# We are building an exotic animal sanctuary :)



## suity

Hey folks. Just posting this here incase anyone would like to see updates on how this progresses. About a month ago I won a competition with channel4 called The Stake. You had to be 18-21 years old and have a business idea or a dream that you have always wanted to make a reality... people then vote on your idea, and six of the top twenty with the highest votes would receive a share of £100,000 to make their idea real...

I won 20 grand to start Northern Ireland's first exotic animal sanctuary 

I have a four acre site here, with lots of barns, outhouses, a small forest and some fields. I am using the money to build massive enclosures suitable for kinkajous, raccoons, coatimundis, skunks, opossums, genets, lemurs, marmosets, meerkats, ferrets, parrots and a few others, including a 40' barn being converted into a reptile room/small mammal room. At the moment, I do educational talks in schools with my animals, and I hope to extend that service and have my site open for school visits, where the kids will get to see the animals in their natural environments.

I have just finished the planning stage and we started work just four days ago. We have a huge amount done already, but still sooo much to go now. And I only have access to the money for around 2 months, so we have to get going! I'll likely have many questions about what you guys think of certain ideas as I go along, so I will use this thread for that. I'll be working on this from sun up to sun down every day, so should have some progress pictures/videos for you every few days 

Anyway thanks very much for reading folks, and a big thank you to anyone who knew about the competition and voted for our idea - this could not be happening without you 

I'll post some pictures now of some of the work we've been doing so far...


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## mrcriss

suity said:


> Hey folks. Just posting this here incase anyone would like to see updates on how this progresses. About a month ago I won a competition with channel4 called The Stake. You had to be 18-21 years old and have a business idea or a dream that you have always wanted to make a reality... people then vote on your idea, and six of the top twenty with the highest votes would receive a share of £100,000 to make their idea real...
> 
> I won 20 grand to start Northern Ireland's first exotic animal sanctuary
> 
> I have a four acre site here, with lots of barns, outhouses, a small forest and some fields. I am using the money to build massive enclosures suitable for kinkajous, raccoons, coatimundis, skunks, opossums, genets, lemurs, marmosets, meerkats, ferrets, parrots and a few others, including a 40' barn being converted into a reptile room/small mammal room. At the moment, I do educational talks in schools with my animals, and I hope to extend that service and have my site open for school visits, where the kids will get to see the animals in their natural environments.
> 
> I have just finished the planning stage and we started work just four days ago. We have a huge amount done already, but still sooo much to go now. And I only have access to the money for around 2 months, so we have to get going! I'll likely have many questions about what you guys think of certain ideas as I go along, so I will use this thread for that. I'll be working on this from sun up to sun down every day, so should have some progress pictures/videos for you every few days
> 
> Anyway thanks very much for reading folks, and a big thank you to anyone who knew about the competition and voted for our idea - this could not be happening without you
> 
> I'll post some pictures now of some of the work we've been doing so far...


So is it going to be a "business" (as suggested by the prize you won), or an animal sanctuary (which suggests charity status)?


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## beardys

hope you do but dont think you'll really get anywhere finished let alone started with only 20 gs m8


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## TalulaTarantula

Nothing wrong with having ambition, wish you all the best with this!


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## Zoo-Man

Looking forward to pics & updates Casey, it sounds very exciting! :2thumb:


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## suity

So before we could get started, we had to clear the area! No one has lived here for a long long time, over ten years... so the grounds we are building the sanctuary on are all overgrown and some parts are totally inaccessible. 

I thought it would take a lot longer to do, but with the help of a few chainsaws and a digger, we turned this:




























Into this:









(Still some to clear away... but just five hours before this photo was taken you couldn't see more than 10' in front of you from here!)

And this:




































Into this:


















So with all of the major problem areas cleared up, we ordered 150 8' tanalised railway sleepers to use for a good solid foundation to build the enclosures on top of.










And then we tried them out to see how easy they were to work with. They were surprisingly very easy! First of all we levelled things as best as we could, then we dug a small trench around the outline of the enclosure and filled it with stones. Then we laid the railway sleepers down, using a spirit level and a line of string to keep them all exactly level. 
After the sleepers were laid down, we drilled small holes in each one at 3' intervals. This was for a 1' steel rod which we hammered through each hole deep into the ground.

Here's what the first set of foundations looks like! All perfectly level and extremely solid, and ready for us to build the enclosure on top when the wood arrives! This is one of the three coatimundi enclosures we'll be doing, which will all be connected by tunnels. This one is 32'long, 12' wide and 10' high. (It's only 8' wide in this picture.. I decided it was too small and extended it to 12' this afternoon ).


















Next we'll be clearing this area for the foundations of a ringtail lemur enclosure - this one will be 60' long, 18' wide and 10' high.










So that's all we've got done so far... this is about 3 and a half days work. Thanks for reading, hope you found it interesting, I know I am so excited and can't wait to get going again on Monday!


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## Zoo-Man

If I lived closer, I'd come to lend a hand mate


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## suity

beardys said:


> hope you do but dont think you'll really get anywhere finished let alone started with only 20 gs m8


Hey bud, the whole project has been planned out every step of the way from start to finish... every item we need has been priced and sourced plus the two months of labour to build the place and we're still under budget. It took a lot planning and a lot of searching for good deals, but we're making this money stretch very very far and we're getting a lot of work done with it.


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## suity

Zoo-Man said:


> If I lived closer, I'd come to lend a hand mate


I know you would Colin !

I realise it all still looks very messy... but now we have clear spaces to build the enclosures and then we'll re-beautify the place with trees, plants and pathways once everything's built!


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## TalulaTarantula

Cant wait to see the finished product, if you've dont this much in 3 1/2 days you'll have this place up and running in no time!


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## animalsbeebee

At least you have lots of mature trees and greenery,so it will look natural,nothing worse than seeing animals in concrete jungles,we always estimate each enclosure to be between 3-5 thousand,good luck with new venture.I presume you are going to be more of an educational facility.


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## MP reptiles

mrcriss said:


> So is it going to be a "business" (as suggested by the prize you won), or an animal sanctuary (which suggests charity status)?


A charity is a business which makes money but puts it back into what they are doing in this case caring for animals i would presume.


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## em_40

Looks great :2thumb: Congrats on the win of 20k


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## mrcriss

MP reptiles said:


> A charity is a business which makes money but puts it back into what they are doing in this case caring for animals i would presume.


OK, didn't word it right......what I mean is, isn't the OP a breeder too, that breeds animals to sell on? Not really what "sanctuaries" do, is it? Not trying to pee on anyone's bonfire, just wondering how I too can manage to lay my hands on £20,000!


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## MP reptiles

mrcriss said:


> OK, didn't word it right......what I mean is, isn't the OP a breeder too, that breeds animals to sell on? Not really what "sanctuaries" do, is it? Not trying to pee on anyone's bonfire, just wondering how I too can manage to lay my hands on £20,000!


