Every now and again someone connected with the media takes the decision to rehome a pet from an animal charity. Like many people, their expectation is that with so many animals needing homes, rescue centres will be falling over themselves to thrust a lead or cat basket in their hand. The reality proves somewhat different as they discover there are procedures to follow to a greater or lesser extent so they put pen to paper.
A few weeks ago in Cornwall we took in a dog called Bonnie, a 5 month old collie cross puppy who came in with her litter mates having spent their early life living in a barn. Our usual health checks revealed that Bonnie had a heart murmur and an enlarged heart and would not live to see her first birthday if she did not have expensive surgery. We are continually faced with these dilemmas in rescue, having to weigh up the cost of helping one animal against the cost of helping others.
We all have scenarios in life that we just don’t want to think about. Things that make our blood run cold and our palms sweat at the mere mention of it. For me one such scenario is if one of my pets was stolen, I couldn’t bear not knowing where they were or what was happening to them.