A Brownie has raised more than £180 for an animal sanctuary after selling terrible pet portraits.

Harriet Cotterill, age 10 is in Year 5 at Edward Feild primary School and is a member of First Kidlington Brownies.

The Brownie is a big fan of animals, especially after getting her dog Mia. So, when it came to deciding which charity she was going to choose to help for her Charity Badge, the decision to help Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary was easy.

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On a mission to fundraise for the charity, Harriet initially thought about doing a cake sale but wanted to do something a bit different.

Her mum Jo came across funny pet portraits by the artist Hercule online and suggested Harriet should try her hand at drawing pets.

Oxford Mail:

At first, Harriet was not confident and was worried the pictures would not be very good, but that’s when they had an idea to tell people the drawings were going to be really terrible.

Mrs Cotterill explained Harriet is usually a perfectionist but has excelled with this new project.

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Oxford Mail:

She said: “She really likes drawing but she gets easily frustrated, because when she draws it does not always turn out perfectly and she ends up rubbing things out and throwing things away.

“But this was really good for her because she knew that the drawing wasn’t meant to be perfect, so it did not matter.”

Mrs Cotterill put a call out on Facebook for the terrible pet portraits with a suggested donation of £5. She said nobody donated less than £5 with one woman donating £30 after being so impressed with Harriet’s comical drawing of her sitting with her dogs.

Oxford Mail:

Friends and family were very enthusiastic and requests for her terrible pet drawings came flooding in. Now 18 drawings down, Harriet has raised £182 and counting for the sanctuary.

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Mrs Cotterill explained that for every coin or note that is donated she collects it in a jar so Harriet can see just how much money she is raising.

Oxford Mail: Harriet and her dog Mia. Harriet and her dog Mia.

The pair will be taking the jar of money to the sanctuary this week to hand over the donation in person.

Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary in Stadhampton on Watlington Road, rehomes around 500 animals every year and looks after between 70 to 100 animals a day. Since the sanctuary opened in 1967 is has helped more than 27,500 animals find their forever home.

The sanctuary said that at any one time it looks after, up to 30 dogs, 60 cats and kittens and 15-20 rabbits. It also cares for five goats, who are permanent guests.

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