BARK will be on site at the Belfast Telegraph Pet Expo this November for anyone who wants to find out more. For more information about the charity, visit www.benvardin kennels.com or call 07518 370478.
completely shave them to the very skin, they were so bad.
“We’ve had other cases of dogs coming in very thin and neglected and then we nurse them back to health.”
The charity takes in dogs from across the council area, including Limavady, Ballymoney, Ballycastle and Coleraine, and carries out vaccinations, neutering and home checks before attempting to rehome them.
“You have to fill in a questionnaire before we even go and do a home check because it’s important we match the right dog with the right family,” Louise says.
Louise relies on a small army of volunteers who help out at the kennels, but she does need more help and is putting together a fundraising committee.
“We were named charity of the year at Pets at Home Coleraine and Pets at Home Ballymena, but we need to be in two places to promote ourselves and fundraise. After we were named charity of the year, we noticed a great increase in our rehoming.
“We’re looking for fundraising volunteers in the area. We’re always looking for donations of food, we’re always looking for donations of bedding and money donations as well for our overheads to get the bills paid.
“We have a charity shop in Ballymoney as well — that’s a good lifeline for the veterinary bills and the mortgage.”
BARK was recently awarded almost £44,000 by Support Adoption For Pets, a charity set up by Pets At Home, to refurbish its rehoming kennel block.
But there’s more work to be done.
“We are currently trying to fundraise ourselves for new wooden kennels for our outside runs at a cost of £1,200 as they are nearly 10 years old and have seen better days,” Louise says. Belfast Telegraph Editor Gail Walker with Ollie the cat and Jessica Pimentel, duty manager at We Are Vertigo, with Rex the dog at the launch of the Pet Expo