Martina L.
Yelp
..I rescued my dog from a shelter in italy, i first went to see the most known one, it xcounted over 600 dogs, sometimes 5 of them in a cage, large sizes and all. The cages were outside in the cold, the government is not paying for the volunteers and there are fewer and fewer heroes doing this job for the animals. They directed me to a worse one, called Villa Andreina, my dog was so huge and about to die when i got him that i thought he may not last the week.
We both drove via car to London where i now wish to rehome another rescue female to have a little sister. I visited Battersea and i was so happy to see how clean the cages were, there was one maximum two dogs per cage and indoors. Everything was so clean and everybody so helpful. I am struggling (though maybe it's the christmas period) to rescue another dog as there weren't many left but this is for such lovelier reasons than what i witnessed in italy. my dog used to be walked once a month and had to do his needs in the cage, was hosed morning and night and outside in the sun, his eyes have discolourations because his cage was in the scorching sun on hot italian summers and i won't even start on his legs conditions, he is 12 years old and spent 10 years in a cage. When i read reviews here on "2£ being too much to pay to visit" when the staff is doing so much for these fellas, it breaks my heart, or when i read here that the staff were unhelpful, in that sense i cannot comment cause most scenes i haven't witnessed, but i find myself skeptical when it comes to comparisons with what i saw back home: I basically had to get my dog out of the shelter so quickly so that the owner of the privatised shelter wouldn't try to keep him, as they earn per dog. So, Battersea, i haven0t got my new friend yet and hopefully that will be soon, but THANK YOU for all that you do for these guys the quite high standard when it comes to basic human rights for these animals.