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Animal Sanctuary (Domestic Animals) Travel Insurance

Heading abroad to walk rescue dogs, muck out a donkey refuge, or lend a hand at a rehoming shelter? Our Animal Sanctaury travel insurance is designed for trips involving hands-on care of domestic animals - whether that’s a fortnight at a cat rescue in Greece or six months volunteering at an equine sanctuary in Spain. Every policy includes up to £5 million of…

Summary of Cover (per person)

Section & Cover	Silver	Gold	Platinum
Emergency Medical and Repatriation*	£5,000,000	£5,000,000	£5,000,000
Cancellation or Curtailment*	-	£3,000	£7,500
Personal Baggage*	£500	£2,500	£3,500
Activity Equipment	£1,500	£1,500	£1,500
Valuables*	£250	£250	£500
Loss of Passport*	-	£300	£500
Travel Delay	-	£300	£1,000
Trip Abandonment*	-	£3,000	£7,500
Missed Departure / Connection	-	£500	£500
Legal Expenses*	-	£25,000	£50,000

*Excess payables vary depending on the claim benefit.

Please read the Policy Wording for the complete list of Benefits.

Healix Insurance Services Ltd, on behalf of Hamilton Insurance DAC, arranges this Travel Insurance policy for Jade Stanley Ltd. Healix Insurance Ltd is registered in England and Wales under No. 5484190 and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under No. 437248. Hamilton Insurance DAC is registered in Ireland, No. 484148, authorised by the Central Bank of Ireland, and subject to limited regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority in connection with its UK branch. Jade Stanley Ltd is registered in England and Wales under No. 03570857 and authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under No. 306205.

Your Questions Answered

1. A rescue dog has bitten me, or a horse has kicked me - what happens next?

Call our 24/7 Emergency Assistance Line, and they will direct you to appropriate treatment. Your policy carries up to £5 million of emergency medical cover, and if doctors decide you need to come home, repatriation to the UK is included within that benefit provided it's medically necessary.

2. Which activities at the shelter are actually covered?

Everyday hands-on care is what this policy is built for: feeding, bathing, and grooming; dog walking and lead training; cleaning kennels, catteries, stables, and hutches; handling rescued farm animals such as pigs, goats, and sheep; and helping out on rehoming days.

3. Does it matter that I’m volunteering rather than on holiday?

Not at all. Unpaid voluntary work at a rescue centre, rehoming shelter, or sanctuary is covered for the sole purpose.

4. How long can I stay?

A single-trip policy runs for up to 12 months, and every one of those days can be spent at the sanctuary if you wish.

On longer placements, you can even pop home during the trip - once (up to 10 days) on trips of 3 to 6 months, or twice (up to 3 weeks each) on trips of 6 to 12 months. If you make several trips a year, our Annual Multi-Trip policies cover trips of up to 31 days each, again with no cap on sanctuary days.

5. Is anything excluded?

Two things to be aware of: you must remain under the supervision of sanctuary staff whenever you are working with the animals,

No personal Liability is covered.

6. I’ve already left the UK - is it too late to buy a policy?

If you forgot to arrange insurance before departure, we can still cover you provided you contact us within 48 hours of leaving, your trip lasts at least 7 days, and you have no claims pending or known circumstances likely to lead to one.

Outside that window, our partner Adventures offers policies you can take out at any point after departure.

7. What about my medical history?

We cover some pre-existing medical conditions as part of our accepted list on pages 8/9 of the policy wording if you meet the terms and conditions without having to declare anything.

If you don't meet the terms and conditions, we can cover you via our provider Adventures - when getting a quote, choose Animal Sanctuary - Domestic Animals from the activity list.

8. Do rescued farm animals count as domestic?

Yes. Horses, donkeys, ponies, pigs, goats, sheep, and poultry living in a sanctuary all fall under this policy.

Provided the organisation you volunteer with has proper handling procedures in place. Planning to work with lions, elephants, primates, or other wildlife instead? You’ll want our separate Animal Sanctuary Travel Insurance - Wild Animals policy.

