Good Friday lived up to its name for a group of 28 pooches shipped over from Romania, all of which went to homes in Surrey and South London on that day.
A lorry-full of excited canines arrived at a kennel in Sutton, South London on April 18, and adopters wasted no time in collecting their new friends. It meant a happy ending to a traumatic trip for the troupe of dogs who, but for the work of caring folk in both Romania and the UK, would likely have been put down due to new legislation in the Southeast European country.
The programme was organised by Jennifer Gilbert and Lisa Webster, and was built upon the work of Romanian women who saved 200 stray dogs from imminent death by rounding them into a shelter near the capital city of Bucharest. In Romania, strays can legally be killed if they remain in dog pounds for more than a fortnight without an adopter.
As well as improving conditions for the dogs still at the shelter, Gilbert and Webster arranged for 28 of them to be brought to Britain, where they could start new lives with compassionate owners.
The dogs’ journey was far from plain sailing, however, with the first snag being the cancellation of their travel certificates in their home country. This decision was reversed, but the animals still arrived later than scheduled due to delays in the French port of Calais.
According to Gilbert, the dogs were very thirsty upon arrival, but understandably thrilled at being matched up with their new owners.
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