Completion of roof on wildlife hospital marked

The completion of the roof on a charity's wildlife hospital was marked by a topping out ceremony on Thursday.

The Guernsey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA) has been fundraising for new facilities including the purpose-built hospital designed to treat puffins, hedgehogs, seals and birds, among other wildlife.

GSPCA manager Steve Byrne said now the building was watertight and the roof was on he hoped parts of the facility would be open by the end of the year.

He said "we've been working out of temporary facilities for two years" and the rooms that were nearly done included those dedicated to the care of seals.

The grey seal pup season - when winter storms can run the young animals ashore -runs from October to January and Byrne hoped the new facilities would be available before the charity gets any pups to take care of.

He said the topping out was one of the biggest days in the charities 153-year history.

Byrne said the new building would allow them to give animals the "best of care and the best of facilities and get them back to the wild as soon as possible".

He said the cost of the new facilities had been estimated at between £3.7m and £4m.

Byrne said savings had been made because of donations of things they needed and time from people but they had been some surprises along the way including finding asbestos and the "sewage works needed completely rebuilding".

He said: "We've still got other sections to go... we've got kennels to build, we've got facilities for ferrets to make but this is the main part of what is our big build being the wildlife hospital and we're nearly there."

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