Respected Dog Rescue Faces Closure
After eleven years of saving some of the most vulnerable dogs in the UK, South East Dog Rescue, in Sutton Valence, Kent, is facing closure in September as the land we rent is being sold to developers so that they can build nine houses.
Obviously, the owner has the right to do whatever he likes with his property but honestly, this could not have come at a worst time for us, or the local community that we serve.
As I am sure that you can imagine, as the financial impact of Covid-19 hits the UK, dogs will be an ‘expense’ that many families can no longer justify, no matter how upsetting it is for them. Therefore, we need to survive in order to be able to help these dogs and people.
IF YOU CAN HELP, PLEASE DONATE TO OUR GOFUNDME PAGE; MORE OPTIONS TO HELP ARE LISTED ON OUR WEBSITE. YOU CAN ALSO FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK OR TWITTER.
We have set up a gofundme page to try and raise money to buy our own land, in order to secure our future for the next 30 years and beyond. I know that a lot of money is involved, but after 11 years of taking in dogs that have cost us thousands of pounds without any consideration for the money spent, we need to ask for help.
We have an amazing army of loyal supporters who have already raised £14,030 via gofundme, bank transfers and PayPal payments – but realistically, we need far more help and publicity to make it.
One recent case that came through our doors is Tegan, the mastiff/staffie cross. As you can see, she came in completely emaciated: she was on death’s door. However, after months of love, care and sleepless nights, she does not look like the same dog!
Sadly, emaciated dogs like her have become a current feature at our centre over the last few months and that includes Bugsy, a 13-year-old Frenchie who also had burst pressure sores and rotten teeth. Even the dog warden who collected him from the pound said “he had no chance”.
Well, the head of the rescue, Kymm White (main image) said, “He is not dying on my watch”. After weeks and weeks of almost losing him, we hope he has turned a corner and he is pictured here guarding our laundry pile!
We are truly ‘no kill’ and even have eleven sanctuary dogs who could never be homed in a normal home environment due to the abuse they have suffered. Quite honestly, none of the big rescues would ever have helped them. Therefore, they live at the centre where they are happy – and their future is a massive worry for us.
One of the sanctuary dogs is pictured above with Bugsy: Pumba the Scottie. He has been with us for nine years after suffering horrendous abuse as a puppy. His hobbies include raiding bins and letting everyone know that he is King!
If you can help the rescue, please donate to our gofundme page; more options to help are listed on our website. You can also follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
This is a guest post by Vicki Graham. Want to write for us? Visit www.dogstodaymagazine.co.uk/essay-submission or email editorial@dogstodaymagazine.co.uk
