Animal Rescue with Marion Garnett
Dedicated animal expert MARION GARNETT, founder of the Ealing Animal Charities Fair continues her column
TOMMIE’S a brave boy. When you read his notes, they’re screaming at you – what a brave boy.
What it takes to be brave is individual. For people, sometimes it’s talking in public whereas for others it takes all their courage to go outside the front door.
For many animals featured here, including Tommie, being brave means having the courage to trust people again. When Tommie came into the care of the RSPCA, he was thin as a rake and although he could be friendly, he was also nervous.
He was described as very shy and hiding. But gradually he has become bolder and when I met him, he was not afraid of sitting in his pen, trying to catch my attention.
He was more uncertain when I went to the outside part of his pen to give him some treats. He came out through the catflap, gathered up as many as he could in his mouth (hamster style) and took them inside to eat. But, it was easy to see the potential for him to become a wonderful pet, once he trusts you. If you can offer Tommie a calm loving home, he’s waiting at the RSPCA Cat Adoption Centre, Burket Close, Southall.
Being brave can mean seeing a need and not being afraid to rise to the challenge to meet it. Pen Farthing was a Royal Marines Commando in Afghanistan when he realised it wasn’t only people who needed their help, it was also animals. During his deployment, Pen and his troops broke up a fight between two dogs. After the fight, one of the dogs followed Pen and they spent six months together, with the dog being named Nowzad, after the town where they met.
At the end of his deployment, Pen arranged to bring the dog back to the UK. This inspired him to write the book “One Dog at a Time” which became a best seller. Pen also founded the charity Nowzad which runs an animal shelter and vet clinic in Afghanistan and reunites soldiers with dogs and cats they have befriended in war zones.
We are fortunate that Pen will be one of the speakers at this year’s Ealing Animal Charities Fair (ealinganimalsfair.london) which takes place on March 3 (10.30am-4pm) at Hanwell Methodist Church, Church Road W7.
Pen has also written another book “Wylie: The brave street dog who never gave up”. Maybe there’s a message for many of us in that title, including Tommie.