for the animals in my care to continue to thrive, we must move to the next stage: Tales of the Wild.
