Sweet Dreams, Our Darling Fiona

Thank you so much to all of you for your kind messages and thoughts for Fiona. It is with the greatest of sadness that we must inform you that she has now snuggled up peacefully to sleep and passed away. She was warm, cosy, and surrounded by people who loved and cared for her during her time at the sanctuary, telling her how very loved she was. As many of you will know, Fiona had been hospitalised at the vets again as she was still very poorly and not progressing as we had hoped that being back home with us. She was sadly fighting such a tough battle that no amount of medication or veterinary care could treat. She fought so very hard over these last weeks, and we are so grateful to the vets and nurses who have been caring for her and treating her so well while she was hospitalised – and to all of you who very kindly made donations towards her treatment, helping us to make her comfortable. We couldn’t save her, but if there is hope we will always give our animals that chance. The last gift we could grant her was comfort and peace.

We know Fiona was adored by so many of you… so many of you came through our doors and told us that you’d come specially to see her, and last year she was our most sponsored animal - what a lucky girl! How could she not be so loved? To those of us that she chose to trust, she was the most loving, friendly, girl you could wish to meet. Fiona was one of the biggest characters here at the sanctuary, she was so cheeky and always up to mischief; but she was also such a sweet girl who loved attention and cuddles from her keepers, especially Claire her favourite keeper who she formed such a special bond with. She was loved so much by so many people, and we can’t thank you enough for loving her as much as we did. Our keepers are all still distraught but want to thank you all for your kindness and support during this difficult time.

As many of you will know, we took Fiona in after she was seized from a puppy farm in the most awful conditions along with her mother, Sophie. After a hugely successful fundraising campaign, we were able to create an amazing purpose-built enclosure especially for them, with all of the features they had never before had access to in their previous cramped and squalid conditions. Lots of space, a pool to splash about in and wash their food in (an important behaviour for raccoons!), areas to climb, places to hide, space to play, natural soil and plants to root and dig around in, a warm and cosy shelter to sleep in... We tried to think of everything that could possibly want that they had never had before, and they settled right in! Unfortunately, little Sophie was already quite old when she joined us and passed away in 2019; but they both got to experience such happiness in their lives with us after such a hard beginning, and for that, we are so grateful.

Sweet dreams our beautiful girl, once more reunited with Sophie, across the Rainbow Bridge xxx