I suppose but then i think it is great, he can keep getting money to fund the sanctuary and keep himself going.

He is a lucky guy for sure!


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## mrcriss

But the term "sanctuary" suggests taking in unwanted/abused/surplus exotic pets, not creating new ones to end up in similar situations. I'd just be interested to hear a manifesto from the OP as to which direction the venture is aiming.


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## SwampyK

wow. Just wow. :notworthy:
What an epic idea. Hope you get it all done in time!


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## gecko lady

souds like its gunna be brilliant! keep us updated


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## 5plusmany

mrcriss said:


> But the term "sanctuary" suggests taking in unwanted/abused/surplus exotic pets, not creating new ones to end up in similar situations. I'd just be interested to hear a manifesto from the OP as to which direction the venture is aiming.


I agree, its a bit naughty to 'mascerade' (sp) as a 'charity ' - rescue facilty or whatever-to get yourself loads of cash HOWEVER I'm sure that's not the case here...? And in any case even charity owners/organisers need something to live on too i guess. :2thumb:


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## em_40

You can read what his 'buisness plan' is on the stake site. He doesn't mention breeding though, it does say his current buisiness is educating children, which he will continue to do in a bigger way.
Animal sanctuary with a difference. Where art and nature are combined, animals have a home, and people are inspired.

Also you can have a buisiness completely seprate to a charity, like Pets at home sell pets and supplies, they also now have a charity where they rehome pets.


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## suity

This is the last post I'll be replying to of this nature, this thread is just to show the building of the enclosures and for anyone who is interested. If I haven't cleared things up enough with this post and you want to know more, please just pm me in future.

I am not and have never been a 'breeder'. Yes I have a lot of animals and I enjoy letting them pair up, live natural lives and if they have babies that's just a plus. As I have the space, time and money 99% of the babies born here stay with me. If someone does approach me and shows that they can provide a wonderful life for one of the babies, I am not going to deny them getting to experience life with these wonderful creatures.

What I will never be is a sanctuary that disagrees with private keeping. Too many have the idea that breeders, pet shops, private keepers etc are the problem and must be stopped, and somehow they are the only ones that can do it right. What they forget is that they most likely started off as private keepers themselves.

No, private keeping is a wonderful hobby where both the animals and the people should mutually benefit from each other's lives and company. 'Bad' breeders, 'bad' pet shops and 'bad' private keepers are are a problem - but the 'good' ones should continue what they are doing and also hope to educate the ones not doing it so well.

'Sanctuary' does not mean charity. I will not be running this place through public donations. This will be an educational facility. Over half the enclosures will be off view from visitors for animals that don't want to be disturbed. Other enclosures that school visitors can see will contain the animals that I use for education, these guys love human interaction.

This is literally the last of these posts I'll reply to. The rest will be ignored, but I'm happy to explain more by pm. I am more than happy with the ethics I have chosen to live my life by and how I am going to run this place. If anyone does have an issue with my ethics, I do apologise but I suggest you question the logic behind your reasons .

I will always be a private keeper. I will always be for private keeping, not against it. I will always want to see this hobby continue and see standards raise. I will always support good breeders, pet shops and private keepers. I will as always, dedicate my life to sharing these animals with kids, to get them passionate about nature and conservation. I will continue to provide my animals with the most natural environments and lives as possible. If babies are born here it will be at my discretion whether they stay here or if I let them go to people I trust.*

What you maybe don't understand is that there are NO rescue facilities here in Ireland for exotics. Exotics that are seized here or ambandonned have nowhere to go, so I'll leave it up to your imagination what happens to them. So people here have been calling me to take in their exotics as they know I keep them too. I've been able to say yes to most, but no to others as I didn't have the right facilities. So with this money, I am providing enclosures and facilities for hopefully any non-domestic animal that needs a home.

Thanks for reading... We'll have more pictures soon. Any questions about this, please pm me. I only wanted to make this thread because we are going to be using some unconventional techniques to build what will hopefully be amazing, spacious and extremely naturalistic enclosures, and I thought some of you might be interested in how it progresses .


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## em_40

Will certainly be interesting to see some bigger enclosure builds, not enough of them about, especially with progress pics. 
Look forward to it :2thumb:


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## Mynki

mrcriss said:


> OK, didn't word it right......what I mean is, isn't the OP a breeder too, that breeds animals to sell on? Not really what "sanctuaries" do, is it? Not trying to pee on anyone's bonfire, just wondering how I too can manage to lay my hands on £20,000!


Get a job or start your own business and earn it maybee? :lol2:

Either way, if that's what you sincerely want to do, you could stop giving the OP a hard time and spend yours doing what you want to do.


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## Mynki

suity said:


> This is the last post I'll be replying to of this nature, this thread is just to show the building of the enclosures and for anyone who is interested. If I haven't cleared things up enough with this post and you want to know more, please just pm me in future.
> 
> I am not and have never been a 'breeder'. Yes I have a lot of animals and I enjoy letting them pair up, live natural lives and if they have babies that's just a plus. As I have the space, time and money 99% of the babies born here stay with me. If someone does approach me and shows that they can provide a wonderful life for one of the babies, I am not going to deny them getting to experience life with these wonderful creatures.
> 
> What I will never be is a sanctuary that disagrees with private keeping. Too many have the idea that breeders, pet shops, private keepers etc are the problem and must be stopped, and somehow they are the only ones that can do it right. What they forget is that they most likely started off as private keepers themselves.
> 
> No, private keeping is a wonderful hobby where both the animals and the people should mutually benefit from each other's lives and company. 'Bad' breeders, 'bad' pet shops and 'bad' private keepers are are a problem - but the 'good' ones should continue what they are doing and also hope to educate the ones not doing it so well.
> 
> 'Sanctuary' does not mean charity. I will not be running this place through public donations. This will be an educational facility. Over half the enclosures will be off view from visitors for animals that don't want to be disturbed. Other enclosures that school visitors can see will contain the animals that I use for education, these guys love human interaction.
> 
> This is literally the last of these posts I'll reply to. The rest will be ignored, but I'm happy to explain more by pm. I am more than happy with the ethics I have chosen to live my life by and how I am going to run this place. If anyone does have an issue with my ethics, I do apologise but I suggest you question the logic behind your reasons .
> 
> I will always be a private keeper. I will always be for private keeping, not against it. I will always want to see this hobby continue and see standards raise. I will always support good breeders, pet shops and private keepers. I will as always, dedicate my life to sharing these animals with kids, to get them passionate about nature and conservation. I will continue to provide my animals with the most natural environments and lives as possible. If babies are born here it will be at my discretion whether they stay here or if I let them go to people I trust.*
> 
> What you maybe don't understand is that there are NO rescue facilities here in Ireland for exotics. Exotics that are seized here or ambandonned have nowhere to go, so I'll leave it up to your imagination what happens to them. So people here have been calling me to take in their exotics as they know I keep them too. I've been able to say yes to most, but no to others as I didn't have the right facilities. So with this money, I am providing enclosures and facilities for hopefully any non-domestic animal that needs a home.
> 
> Thanks for reading... We'll have more pictures soon. Any questions about this, please pm me. I only wanted to make this thread because we are going to be using some unconventional techniques to build what will hopefully be amazing, spacious and extremely naturalistic enclosures, and I thought some of you might be interested in how it progresses .


