A charity sanctuary responsible for saving the lives of hundreds of animals has finally moved into its new home.

The future of the Happy Pants Ranch was in doubt after being told it would have to move from its base at Yelsted, near Sittingbourne, last year.

But the rescue centre - a shelter for about 350 unwanted or abandoned animals from cows, dogs, ducks and sheep to goats, parrots, pigs and more - has moved to a 20-acre site in Iwade Road, Newington, following an appeal in the Sittingbourne News.

Founder Amey James said: “It was stressful, probably the most stressful thing I’ve ever been through.

"When you have 350 animals and you’ve got to get a site ready before leaving another, it’s demanding.

"The new site didn’t have anything. Most of the work was done over a couple of weeks and each day we had about 20 volunteers.”

“It was a huge feat, with just about everything that could go wrong, going wrong,” she added.

“We couldn’t get the shelters up in the fields because of the mud, we didn’t have electricity, a water pipe burst, one of the volunteers crashed his car avoiding a pheasant in the road, and one of the emus escaped into the woods!

" It was one thing after another, but we made it.

"It was a real community effort and I can’t thank the lovely people of the local area enough for making it possible.”

The sanctuary’s large animals were relocated in livestock trailers, while smaller ones were moved in cars and others - such as guinea pigs - are in foster care until better weather comes.

Amey said it had cost about £20,000 to make the site a home, but funds were still needed.

“We need to finish the new road off as we only have access to part of the site and we need more fencing.

"We’re still looking for volunteers too.”

To help the charity, visit tinyurl.com/KMHappyPants or visit its Facebook page.

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