In April, The Kennel Club, the Kennel Club Charitable Trust (KCCT) and the Kennel Club Educational Trust (KCET) announced their intention to support canine organisations in their communities which may be suffering genuine financial hardship as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many applications were received with difficult decisions having to be made for where funds needed to be allocated most urgently.
Decisions have now been taken to the amount or monies and the organisations where monies will be donated. Twenty rescue charities will be receiving money from the KCCT.
Some of the recipients of funds from the KCCT include breed rescue organisations such as the Northern Ireland Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club and Greyhound Rescue as well as other general smaller dog rescue organisations such as Friends of Animals Wales which is the charity from where Boris Johnson rehomed Dilyn the Jack Russell Terrier.
Eileen Jones, rescue co-ordinator for Friends of Animals Wales said: “We are very grateful for the extra funds provided to us by the Kennel Club Charitable Trust as we have been very much affected by Covid-19. Our Community Respite Care Project has seen an increase in requests for help and we currently have an additional 18 dogs in our care as a result of current health or housing issues. Some owners are hospitalised, some sadly now deceased.
“Others are in lockdown and suffering increased mental health problems and loss of housing has meant some owners have needed help. We have started a dog walking support scheme helping owners who are isolating and cannot walk their dogs and have stepped up our support of food banks, community groups, homeless charities and support groups and individuals with pet food. We have seen a 60% increase in requests for help and are also supporting owners who cannot transport their pets for emergency treatment.
“The main effect of the current situation has been financial and social. We have closed our three charity shops which are our main source of income. All our events have been cancelled which is our second main income source. On top of all this, we continue to take in victims of puppy farming and had seen an increase in dogs since Lucy’s Law was announced with discarded breeding stock and sick puppies. Sadly, puppy farmers now report that business is booming and some have sold out of puppies which means that breeding dogs that would have been relinquished are now being retained to produce further litters to meet demand. Those dogs that are now given up are generally in very poor condition and very sick and need looking after more than ever before so extra funds for all this has been very much appreciated.”
Revd. Bill King, Chairman of the Kennel Club Charitable Trust said: “We have received a significant number of applications for our emergency funding and have had to make some very hard decisions on where funds need to be placed as a matter of urgency.
“We would like to say a big thank you to Our Dogs newspaper for their support for the KCCT Emergency Relief Initiative. Thanks to the campaign, the Trust has received over £40,000 generously donated by readers.
“We are particularly grateful for the donation of £35,000 from the British Chihuahua Club Rescue Association. Margaret Foote, the co-ordinator/treasurer of BCCRA explained that it was after seeing the appeal in Our Dogs that she wanted to contribute as she wanted to support smaller breed rescues, following help from a small rescue that she had received.
“When Our Dogs offered to be the Trust’s appeals partner we were hugely grateful and would like to thank the readership for their generous support of the appeal. There is more to do so please give what you can for the love of dogs and hopefully with these donations we can look to what more we can be doing to assist dog rescue organisations which is needed more than ever before.”
Making a donation to the KCCT is very simple. If you wish to donate online, please go to the secure Virgin Money Giving page. Alternatively, you can make a donation by text. Simply text ‘KCCT [amount]’ to 70450 to donate the desired amount. For example, if you wish to donate £30, simply text ‘KCCT 30’ to 70450. You will be charged your donation plus one standard rate message and you’ll be opting in to hear more about the work of the KCCT and fundraising via telephone and SMS. If you’d like to make a donation but do not wish to receive marketing communications, text ‘KCCTNOINFO [amount]’ to 70450.