You really don't need to justify yourself to those envious of your success. Good luck with your venture. I'm looking forward to seeing how things progress.


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## Shell195

Zoo-Man said:


> If I lived closer, I'd come to lend a hand mate


 
If I lived nearer I would move in:lol2: It looks fab, well done on winning and I wish you every success in making this work:no1:

I look forward to updates on the building progress


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## mrcriss

Mynki said:


> You really don't need to justify yourself to those envious of your success. Good luck with your venture. I'm looking forward to seeing how things progress.


There is no envy here Mr. Mynki, I already have my own business which is doing rather well, thank you!

I too wish every success for this Suity fella, but was merely expressing concern as to the nature of the business.....let's face it, we all feel the same way about so-called "rescue centres" and "sanctuaries" that take in animals purely to profit from them! The genuine sanctuaries are normally run as non-profit organisations, and seeing as this prize was awarded as a business fund, it raised a tickle of concern. None of us are friends or really know each other here, so I can hardly be blamed for that! All I know is that the OP has bred animals to sell privately as exotic pets, which is something that zoos and genuine sanctuaries frown upon.

Granted, I may have worded my initial post wrongly with the charity statement (it was late, and I'd had a few snifters of gin), but I still feel that perhaps the choice of naming this venture an "animal sanctuary" is slightly off-centre.

Again, best of luck with your efforts....any business involving animals needs all the luck it can get. I still feel justified in having expressed some concern.....what responsible animal lover wouldn't?


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## FreddiesMum

Good luck to you :2thumb:


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## Disgruntled

Good luck, I agree that you can rescue animals without doing the waggy waggy finger at EVERYBODY else. I have an interest in exotics and I have seen so many people that do the lecture on how (whichever animal THEY'VE GOT) shouldn't be a pet etc etc etc. Alright for them, they've already got one. 
We are not all imbeciles, many people are willing to educate themselves before they get their exotic and they then care for it as well as any public exhibit. Anyway, look at the abuse of domestic animals, no one is suggesting not to get a dog or a rabbit, despite these being some of the most abused animals in the country..
As for some of the zoos, they are so anti private keeper that they would (and often do) rather kill the offspring of their collections than sell or swap with private keepers. There's a nice example for us.:blowup:


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## mrcriss

Disgruntled said:


> As for some of the zoos, they are so anti private keeper that they would (and often do) rather kill the offspring of their collections than sell or swap with private keepers. There's a nice example for us.


To be brutally honest, I can _kind of_ understand why zoos take this stance. Forums like this don't do the private keeper any favours on this score, because so many animals on here are traded and swapped like old toys that have lost their novelty! Why would any zoo wish for the babies they produce to be subjected to a dreadful life like that? 

How many ads do we see like this:- "this animal was bought for educational shows, but it doesn't like doing them, so needs a new home". 

I have first hand experience of this, both with a snake and my skunk.....they were both in the previous owner's possession for a matter of weeks before palmed off onto someone else (me). It's disgraceful!

That's why zoos distance themselves from private keepers...and quite often, I don't blame them!


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## animalsbeebee

To be brutally honest, I can kind of understand why zoos take this stance. Forums like this don't do the private keeper any favours on this score, because so many animals on here are traded and swapped like old toys that have lost their novelty! Why would any zoo wish for the babies they produce to be subjected to a dreadful life like that?

That's why zoos distance themselves from private keepers...and quite often, I don't blame them!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Why do think zoos are a great example to everyone and do everything the correct way ,they distance themselves from private because they think they are better ,which they are not.

Most of the animals at zoos are on loan from another zoo ,and they swap there animals if they think the exhibit is not getting enough attraction or they have found another animal which they think would pull in bigger crowds.

Say there tigers have babies ,they keep them when they are babies and euthanase when they get bigger ,just keep small to bring in crowds ,or when an animal gets old they just dump it in a small cage out of sight

Zoos try and keep everything behind closed doors and half the time , a zoo gets away with what a private keeper couldnt.

Any way this thread is about suity opening an educational facility and good luck to him


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## sam gamgee

*Suity.......*

Have to agree with some of you on the trading front.....there are some on here and other forums that call themselves animal lovers/keepers, whatever and what really p3sses me off is the way they swap/buy n sell/move on etc. 
As soon as i see the words `may swap`, up goes my p4ssed off detector etc!

Now, the OP had an animal off me, we were, always are and will be, very cautious to where she was ending up. Frankly, she ended up in a place where I can see she is content and taken care of by a very responsible and attentive owner/keeper and for that alone I am deeply grateful, irrespective of what anyone thinks of the OP. So it may or may not be classed as a `sanctuary`........does it _really_ matter? He will provide well for all therein and will turn out to be a goldmine of hands on information long term, so we all may well benefit...... 


Keep happy, guys n gals!


Dave


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## suity

Hey folks... got a whole load more done today but don't have the best pictures to show the work! It was mainly a lot of fiddly stuff... levelling, digging, moving boulders... and then we hired a dump truck to try to move all the waste!

So... this is where the 60' lemur enclosure is going. We were hoping to keep this wall, but it was just in too bad condition so it had to be taken down. Once the whole area is totally levelled, the wall will be rebuilt using the sleepers, and the enclosure will go on top of that.

This is what it looked like this morning:









And this is what it looks like now 



























Once the enclosure is up we will replant it with some mature trees, bamboo, willow, shrubs etc, landscape the area and put a pond in.

We got atleast 30tonnes of soil moved today, and also started the digging for the meerkat enclosure... but the dark beat us and I got no photos. 6am start tomorrow so that I can make the most of my time with the dump truck! So tomorrow the boundary for the lemur enclosure will be levelled and laid out, and the 30' square meerkat pen will be dug... so more pictures then


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## paulajo

Its really looking amazing :2thumb: 

You could put many people to shame! Some people cant even manage to get their large enclosure 'cleaned and tidied' as a matter of urgency while their 'animals' are stuck in a totally inappropriate cage!

If i lived near you i would willingly come and help. Its lovely to keep seeing the photo's of the progress, it gives us all a real feel of what your doing. Keep up the good work :no1:

Ps What ever your taking, you need to share! :whistling2:


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## suity

Thank you for the kind words 

6am start today and we have a LOT done already ! Will post pictures tonight as there'll be more to show.

