Fears had been expressed about the welfare of some of the greyhounds whose owners might not wish to continue to care for them.

All the animal welfare charities agreed to combine forces to ensure that temporary shelter could be found for any animal who needed it, and after the last race, there were people at the stadium ready with mobile kennels to take any unwanted animals to a safe place.

Many animals were saved.

Sadly though, two greyhounds were turfed out by their owner to fend for themselves in the very cold night air, and the busy streets of Swansea.

Many volunteers from various animal charities have spent hours today, searchimg streets and fields looking for these two poor greyhounds. We know that they have both already been hit by cars and are injured. This could lead them to try to shelter somewhere… as dogs do….and the first frost of the winter is forecast here for tonight…. but they need veterinary attention as soon as possible!

Our best hope is that some kind people have taken them in to care for them….
If you know of their whereabouts, PLEASE contact

http://www.greyhoundrescuewales.co.uk/og2009/og2009.htm

and they will ensure that the dogs get the medical help that they urgently need

Please share this and help us to try to find these poor innocent animals.

“‘Angel’ falls off a lorry
Málaga dog found in Somerset is being nursed back to health

By Dave Jamieson

It’s not everyday that a dog falls off the back of a lorry, but that is just what is thought to have happened in the case of a Spanish dog found in the south-west of England. Since Angel was found straying in Somerset, the local county council’s Animal Health and Welfare Team have been working with local organisations to help get the dog back to full health.

Angel, a pedigree boxer, was handed in to the RSPCA after being found in a car park in Taunton. She was found to have a microchip linking her to an address in Málaga, more than 1,300 miles (2,100 km) away from Somerset. She was registered in Spain 10 years ago but attempts to contact her previous owner, named on the microchip as Diane Levy, have proved unsuccessful and it is suspected that the dog entered the UK illegally on the back of a lorry.

The county council has a duty to make sure any animals suspected of coming into Somerset in breach of current UK rabies laws are either placed in quarantine, deported or destroyed, but luckily for Angel, the South Western Boxer Club volunteered to take responsibility for her and support her six months in quarantine.

Club secretary Glenda Tibbots, said, “When she came to us she was very thin and had black patches on her side with no hair there. She has had an operation to remove a big lump on her eye and is putting on weight. She is an absolutely super dog and needs a one-to-one home, so at the end of the six months we will try to find a new home for her.”

If anyone recognises Angel or can shed light on how she travelled from Málaga to Somerset, please contact Glenda on 0044 1278 785 071. “

Despite the fact that the Government in Westminster has seen fit to allow English badgers to continue to live in their natural settings (or should I say sets?) , the Welsh Assembly has decided that the culling of badgers in Wales is to go ahead.

The cull will happen in Pembrokeshire unless enough people can persuade the members of the Sennedd to change their minds.

The RSPCA is calling for a massive response to their request to sign the petition at:

www.backoffbadgers.org

Please sign it and ask your friends to sign it too.

It can be tempting to give your dogs and cats extra treats too in the festive season……….but it is a bad idea.

Watch this amusing yet very pertinent video:

http://www.giveanimalsavoice.org.uk/

Oops…. that video no longer appears….sorry!

Merry Christmas!

The South Wales Evening Post today reported a ‘shock’ increase in animal cruelty in the last year.

The BBC ran a similar story this morning.

However, whilst the figures are distressing and the number of badly treated animals is disgracefully high, the fact is that the 2007 Animal Welfare Act is doing exactly what it was meant to do.

As a direct result of last year’s legislation, which came into force on 26th March 2007 in Wales, RSPCA Inspectors are now able to intervene at an earlier stage to give advice to animal owners rather than, as used to be the case, having to wait until real cruelty had occurred and could be proved…….. they can now do what their title indicates, PREVENT cruelty, rather than simply come in when it is too late and merely prosecute.

Early intervention means that owners are given a chance to change their behaviour. If they do, the animals get a better life, but failure to comply with advice will result in prosecution at an earlier stage than was previously possible.

The people in the picture above are members of the staff at Llys Nini, but we have personally transported both Roxy the Rotti and Clancy the King Charles Spaniel, to and from the vets’ surgery for treatment. Both are now looking for new loving homes

It is rewarding to see how well animals progress from the pitiful condition that they are often in when they arrive at Llys Nini, to the happy and fit animals they become thanks to the applied TLC at the re-homing centre.

Perhaps then, the increased numbers of successful prosecutions for cruelty is not a shock, but is rather an opening up of what we knew was there all along….. and proof that action is at last being taken to stop the terrible mis-treatment of helpless animals.

Our own lovely dog was a rescue dog from Llys Nini, and a better companion would be hard to imagine, but we often wonder what her life would have been were it not for the intervention of the RSPCA…..

If you are looking for a pet, why not try the re-homing centre first, and give a new lease of life to a dog, cat, rabbit, ferret, bird, etc., etc.?

Or if you would like to volunteer to do something positive to help, why not go to your local centre and offer your services?

On a day when all the rest of news is sad or bad, it is great to hear some good news for once.

This Newfoundland is being trained to rescue people from the sea in Swansea.

