THE Cumbrian Animal and Hen Rescue group is looking to raise money after vandals caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Eddy Wright, 45, the founder of the organisation is organising high profile fundraising events to raise money to make up for the £10,000 worth of damage done to the rescue facilities, including £7,500 of damage to fencing.

The group is already at full capacity and currently has a long waiting list to take in any more rescues.

The events they are looking to run will take place in May of next year, and are in talks to try and get comedian Frank Skinner to show his support.

They are also in talks with female wrestlers, Pippa Niven and Kay Lee Ray as well as American comedian Steve Hoffstetter.

Mr Wright said: “We are the only rescue centre of our kind in the north west - this is because of the amount and range of animals that we care for, from horses, chickens, to snakes, but not cats and dogs.

“We do what we do because of the amount of horrible things we have seen and heard.

“We once rescued a pig that had been terribly neglected and left in a field, the details are almost too hard to bear.

“We are running these high profile events as we desperately need new funds to replace all the damaged fencing that was done on our land.

“The vandals damaged so much that it has been very difficult for us to function as a organisation.

“We have three compounds, one on Redly Land in Barrow and two in Kendal, so we require a lot to support all the animals that we do.

“We received no compensation for the damage as they wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute those involved so we have been struggling to do our best to keep things gong.

“We have made repairs the best we can, but we need another injection of funds to get things to where they should and so we can start to take in more rescues.

“We currently have a three to six month waiting list, which simply isn’t good enough.

“With all the events we are looking to run next year we hope to greatly reduce this number and get the organisation back on track doing the work we love to do.”