Just wondering... can builders sand be used for meerkats?? I know children's playsand is the best option, but just wondering if the builders sand is actually toxic.

If playsand is the only type that can be used... where is the best place to get it in bulk for cheap?


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## em_40

I don't think it's 'toxic' but it's rough, it contains stone and glassy bits in it.
Online Sand: Buy Sand Online you can buy playsand in bulk, it has a calculator on that site to see how many bags you need, but for the large amount you need to cover it's a hell of a lot of sand. Might be best to build up any areas with the mud you took out and then put sand on top?


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## aliburke

:2thumb:Hi suity! Love what u r doing!! I'm in northern Ireland and wud love to come see what u are doing and help out, I have two marmosets. Pm me if I can go help and I'll pm u my number! 

Keep up the good work 

Ali :notworthy:


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## PETERAROBERTSON

Looking good Suity..
Will be worth all the hard work...
Couldnt handle the Gp though..lol


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## violentchopper

I take my hat off to you. Good luck and keep up the good work. I'd love to come and visit when it's all done but it's quite far away. Keep us posted.


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## Disgruntled

You will find mot building sand stains everything it touches, I don't think its toxic, just not ideal for kids to sit in!
You may be able to find a type of non staining sand somewhere that costs less than play sand. Try google or other animal parks for advice.


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## A M Y

Really love what you are doing! I wish I had the money to start such a venture, especially when its for the benefit of animals....hats off to you


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## suity

Busy busy day !!

So... a 6am start turned this:









Into this 










So with all of the rubbish out of the way... time to dig the meerkat enclosure!! Sorry no process pictures... but this is the finished product.









If you look just to the front of the picture, the darker soil is untouched, and then the more orangey soil is where we dug out. It's about 3' deep, and 30' square. Tomorrow the wire mesh arrives, so the plan is to line the bottom of the pit, and then put about half the soil back in on top. When I decide what sand I am going to go for, a good few tonnes will be piled on top of the soil 

And more exciting news... our logs arrived today!!




























It took a 40' lorry and a crane to get them in!!










This is 27 tonnes of norwegian pine. Each length of wood is 16' and they vary from 8" to 20" wide. This is what we are going to build the enclosures with, and how we're managing to do it so cheap. All this wood will be milled on site to give us the lengths we need, but a lot of the building will actually be done out of the complete logs... sort of log cabin style. It's costing about a quarter of the price than if we went for normal pre-cut timber. We estimate we'll need another load of the same size half way through.

So now the boring bit... all the wood has to be stripped, cut, milled and treated, which will take a few days. But once that's all done, we can start putting up our first enclosure ! Thanks for following everyone


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## suity

And thanks for the sand advice everyone! I will have to have a hunt around for the best stuff. It's unfortunate if I can't use builder's sand because I can get a huge amount of it for very cheap... but if it won't do the job then I'll have to find something else! I'll go researching... and in the mean time if anyone knows anymore about the safety/toxicity of builder's sand... please let me know 

And aliburke, i'll pm you soon


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## Zoo-Man

Great work mate, its going well. :2thumb:


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## animalsbeebee

Just a bit of friendly advice from previous experience,be careful how deep you put dirt for meerkats,if its deep enough for them to make tunnels , they will and then you have the danger of it collapsing,its probably better to have shallow layer of sand.


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## 5plusmany

Bet you're having a great time with all those big boys toys :lol2:


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## suity

5plusmany said:


> Bet you're having a great time with all those big boys toys :lol2:



I just cant wait till the milling saw and all that equipment arrives, then the real fun starts !

Ah thank you animalsbeebee! So how deep would you recommend going? Would a foot of soil and half a foot of sand work well?


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## colinm

First off good luck with this project.

On the sand front as far as I know builders sand is also known as soft sand,I have never used it foe enclosures.

I have used both sharp sand and plasterers sand in my outdoor lizard enclosures without problems.The plasterers sand is very fine like silversand or playpit sand.I was worried about the lizards getting it in their eyes but then I figured out that they live in the wild on sandy subtrates usually, so gave it a try.

Your best bet is probably to have a look at the sands available at your local builders merchant and buy a tonne bag.I am sure that you can use excess elsewhere.

It also may be worth contacting a friendly zoo to see what sand they use in their enclosures as I doubt that many people on here are lucky enough to keep their Meerkats outside.


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## animalsbeebee

Any safe depth so they cannot make tunnels,we only had about 6-8 inches on top of wire floor.When i had 24 inches on top before and it collapsed on them.


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## andy140365

keep updating wish you were closer id be there like a shot helping looks and sounds fantastic dream come true wish you all the best in this cant wait to see it finished :notworthy:


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## manity

*good luck*

good luck with the projec. I wish i was closer would love to help


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## gecko lady

i would think that childrens play sand would be the best stuff to use as its non toxic and if quite fine so doesnt harm them if a small bits are injested for any reason  i use this with my chickens and its reasonlably cheap to buy, im sure you could get a good deal having it in bulk


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## aliburke

suity said:


> And thanks for the sand advice everyone! I will have to have a hunt around for the best stuff. It's unfortunate if I can't use builder's sand because I can get a huge amount of it for very cheap... but if it won't do the job then I'll have to find something else! I'll go researching... and in the mean time if anyone knows anymore about the safety/toxicity of builder's sand... please let me know
> 
> And aliburke, i'll pm you soon


:whistling2: ..........still waiting...... :lol2:


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## suity

Hey folks, sorry it's been a while since there's been an update! There were a few slow days where we were just gathering together the right tools for the job and doing some planning. But we started building the first enclosure two days ago, so here's our progress so far!

Got my very first chainsaw... I was so excited lol










The chainsaw fits into a handheld mill... progress is slow with this thing so we've ordered a massive automatic mill saw which will cut all our logs into the lengths of timber we need in seconds. But this one will do the job for now. For the building, every log needs to have a flat bottom and top, so an inch is cut off each side with the chainsaw. We also need a few logs cut right up the centre, this does it perfectly straight.



















After a few cuts we were ready to start laying the logs. We are building the enclosures 'log cabin style'. A lot of complicated cuts and angles needed for it all to join together right, but it's coming along nicely.

First log down!




































These logs are all pegged together with lengths of oak, so they're all extremely solid. It was then time to put in our first uprights. For this, you cut a 'mushroom joint' out of the end of one log, then cut a corresponding hole in the log it is going into.

A mushroom joint:


















And then it slots nicely into place!









This too was then pegged into place, it doesn't budge at all, and we put in a second upright post. It's all taking shape nicely!










So that's all the progress over the past couple of days, should have this enclosure done by the middle of next week. While we were waiting for some supplies to arrive we did some carving...

