FROM shire horses to mice NANNA has their welfare at heart.

Set up in 2004 by Petrina Alderman the charity, Northamptonshire Animals Needing Nurturing & Adoption, is dedicated to caring for local animals that have either been abandoned or which have been found sick or injured.

Funded entirely by donations and fundraising activities every weekend, the organisation has helped more than 4,500 animals in the four and a bit years since it started.

Petrina said: "Last year alone we helped more than 500 cats and, although we didn't cater for dogs originally as we have no kennels, we now do take them in but on a re-homing basis only.

" It means we will only take in a dog if we know we have a home for it.

" The credit crunch has made a difference to the amount of work we have, as when homes are repossessed the former owner's pets are often left homeless.

" We don't get any government or council funding so it is only through the generosity of people we are able to continue, which is why it is important to us to have a presence at carnivals and fetes and make people aware of what we do."

NANNA is run by four trustees with help from volunteers and provides educational experience by working closely with Moulton College students, local schools and Connexions.

Petrina said: "We look after farm animals including sheep, pigs and goats as well as the smaller animals kept at home like cats, rats, hedgehogs and birds."I would say the most unusual ones we have had would be a moorhen, a woodpecker and a weasel."

In the coming weeks the organisation will be at Wellingborough Carnival (July 5 and 6) Holcot 4x4 Experience (July 12 and 13) and Castle Ashby Country Fair (July 13).