Guest Blog – Rain Rescue
Today, Animal Friends has a guest blog from Jacquie Neilson who is the founder of a small charity based in South Yorkshire called Rain Rescue.
Animal Friends Insurance donates to Rain Rescue on a monthly basis, which undoubtedly helps Jacquie save dogs from being put to sleep unnecessarily.
Over to Jacquie…
Having worked for nearly 30 years at HSBC in Sheffield in I.T, I have always had a passion to be with animals and have owned dogs, horses and cats all my life. Around 10 years ago, I started to volunteer at a local animal sanctuary where I saw the pathetic state of animals dumped, beaten and abandoned by today’s society. I felt I was doing some good.
Whilst working at the sanctuary, I became aware of ‘the plight of the poundies’ - dogs that were once owned, but who had been abandoned or dumped, and were now the property of local councils and kept in ‘dog pounds’. Conditions in pounds are almost always very basic and usually below your average boarding standard.
Once you know and see the cycle of the poundies – you have to help them and I started going to a few of the Yorkshire pounds trying to save the dogs and also phoning for hours on end to rescue centres, in the hope some would take some. Most wouldn’t touch them for fear of infection, some wouldn’t because they were already bursting full with their own, but a few of them would. My husband and I drove all over the country taking a few and saving their lives.
For the first few months when I went into them, I would come out an emotional wreck. With only room for a couple, I would have to walk down rows and rows of dogs – in disgusting, cold, dark, stressful, old and dirty conditions, the noise of the scared barking echoing around the bare kennel environment. The dogs shouting at me to take them but knowing I didn’t have room for them, I had to walk on by. Knowing that they were all going to be killed because nobody knew they were there, because nobody wanted them.
“What sort of dogs are in the pounds?”
Young, old, sick, healthy, big medium, giant, small, puppies and geriatrics, average dogs, powerful dogs, pedigrees and cross breeds, black, brown, white and mixed colours. You name it – they will be some in there.
I am always most upset by the older dogs. The owner has probably gone into a nursing home or who has died. Nobody wants the relatives loved pet - to look after the old dog – so it goes from warm loved fireside – to cold, dark frightening pound, to lethal injection, to yellow bag. These are the ones I try to help the most.
Many of the dogs could be someone’s lost dog as there isn’t a central database of strays for distraught owners to view. If the dog isn’t micro chipped – or the pounds don’t pick up the chip even if it is – the owners have no chance of finding their dog before the 7 days are up. On the 8th day – in some pounds the dogs will be put to sleep in others it could be loaded onto a van and transported around the country to a rescue centre to save its life. Either way, its gone and lost to the owner.
Over the years I have managed to improve on what I do. It still breaks my heart when I go into the pounds and select just 2 or 3 dogs that I can take, and walk past the begging, pleading painful faces of the ones that I can’t take. Emotionally it’s a huge drain and I work constantly trying to fund raise to pay another bill.
Just one dog recently, an old terrier that came out of the pound needed a mammary strip and spay. Her new elderly owner, who was lonely and lived on her own, totally dotes on this little dog.
From being in the pound at the threat of destruction, to being someone’s’ treasured pet – all because we could help – is tremendous reward and keeps us going – we will find the money somehow.
Animal Friends help
I first approached Elaine Fairfax at Animal Friends Insurance to ask for financial support to our rescue group around 2005. Elaine offered her support and has continued to do so every single month since then, and has recently purchased us a set of 3 pens in which to keep our cats in crisis in as well as being our main show sponsor at the forthcoming Summer Dog Show. A regular sponsor is a great comfort. Animal Friends pay for the upkeep of 2 kennels each and every month of the year and I thank you all there for supporting us.
Since January 2011 Rain Rescue volunteers have saved the lives of 80 dogs and over 25 cats and kittens, from crisis and near death situations. That is amazing running on a shoe-string, and just volunteers. Its hard work, , but I keep on trying to raise awareness to the general public about the situations of the stray dogs in our country today and what happens to them. This needs to be continued – and spread further afield.
Many thanks for listening and if I can open the eyes to more people about the plight of the poundies, it’s been worth me sitting here for the last few hours between 11.00 pm and 1.43 am – waffling about just what we do.
Jacquie
Jacquie Neilson
Trustee
Rain Rescue
www.rainrescue.co.uk