Here's 'Bosco' the raccoon lol








The face needs repainted lol... my friend did that after never seeing a raccoon before properly... but the actual carving itself is really cool.

And this one is going to be a coatimundi 









So it's all starting to take shape... but we still have so much more to do. A busy few months is ahead of us!

Anyway thanks for following this thread, more pictures soon


----------



## 5plusmany

I find this all fascinating- its like grand designs! : victory:


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## em_40

I was hoping for an update :2thumb:

Looks really good, love the style you're going for looks complicated building it though.
Love the raccoon and coati carvings too, they're brill


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## fantapants

Looking forward to more progress pics!


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## suity

em_40 said:


> I was hoping for an update :2thumb:
> 
> Looks really good, love the style you're going for looks complicated building it though.
> Love the raccoon and coati carvings too, they're brill


It's not too complicated... I had no clue before I started but my friend builds log cabins for a living, and it was him who helped me come up with the plans and some designs. He is the guy in most of the pictures, he's helping me build the whole project .

I usually build my enclosures out of normal, pressure treated wood. This way is quick, non fiddly and really easy to do... but when I priced this wood it was going to cost around 9 grand for the amount I needed! I managed to get 54 tonnes of 8-14" round, 16' long logs for just under 3 grand... which will be enough for everything I need for the enclosures plus benches, tables, playhouses, sculptures, fences and furnishing the inside of the enclosures.

Yes it's a bit slower, and the logs are so heavy they require a forklift to get them around the site, but I'm so happy with the way it looks . The joints are complicated at first, but you have no idea how satisfying it is when you measure it all out right, do a little bit of chiseling and find that you've got it perfect first time and it fits right in place !

The joints are easy enough after a bit of practice, we use the saddle-notch joints for the corners of the base:

Saddle-Notch - Log Corner Section Styles

And the uprights are done with mushroom joints.

The good thing is it doesn't need a single screw or nail to hold it all together... so we're saving a good few hundred £ there too !


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## TalulaTarantula

been looking forward to an update too! so thankyou
Love the carvings the racoon made me giggle, although its pretty cute, cant wait to see the first enclosure all nice and done


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## Shell195

I love this thread:no1:


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## PresqueVu

Fantastic seeing it all coming together! keep up the good work :no1:


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## suity

Good bit more work done today, things are starting to come together nicely!!

Today we built and fitted the first roof beam. This was quite complicated as it all had to be assembled on the floor, then lifted with a fork lift and reaaally delicately slotted into place... but we somehow got it right first time !

Lifting the roof beams into place:


















Once it was secure, we straightened it up and held it level with some wood, just till we get the roof done on Monday 




























We're getting there !!


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## PETERAROBERTSON

Looking good suity.
Had a contract once building log cabins in river avon area at falkirk.
Was weird at first but enjoyed.
Good when finnished and worth the effort.
Your place will look brill.


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## suity

Thanks Peter  it really is so satisfying when you spend ages carving out a joint and it fits perfectly lol. Such simple yet complicated joints... and it creates something that won't budge no matter how hard you try to move it.

I can't wait to have it all finished.


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## stevier

mrcriss said:


> There is no envy here Mr. Mynki, I already have my own business which is doing rather well, thank you!
> 
> I too wish every success for this Suity fella, but was merely expressing concern as to the nature of the business.....let's face it, we all feel the same way about so-called "rescue centres" and "sanctuaries" that take in animals purely to profit from them! The genuine sanctuaries are normally run as non-profit organisations, and seeing as this prize was awarded as a business fund, it raised a tickle of concern. None of us are friends or really know each other here, so I can hardly be blamed for that! All I know is that the OP has bred animals to sell privately as exotic pets, which is something that zoos and genuine sanctuaries frown upon.
> 
> Granted, I may have worded my initial post wrongly with the charity statement (it was late, and I'd had a few snifters of gin), but I still feel that perhaps the choice of naming this venture an "animal sanctuary" is slightly off-centre.
> 
> Again, best of luck with your efforts....any business involving animals needs all the luck it can get. I still feel justified in having expressed some concern.....what responsible animal lover wouldn't?



sanc·tu·ar·y (sngkch-r)
n. pl. sanc·tu·ar·ies
1.
a. A sacred place, such as a church, temple, or mosque.
b. The holiest part of a sacred place, as the part of a Christian church around the altar.
2.
a. A sacred place, such as a church, in which fugitives formerly were immune to arrest.
b. Immunity to arrest afforded by a sanctuary.
3. A place of refuge or asylum.
4. *A reserved area in which birds and other animals, especially wild animals, are protected from hunting or molestation. *

So where is your problem? Apart from the fact that you are clearly one of those people that feels the need to be particularly negative about the efforts of others.


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## Fionab

looks great and what a fab thing to do, please tell me when you are likely to be opening your doors and where you are, would love to come and pay you a visit next time we are over.


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## slugsiss32

Casey what is the building behind the enclosure going to be? Like an indoor area or storage?

By the way it looks amazing! I really like the way it looks natural  All the animals you take in will love it there!


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## suity

slugsiss32 said:


> Casey what is the building behind the enclosure going to be? Like an indoor area or storage?
> 
> By the way it looks amazing! I really like the way it looks natural  All the animals you take in will love it there!



The building is an old cow shed, but it is going to be all insulated inside and about 20' is going to be the coatis indoor heated enclosure, and the other 30' is going to be a reptile shed


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## suity

New update ! So this might not look like much in pictures but we are so happy, because all of us doing the work now understand the joints, cuts and how this all fits together, we got about 3 days work done in just one day 

Things will move a lot quicker now that we know what we're doing.

So anyway... we had a huge downpour this morning so worked on this sculpture till things calmed down... the main part is done but now we just need to properly carve out the face and get the texture right . This sign will eventually say 'coatimundi'.



















Hopefully you can make sense of the rest of these photos... today we are working on the other half of the enclosure you've seen being built. We got the entire base done today (took us 3 days last week) and tomorrow we will work on the uprights, then get the roof done 



















So this enclosure is almost 40', the coatis will have this space, a 20' x15' tropically heated enclosure inside the barn, and another almost 40' enclosure on the other side of this one.










And the most up to date picture, sorry for the lack of light!










Oh and here is Smudge checking out where his new enclosure is going to go haha 










Thanks for following guys, hope you enjoy


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## veewee

:thumb:looking great keep up the good can't wait for you to open:no1:need a trip out of :2wallbang: london:grouphug:


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## Chris--p

Brilliant, good luck! :2thumb:


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## rodgerthealien

This really is amazing, its great to see your progress! Keep the pics coming


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## suity

Today was slow unfortunately due to it snowing this morning... last week we were building in t-shirts, this week delayed by snow. Crazy!!

