Pet Encounter Cumbria wins prestigious business award

Pet Encounter Cumbria has won the Family Run Business of the Year Award 2025 in Pet and Animal Care Cumbria from Business Awards UK.

Siobhan Harkness, who owns Pet Encounter, said she is ‘incredibly proud’ to have won.

She said: “This award means the world to me and my family. We all work hard to deliver an excellent service for the area with what we do, whether it’s a school visit, a home encounter, a birthday party or an outdoor event.

"We love seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces when they encounter our animals. We are proud to be Cumbria’s largest animal encounter business and will continue to promote responsible pet ownership, education, conservation and our work with rescuing and rehoming of animals.

"I would like to thank my amazing family for their hard work and support with Pet Encounter Cumbria and all of our fantastic customers who support us year-round with our work. To be recognised with local awards and now national awards gives us the determination, strength and desire to continue to develop our business and bring the very best encounters to Cumbria."

READ MORE: Cockermouth business celebrates long-serving employees with special ceremony

‘Athena’ the 8-week-old Snowy Owl.  (Image: Supplied) Pet Encounter Cumbria was started in 2019 by Siobhan and has since grown to be the 'largest animal encounter experience in the county,' with hundreds of five-star reviews.

The business has a whole host of exotic animals from ‘Toffee’ the blue and gold Macaw to ‘Ben’ and ‘Rupert’ the Meerkats, and the most recent additions, ‘Arnie’ the 3 Banded Armadillo and ‘Athena’ the majestic Snowy Owl. 

Siobhan and the team cover everything from school and college visits, residential home and youth group visits, birthdays, weddings, events and mental wellbeing encounters.

READ MORE: Lake District trail named second-best dog-friendly running route in the UK

Siobhan delivering an educational workshop at The Beacon Museum in Whitehaven.​ (Image: Supplied) Over 80 per cent of animals owned by Pet Encounter are rescues, and the business has helped rehome over 80 pets. Siobhan says she receives, on average, 10 calls or messages per week to help rehome animals.

Siobhan and the business also won the Local Business Hero of the Year Award in 2022 for their efforts to deliver meaningful garden encounters during the COVID-19 restrictions. Siobhan adapted the encounters to the government guidelines and even trained meerkats to be recall trained so they could visit vulnerable people safely. 

Pet Encounter Cumbria has also just reached the final of the Animal Star Awards and will be attending the awards ceremony in November.

To find out more about Pet Encounter Cumbria, you can visit their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/petencountercumbria.