Oxfordshire Wildlife Rescue given a year to find £250,000 in urgent appeal to survive

• ITV Meridian reporter Ciaran Fitzpatrick meets the team at Oxfordshire Wildlife Rescue as the fight to raise a quarter of a million pounds to keep going

A wildlife charity near Didcot has just a year to find a new home after their current landowners gave them notice to leave.

Oxfordshire Wildlife Rescue rents land at a farm in Blewbury, but due to uncertainties with its future they need to look elsewhere.

The organisation is now looking to find a new home and has launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds to buy their own land.

In just one week, they have raised over £20,000, which its founder Luke Waclawek says shows how valued they are in the community.

"Time is ticking for the charity in order for us to carry on our work and to expand," Luke claims.

"We now need to raise a lot of money. Land in Oxfordshire isn't cheap, nor is it readily available so it's an opportunity for us that we can't really afford to amiss."

They see on average a new patient every 25 minutes and they can't keep up with demand.

• Bosses at the hospital are concerned they could see more animals injured in the winter months

On top of this, as the nights get colder and darker, bosses fear more animals will be coming through their doors.

Ruth Waclawek, Luke's wife and co-founder, runs the hospital. She says they are seeing more deer and foxes, as well as animals like tawny owls.

"When the clocks go back, you do see more owls and birds of prey, so they come out earlier and there are still too many cars on the roads."

They rely solely on donations to keep going. If they manage to reach their target, they hope to create Oxfordshire's first and only wildlife veterinary hospital.

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