Which Animals Count as Domestic?

For this policy, domestic animals are species that have lived alongside people for generations: companion animals like dogs, cats, and rabbits, and domesticated working or farm animals such as horses, donkeys, pigs, goats, sheep, and chickens.

The sanctuaries that care for them take many forms. Some are rehoming shelters that take in strays and surrendered pets, assess and rehabilitate them, and match them with new families. Others - particularly equine and farm sanctuaries - offer a home for life to animals too old, unwell, or traumatised to be rehomed. Abroad, you’ll also find street-animal charities that neuter, vaccinate, and treat free-roaming dog and cat populations.

What unites them is that they are charitable rather than commercial: animals arrive through rescue and surrender, never through buying and selling. UK organisations such as the RSPCA and Blue Cross campaign for the welfare of these animals alongside their rescue work.

What Volunteers Actually Do Day to Day

Shelters run on volunteer labour, and there’s rarely a quiet moment. Expect early starts, plenty of mud, and the best kind of tired at the end of the day. A typical rota might include:

Morning rounds

Preparing individual feeds - many rescue animals arrive underweight or with special dietary needs, so getting each portion right matters.

Topping up water and checking every animal over for cuts, limps, or anything out of the ordinary before the day begins.

The big clean: mucking out stables and paddocks, hosing kennel blocks, changing litter trays and bedding, and disinfecting to keep disease at bay.

Through the day

Exercise and enrichment - walking dogs, turning horses and donkeys out to pasture, and play sessions for cats and small animals.

Grooming, which doubles as bonding time and a chance to build trust with nervous animals.

Helping the vet team with medication rounds, worming, vaccinations, and wound care.

Socialisation work with new arrivals to prepare them for eventual rehoming.

Everything else

Fixing fences, painting kennels, and general upkeep of the grounds.

Updating each animal’s care records and behaviour notes.

Meeting potential adopters, showing visitors around, and helping at open days.

Keeping the feed store and medicine cabinet stocked.

Occasionally joining rescue call-outs or transporting animals to new homes.

You don’t need qualifications, but you do need reasonable fitness, patience, and the resilience to care for animals whose stories can be hard to hear. If that sounds like you, these placement sites list domestic animal projects looking for volunteers right now:

Volunteer World

International Volunteer HQ

Volunteering Solutions

GoEco

Plan My Gap Year

Where in the World Can You Volunteer?

Street-dog and cat charities are concentrated where free-roaming populations are largest - Thailand, Sri Lanka, Romania, Greece, and much of Southern Europe - while equine and farm sanctuaries are found everywhere from the West Country to the USA and Australia. A few well-known names to give you a flavour:

Soi Dog Foundation - Thailand - neuters, treats, and rehomes Phuket’s street dogs and cats

The Donkey Sanctuary - UK & Cyprus - the world’s largest equine charity, caring for thousands of donkeys and mules

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home - UK - London’s famous rescue and rehoming centre, established in 1860

Redwings Horse Sanctuary - UK - a home for life for rescued horses, ponies, donkeys, and mules

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary - USA - a vast Utah sanctuary for dogs, cats, horses, pigs, and more

World Horse Welfare - International - improving the lives of working horses and donkeys worldwide

Before you fly, book a travel health appointment. A current tetanus booster is essential for anyone handling animals, and if you’ll be working with street dogs or cats, your doctor will almost certainly recommend the rabies vaccination course too - it needs to be started several weeks before departure.

Staying Safe Around Rescue Animals

The animals you’ll meet have often been neglected, abandoned, or worse, and their trust in people has to be rebuilt slowly. A dog that seems friendly one moment can snap if startled; a cat in pain will scratch; and around horses and donkeys the risks scale up - a kick or a crush injury from even a gentle pony is no small thing.

Good sanctuaries drill this into every volunteer: follow the handling briefing, never approach an animal unsupervised, learn to read warning signals, and give new arrivals space. Do that, and injuries are rare - but it’s exactly why medical cover matters on these trips.