The picture came from the Daily Mail and you can read more about this Super-Dog here

He is a beautiful specimen , lively and strong, and he will surely not be with us long at Llys Nini. Somebody will very quickly fall in love with him (preferably a big strong chap, who enjoys long walks and who has a lovely big garden too!)

Apparently this dog was originally being trained as a sniffer dog, but he had other ideas and did not match up to the high sniffing standards required of him. However, this does not mean that this animal is a failure, his talents simply lie elsewhere.

He clearly decided that life is too short for all that hard work… and hard work it surely is, for all the working dogs and their trainers.

I was delighted therefore to receive my ‘First Day Covers’ of UK postage stamps this week, whose stars are The Working Dogs. They feature:

Assistance dogs,

Mountain rescue dogs,

Police dogs,

Customs dogs,

Sheepdogs and

Guide dogs.

It is great to see them being honoured in this way.

So when you go to the Post Office to buy stamps, don’t just buy plain old postage stamps!……. Always ask for the current picture stamps, especially the doggy ones! And to see a proper picture of how lovely this particular first Day Cover is, click here.

First there were three programmes, on three consecutive nights, from Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall comparing the merits (or otherwise) of “Intensive” versus “Free range” chicken meat production. I’ll say no more about this!

Then there was a study of three families’ diets comparing fresh food, standard convenience food and special convenience food. Funnily enough, little coverage was given to the real food, most of the emphasis being on the fact the more expensive ready meals (up to five times more costly) where on the whole less good for the body than the cheaper ones.

No cost comparisons were proffered for the fresh food, but it came out top of the class for its nutritional value, of course.

Then we had Jamie Oliver doing his bit on both the hen and the egg scene to bring home to Joe and Joanna Public the message that there is a need for awareness about the food we eat. I never did fancy those hot dog sausages, but nothing would persuade me to try one now!

At the same time, I was in the middle of re-reading “Not On The Label” by Felicity Lawrence. This should be compulsory reading for anyone who eats.

All in all, it was a week to put anybody off eating anything at all, let alone chicken!

Just as a matter of interest, on Friday I went into the new Sainsbury shop in Gorseinon, half a mile from home, to see how many free range and standard chickens were on display.

To my surprise, there was not a single item of free range chicken to be had. Nor were there spaces where they might have been before, possibly having been ‘bought up’ in reaction to the publicity…. Just rows of standard chickens and chicken parts.

So I asked an employee if it were possible to buy free range products in Sainsburys?

He strode confidently to the shelf, pondered a bit and then said brightly: ” Oh for things like that you would have to go to one of our bigger stores like the one in Swansea city centre” ( seven miles away) ……Why?

I have always prepared real food from scratch every day, and I feel more than ever glad that I never became sucked into the ‘ready meals’ circus.

I have, however, been made even more aware of the value of organic produce, and also of the ever increasing need to read labels carefully and indeed, to read between the lines……

Stop Press News! Santa will be in the RSPCA CHARITY SHOP in Gorseinon this week.

Llys Nini Animal Centre in Penllergaer is delighted that Father Christmas has agreed to make a special appearance at its shop in Gorseinon’s High Street on Tuesday evening, 4th December.

He will be there from 6.30, both before and after the lantern procession.

A spokesman for Llys Nini Animal Centre said last night ” Father Christmas is always a huge supporter of Animal Welfare. This is not suprising considering he keeps a number of animals, including reindeer, himself.

He appreciates that animals need proper care and attention and he NEVER encourages people to give pets as presents.

In support of Llys Nini’s work in caring for so many sick and injured, abused and abandoned animals, he has agreed to spend some time in our shop in Gorseinon on Tuesday.

He also asks, if anyone can spare a tin of pet food, some blankets, bedding or even a small donation to drop it into him at the shop.

Everyone at Llys Nini is very greatful for his help in providing food and care for our animals over Christmas.”

The RSPCA and Santa both ask for people to spread the word.

Obviously, in this line of voluntary work, we come across neglected, abused, sad animals all too often.

But this cat is SO beautiful, and in such excellent physical condition that she has clearly come from a good and loving home. All she wants is to be cuddled!

Everyone at Llys Nini Animal Centre and at the vet’s surgery fell in love with her. She is really lovely. ( And that from a lifelong dog lover!)

Sadly, she does not have a collar with her owner’s telephone no, nor has she been micro-chipped, as referred to in my earlier posts so she will have to be put in a cattery for a week to hope that her owners will come to find her. She was warm and comfortable (and well fed) when we left her this evening.

If anyone reading this page comes from the Mountain Ash area and knows of a grieving owner of a missing grey and white cat, please alert them to the fact that there is a possibility that it might be their cat that has been rescued.

Please Email (copy & paste):-

info@llysnini-rspca.org.uk

As anyone reading this will obviously have access to the internet, this is the easiest way to reunite this little poppet with her owners, but otherwise, try telephoning

01792 229435 and keep trying as the line is very busy.

Llys Nini is at Penllegaer, just off Junction 47 of the M4 and is open every day except Wednesdays from 11am until 3.45pm

I know that if this were MY cat, I would be out searching the streets for her!

Sadly, I did not have my camera with me today, but…. PLEASE, if you know the owners, tell them to contact Llys Nini asap.