400 animals to be put down over noise complaints

More than 400 animals are set to be put down after neighbours have made noise complaints to the council over the sanctuary. The rescue cares for cats, dogs and pigs but was taken to court after locals complained.

The Happy Pants Ranch has now lost a legal appeal against an eviction notice and has just months to relocate or find homes for the animals before they'll be destroyed. The charity in Newington, near Sittingbourne, Kent, is owned by Amey James and looks after for cats, dogs and pigs, most of which have special needs, including an epileptic pig, a blind and deaf dog, and three-legged cats.

The sanctuary moved to a a 20-acre site in 2021 but has been subject to numerous noise complaints from its unhappy neighbours. The eviction notices comes after a three-year battle with Swale Council to turn the use of the land from agricultural to animal rescue.

READ MORE: Hidden tunnels lurk beneath Manchester's streets

READ MORE: Enormous 150-year-old orphanage with 28 bedrooms is on the market for £3million

After the first planning appeal was refused, Happy Pants was issued an eviction notice. Amey appealed but this week found out it had been denied. Now she has been given nine months to leave the land but says she does not have the funds to relocate, reports Devon Live.

She said: “I’m not quite sure how to put this because I’m finding it difficult to actually process this properly but I just found out that we lost the planning decision appeal and have been told we have nine months to vacate the land.

"Although I always knew there was a chance of this utterly heartbreaking outcome I’ve always tried to be so positive. I’m beyond devastated and feel in fact that my world, which is what this sanctuary is, just collapsed. Right now my head and my heart both physically hurt.

"Thank you to every, single one of those people who has supported me, the charity and all The Ranch animals in this long, stressful, costly, completely unnecessary battle." She said she could barely contemplate the consequences if she can't relocate. "If we can’t move and we can’t stay, the animals will have to find homes," she said.

"But of course that will be very difficult as they all came here because no one else would take them in due to age, medical conditions or behavioural issues. And if they can’t find homes then there’ll be no choices left. But over my dead body will I let anything happen to these animals.

"They’re my family and I promised them they’d be safe for the rest of their lives. So I have to do everything I can do to make sure that happens."

She said: "But ultimately as the charity has no money to move anywhere, the council is signing these animals' death warrants. Because it begs the question if an animal sanctuary is not allowed in this rural location, then where is one allowed?"

A spokesperson for Swale Council said: “The Happy Pants Ranch applied for retrospective planning approval in 2021 and after assessing the application against national planning policy and our own local planning policies this was rejected. A planning enforcement notice was issued in 2022 to rectify these breaches, in line with our policies.

“The notice was subsequently appealed by the applicant, and an inspector appointed by the Secretary of State dismissed the appeal, upheld our notice - subject to variations and agreed with our original refusal of planning permission.

"The enforcement notice requires that the mixed use of the site stops and that the land needs to be restored to its original condition before the breaches took place.”