People all over the island dressed up as animals on Friday in aid of the ManxSPCA.

Businesses including Crowe Isle of Man and Barclays Eagle Labs took part along with a number of schools and nurseries: Onchan School, Michael School, Toddlers United, Little Cherubs, Anagh Coar School, Queen Elizabeth II High School and Scoill Vallajeelt, with some of the teachers from Ballakermeen also joining in.

ManxSPCA’s fundraiser coordinator, Liam Rice said: ’The youth of the island are our future. So it’s very important to be educating them about animals and the ManxSPCA.’

Staff from the charity, including Liam, dressed as a rabbit, visited a number of primary schools across the island.

He said: ’We went to talk to the pupils about the number of animals we rescue each year, and the different kinds of animals that come into us.

’They were very engaged with what we had to say, and some were very switched on and understood what the ManxSPCA is. It’s a bit of fun for children to get dressed up (and a few adults I might add) but there is the underlying importance of raising awareness for an important cause.’

Liam said they were still waiting for the final total of money raised to come in and he added: ’It went well, everyone had a great day and I hope that next year more businesses could get involved too.’