But we still got a bit done, the base is now secured with pegs and we got one upright put in









And this is inside the barn, we'll clear this out in the next few days and start the indoor heated enclosure for the coatis  the barn is about three times as long as what you can see in the picture:


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## opakg

I need to comment to follow the progress of this sanctuary.

Looks awesome, and this is what I would do if I got hold of enough money and land!


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## twiggy1992

it is good to see people using money they won to help animals :notworthy:

and it is all looking great cant wate to see it finshed :flrt:


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## suity

Few more updates !!

Got the second half of the front built!










Which finally let us start on the roof  we got all the bits cut but unfortunately only got one up today, the rain has held us back. But so close to having this one finished, the roof beams will keep the whole thing totally square and level.










So happy with how this one is looking. We're all learning as we go along so the next ones will be much quicker and easier to build.

While the rain has been slowing us down I've been getting on with other jobs... this old coal shed is being cleaned out, repainted and then we'll put in heating and a few inches of sand. This will be the indoor meerkat enclosure!










And also trying to clear out and repair this... this will be our 'tropical rainforest' room. There will be a pond and waterfall and heaters, it will all be very hot and humid, with lots of rainforest plants and trees. Once this area is matured it will be an indoor enclosure for marmosets.










That's all for today folks


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## Junior13reptilez

The tropical enclosure sounds amazing! I wish you the best of luck with the build, can't wait to see the finished piece:2thumb:


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## PETERAROBERTSON

Looking good...
Marmie enclosure sounds good..


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## XtremeReptiles

I hope this will be a great success, i cant wait to see the finished pictures :no1:


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## ferretfreak

wow, things are really starting to take shape!


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## stubeanz

Wow! Looks awesome! All the best in the future builds! Looks like your a man with a plan!


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## Ally

Looking fantastic! I'm mostly commenting so it's easier to follow the progress


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## Shell195

Great progress:no1:


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## feorag

I wish you so much luck with this venture - it's certainly looking promising and I shall follow your progress with great interest as you build it . 

Just a word of warning - crawl before you walk and walk before you run. Once people know you are there, there is every possibility you will be inundated with unwanted pets, although I've no idea where in Ireland you are to know how 'built up' your area is in terms of population.

My bosses did this years ago with wildlife and when they were small were managing to work it out brilliantly - it was when they ended up with too many animals and not enough money coming in and they sought grants to enlarge, build bigger and better enclosures and open to the public to bring the necessary money in that things went awry and they ended up in financial difficulty! 

I would hate to see that happen to you!


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## suity

feorag said:


> I wish you so much luck with this venture - it's certainly looking promising and I shall follow your progress with great interest as you build it .
> 
> Just a word of warning - crawl before you walk and walk before you run. Once people know you are there, there is every possibility you will be inundated with unwanted pets, although I've no idea where in Ireland you are to know how 'built up' your area is in terms of population.
> 
> My bosses did this years ago with wildlife and when they were small were managing to work it out brilliantly - it was when they ended up with too many animals and not enough money coming in and they sought grants to enlarge, build bigger and better enclosures and open to the public to bring the necessary money in that things went awry and they ended up in financial difficulty!
> 
> I would hate to see that happen to you!


Hi Feorag, thank you so much for the advice and the kind words. You are totally right and I need to be very sensible with how I approach this. Since I have started building and putting pics online I have already had three calls from people here in Ireland asking me to take on their animals when I'm ready.

My plan of action is as follows. Each species of animal has at LEAST three large enclosures each, all connected by tunnels or bridges. For example the raccoons have one large inside area, and four large outdoor enclosures. Each outdoor enclosure is large, at least 30' long and 15' wide. Each enclosure has a different theme, so one is a 'forest habitat' with lots of things to climb, one is a foresty area with an artificial stream and pond, one will be very 'playful' in appearance and (purposefully) seem more manmade, with lots of toys, ledges and a big sandpit to bury bugs in. 
The idea is that each enclosure will showcase a different aspect of their environment. There are sleeping quarters in each one, so when the animals wake up each evening they can choose what they would like to get up to each night. I feel it introduces a lot more freedom and choice to their captive lives. This set up will also make introductions and quarantines much easier as the enclosures can be separated temporarily if need be. Also, some enclosures will be visible to the public and others will be off site - so some raccoons can enjoy their privacy while the ones who love human interaction can come enjoy that if they wish.

The total coverage of the raccoon enclosure is almost half an acre. This currently houses my three raccoons, but with the multiple sleeping quarters and feeding stations, this could happily house around 10 in my opinion.

I am doing this for every species of animal that I will have here. So I HOPE it will be a long time before we run out of space. When we need to expand, I have four acres here and we are only building on about 2 acres at the most at the minute.

And for feeding bills... I am doing up several old greenhouses and setting up a few polytunnels and a starting a big allotment area. Also have a small orchard with apple and pear trees. Also have our own chickens producing around 20 eggs a day... I have no idea how productive it will all be but I am sure it will definitely help with feeding bills.

We've set up an account with a local volunteer agency. When I was younger I would have LOVED to volunteer at a place like this and earn valuable experience, but Northern Ireland has next to nothing of this sort. I already have a list of people wanting to offer their services here a few days a week.

With all that in mind, I hope I will be okay. Perhaps the most important thing is that I have a lot of close friends who visit everyday who will keep me accountable. Sometimes the line between loving/wanting to help animals can be blurred into something more ugly if you get out of your depth... it can happen to anyone. I have told my friends to always keep me in check, and I trust them to be honest with me. I have a network of friends who are extremely good keepers across the UK that I trust completely, if someone wants me to take an animal that I decide I can't cope with at the time, we will all be able to work together to find somewhere safe for it to go.

Anyway, sorry for the long post and I really appreciate the concern. If you have any more advice/warnings about this venture please feel free to say here or pm me...


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## feorag

That all sounds great! My bosses just have great difficulty in turning away animals and unfortunately we do find that if someone rings and asks us to take an animal/animals and they refuse, then it/they turn up dumped at their gate within a day or so!

We once took a call from someone asking if we could take a miniature shetland and a goat. My boss was just on her way out and told the caller that when she answered the phone and explained that we hadn't the space to take them.

An hour after they left a horse box turned up with said pony and goat and the woman explained that she'd spoken to the owners on the phone that morning and they'd said they were going out, but they could bring the pony and goat and the staff would sort them out! Then she drove away without leaving any address or information about them! that's the sort of Cr*p they deal with!

They're a not-for-profit organisation because they own the land on which the sanctuary is housed and under law apparently you cannot have charity status and be a trustee if you own the land and my boss's husband would never turn over decisions regarding the animals to trustees and relinquish control over them, so they went for not-for-profit instead.

They've re-mortgaged their house to the hilt ever since and are really struggling financially. So much so they've tried to sell the property and been unable to do that, so we are all still struggling to bring money in to feed the animals.


