The first thing you can hear as you walk down the driveway to this animal shelter is the howling and yelping (no pun intended) of dogs. It's horrible. But, as animal shelters go, this one isn't too bad. Don't get me wrong, it's not a lap of luxury or anything, but the dogs seem to receive basic care. However, the cat side of the shelter looked lovely!
I went in one day to see if there was a little doggy I could take home before I ended up with Henry and Missy (my two dogs). I got to the shelter at about 12.50pm and wasn't greeted by anyone. I wandered around trying to find out how to get in etc. About 5 minutes later, 3 members of staff came out and had a fag... they were adamant that no one was getting in until after 1pm.
I thought this very strange, why open only 3 hours per day, 6 days a week, if you are bombarded with animals that you can't look after? Anyhow, once in the shelter, it was so hard to not just open up all the cages and bring them all home. I think every cage was taken, and every dog looking sadder than the last.
I discussed with a member of staff how to go about taking a dog, it was a very long and complicated process involving a check of your house (which does make you think they're being a bit hypocritical considering the wire cage they currently live in). It cost around £100 for all the administration charges etc. which isn't bad considering they're a charity. read more