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## gecko lady

i love your idea about the different sections of enclosure and the amount of space these animals will have  sounds like you have really got it all under control - good luck! :no1:


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## gex20

i wanna go visit and help out on your venture, i wish you all the luck in the world cant wait to see the end product


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## Disgruntled

You will do fine on four acres, we went to Exotic Pet Refuges open day last weekend, they have hundreds of animals on four acres, inclding lots of primates, lynxes, foxes and wolves!


Exotic Pet Refuge | Home


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## sammy86

This is an amazing project and i'm really gutted i come along to help!
This is the first thing i would do if i got hold of some money and i admire you for taking on such a venture!

As i can't help on site, i'll send a little msg to you about my artwork and perhaps i can help you there


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## Darksoul996

Wow this is shaping up to look great can't wait to see the end result


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## Shell195

feorag said:


> That all sounds great! My bosses just have great difficulty in turning away animals and unfortunately we do find that if someone rings and asks us to take an animal/animals and they refuse, then it/they turn up dumped at their gate within a day or so!
> 
> We once took a call from someone asking if we could take a miniature shetland and a goat. My boss was just on her way out and told the caller that when she answered the phone and explained that we hadn't the space to take them.
> 
> An hour after they left a horse box turned up with said pony and goat and the woman explained that she'd spoken to the owners on the phone that morning and they'd said they were going out, but they could bring the pony and goat and the staff would sort them out! Then she drove away without leaving any address or information about them! that's the sort of Cr*p they deal with!
> 
> They're a not-for-profit organisation because they own the land on which the sanctuary is housed and under law apparently *you cannot have charity status and be a trustee if you own the land* and my boss's husband would never turn over decisions regarding the animals to trustees and relinquish control over them, so they went for not-for-profit instead.
> 
> They've re-mortgaged their house to the hilt ever since and are really struggling financially. So much so they've tried to sell the property and been unable to do that, so we are all still struggling to bring money in to feed the animals.


 
I still struggle to understand this as our sanctuary stands on my friends grounds yet we still got charity status and shes a trustee too!


The raccoon enclosures sound fantastic, I just wish you were nearer then I could help and visit the end product.


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## feorag

Shell195 said:


> I still struggle to understand this as our sanctuary stands on my friends grounds yet we still got charity status and shes a trustee too!.


That was what they were told when they were setting it up, so I don't understand how your friend did it.

I know a certain well known person who runs a wildlife rescue is owner of the land and trustee and when my boss asked him how he managed to do it, he just tipped a wink and said "there are ways to get around it", but wouldn't tell her how he managed it.


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## suity

Does anyone here live in Wales (specifically near Holyhead)?

Or maybe know someone who does?

Having a bit of a drama trying to collect a meerkat tonight and need someone's assistance in the area!! Can pay for your time.

Won't be able to get back on here to check replies so if anyone can help or knows someone who can help, please call me asap on 07927533836.

Thank you SO much!


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## jbdegus

*looks great*

Looks like a great project, not too much competition in NI for this sort of business but growing tourist trade!! i'll come along and visit once your up and running!! Where abouts in the country are you? :no1:

JB


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## aliburke

jbdegus said:


> Looks like a great project, not too much competition in NI for this sort of business but growing tourist trade!! i'll come along and visit once your up and running!! Where abouts in the country are you? :no1:
> 
> JB


I will answer for Casey as it may take him a while to answer :whistling2::lol2: (Understandably considering the amount of great work he is doing :2thumb

He is in Ballymoney


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## suity

Hey folks!! Sorry for the lack of updates, been a hectic few weeks of paperwork and our forklift also broke down!!

The ball is rolling again now though. Got a few indoor enclosures built this week and the forklift is finally working again so the outdoor enclosures are back in action. I will post pictures tomorrow!

Would just like to ask for some advice. Does anyone know of a totally non-toxic animal safe wood preservative??

Thanks !!


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## Scales123

i want one :whistling2:


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## EmmaLock

Im envious! Shoot for the moon! You only live once. When youre finished I will come up and see. Best of luck guys! :2thumb:


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## gecko lady

any update piccys :flrt:


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## ferretfreak

Would love to see more pics if you have any


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## TamaraWittering

basically replying so that I can follow this thread!

Excellent idea, wish you weren't so far away from me, would love to help, and see the end result when it's finished! 

Good luck! :2thumb::2thumb:


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## lucas210690

this is a great thing to do...

Wish i had the means to do somthing like this, well maybe some day.

Wish you all the best


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## Mysterious_121

What an awesome thing to do. Hows it all turning out?


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## suity

Hey folks! I'm so sorry for the lack of updates, thank you all for the kind messages. Things took a pause for a while due to absolutely awful weather and our forklift breaking down. We have been very busy the past two weeks and I'll spend tomorrow taking plenty of photos for you all. Stay tuned !!


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## Nix

*rudely taps foot*

Just kidding. hope the project is going well and I look forward to the next update!


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## slugsiss32

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE :lol2: : victory: Pleassse Casey! Hahaa


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## suity

Okay okay okay, updates!!! Things have been so crazy here, channel4 peeps over filming and stuff... its just a really hectic time right now. I love updating this thread though because it's so nice to keep a record of everything and visually see a step by step process of how everything progresses.

So, this update is taking a little break from the outdoor enclosures, and will focus more on the indoor stuff. For each species, I am doing at least one large indoor enclosure and at least one large outdoor enclosure, and then a heated enclosure as well where appropriate. So here's what I've been working on inside.

My indoor raccoon enclosure, going for the north american pine forest kinda theme here...









We also added a pond feature which they love...









And a little video, to show you just how excited one of the racoons was about this new addition to the enclosure...
This is why raccoons are awesome. - YouTube

Next onto the coatimundi enclosure  sorry its so hard to take pictures of this one for some reason, I'm going to add some lights to the inside which should help.
So this is the main indoor coati enclosure, around 12'x12'x12'


















View from inside the double door entrance:









And then onto their 8'x8'x8' heated, insulated shed 









And Penny poking her head in to say hello 









I'm not sure why some of these images turned out so poor, I'll try taking them with a better camera and more light. That's it for now guys.. next week I'll have a nice big lemur enclosure to show you plus a lot of outdoor work. Thanks for following !


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## em_40

Yey... an update!

Looking good :2thumb:

Love that video, he sure looks as though he's enjoying himself.

Can't wait to see what the outside looks like after seeing it go from over-grown to cut back etc. and the frame work and log-cabin look.


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## PETERAROBERTSON

Looks brill.

Video excelant.
Good seeing him having fun.

Coming along brill.
Hard work paying off.


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## feorag

Thanks for the update! :2thumb:

I loved the video too, especially when the other raccoon came along and tried to get in with Riley, but he wasn't sharing! :lol2:


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## suity

feorag said:


> Thanks for the update! :2thumb:
> 
> I loved the video too, especially when the other raccoon came along and tried to get in with Riley, but he wasn't sharing! :lol2:


Haha, Riley doesn't share anything ! He's probably the friendliest raccoon here, but he's also the most greedy!

Thanks for the comments guys, will have more pictures/videos up soon


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## patterson1980

where abouts in n ireland u building this buddy? looks class im in antrim town


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## opakg

This is going on my list of places to visit in Ireland when I get the money together for a holiday! :2thumb: Where abouts are you?


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## Nomad Gecko

:2thumb: Excellent... Just Excellent :lol2:


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## TillyTortoise

This looks brilliant!


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## Rafael

patterson1980 said:


> where abouts in n ireland u building this buddy? looks class im in antrim town





opakg said:


> This is going on my list of places to visit in Ireland when I get the money together for a holiday! :2thumb: Where abouts are you?


he's in or near Portrush, wouldn't mind popping over myself.

http://caseyscreatures.co.uk/Welcome.html
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Caseys-Creatures/174633089242525


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## EmmaLock

Any more updates?


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## panther_87k

only just seen this thread (been away from the forum for some time) looks great and i want to commend you for what you are doing.

How did you get on with the meerkat problem in holyhead? im in wales but am down south so would have been 4+hours away anyway. 
Have you solved the sand situation yet? Folly farm (pembrokeshire) has meetkats and also ALOT of sand elsewhere in their place, could try contacting them for advice.

Keep up the hard work :2thumb::no1:


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## mcdougle

panther_87k said:


> only just seen this thread (been away from the forum for some time) looks great and i want to commend you for what you are doing.
> 
> How did you get on with the meerkat problem in holyhead? im in wales but am down south so would have been 4+hours away anyway.
> Have you solved the sand situation yet? Folly farm (pembrokeshire) has meetkats and also ALOT of sand elsewhere in their place, could try contacting them for advice.
> 
> Keep up the hard work :2thumb::no1:


4+ hours to get from south to north wales??? lol it only took me 5 hours to get from plymouth to new town in north wales haha


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## panther_87k

mcdougle said:


> 4+ hours to get from south to north wales??? lol it only took me 5 hours to get from plymouth to new town in north wales haha


there are no motorways between south and north so have to take lots of twisty a roads etc through the hills and valleys


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## feorag

Exactly what I thought.

No M5 in Wales, just twisty turny roads or a helluva longer drive east, to pick up the M6 to get from the far north west of Wales to the far south of Wales.


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## Zincubus

Zoo-Man said:


> If I lived closer, I'd come to lend a hand mate



I was thinking along the same lines , I'm in Bury do it may be a "northern" thing 

On a similar note though , maybe if the OP advertised and explained their plans to the surrounding community somehow, they may get loads of volunteers .
If it was closer I'd jump at the chance to spend any free time there.
Maybe they could advertise the project as "getaway" weekends or weeks where people could spend little "working breaks" there . They could maybe provide free bed and board in the existing stone buildings 

Sorry just thinking aloud . 

Incidentally I haven't read the whole thread donut may be already up and running by now


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## mcdougle

feorag said:


> Exactly what I thought.
> 
> No M5 in Wales, just twisty turny roads or a helluva longer drive east, to pick up the M6 to get from the far north west of Wales to the far south of Wales.


we did go through the middle of wales lol went across the bristole bridge what ever its called that goes from bristole to wales i wasn't driving so didn't pay much attention to the roads lol


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## feorag

Yes, once you got to Exeter you would have driven up the M5 to the Severn Bridge? So guaranteed 70mph (or more ) then only about 100 mile on poor roads??


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## jschwenk

Any updates on this, ive been following it for a few months now


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## bob marley

is this thread still alive ???????????????


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## suity

Hey folks! I apologise for the lack of updates. We have had some set backs but in the grand scale of things everything is going well. I have quite a few announcements and updates... some of them quite huge... but I need to wait just another few weeks before I can start revealing everything.

I really appreciate the support and interest from everyone, and very soon I will tell the story of the last few months and then start this thread up again for what will soon be happening.

Thank you all for your patience !


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## bob marley

so whats the current amount/species of animals under the sanctuaries care? would just like to know


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## MaMExotics

Amazing. Well done . I cant wait to see the next update.


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## bob marley

bump: victory:


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## marleynfriends

This all sounds fantastic, but i cant see any of the pictures


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## drstevo

Excellent job! I hope it all works out!

P.S I'd love to come see it sometime!

Best wishes,
Steve (in Tyrone)


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## jschwenk

Any chance of an update on this, been following the progress of this since this thread was posted and even signed up just so I could sub and not lose this thread.

All looks great and Im assuming alot more has been done since the last update.


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## Chance

I too wanna see what transpired from this! Lets have an update? :2thumb:


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## jschwenk

Anybody got any info on how this is going?


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## Zincubus

Same here .


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## suity

Sorry for the lack of updates folks... what a crazy year it's been. I'm only online for two minutes here so just a quick post... half way through the build we had some problems with the landlord and had to move. It was devastating to lose all the work we had done, and there was a time when we weren't sure if we would find a new place to be able to continue what we were doing.

Thankfully, and miraculously, about 8 months ago we found a new site and I have been building every day from dawn till dusk to be able to get things ready. The budget was much tighter this time around but somehow the enclosures have turned out even bigger and better than our previous ones.

I have no internet access at home right now, but I will try to get online again in the next few days and post the pictures which tell the journey we've been on. Thanks for reading .


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## kellystewart

Guys just to assure you all (Casey is a very good friend of mine and I've been over to visit) the enclosures are fantabulous and well worth the wait. 

Blood, sweat and no doubt tears have been shed during the last year and Casey has done some amazing things


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## em_40

Shame you lost all that hard work, but so glad to hear it's continuing! Look forward to updates


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## jschwenk

suity said:


> Sorry for the lack of updates folks... what a crazy year it's been. I'm only online for two minutes here so just a quick post... half way through the build we had some problems with the landlord and had to move. It was devastating to lose all the work we had done, and there was a time when we weren't sure if we would find a new place to be able to continue what we were doing.
> 
> Thankfully, and miraculously, about 8 months ago we found a new site and I have been building every day from dawn till dusk to be able to get things ready. The budget was much tighter this time around but somehow the enclosures have turned out even bigger and better than our previous ones.
> 
> I have no internet access at home right now, but I will try to get online again in the next few days and post the pictures which tell the journey we've been on. Thanks for reading .


Hey, just wondering how the project was going, i imagine you've made alot of progress since the last post here. Hope everything is going well for you and would love an update if you have time.


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## h9ypr

marleynfriends said:


> This all sounds fantastic, but i cant see any of the pictures


same


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## stamford1905

Was the project ever finished?


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## Zincubus

Yeah , I'd be interested in an update as well


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