International rescue: Meet the three women making a change to suffering animals worldwide

Lucy Fensom, 47, is married and has a teenage son. She divides her time between her donkey sanctuary in the Holy Land and Brighton, Sussex.

In the early 90s, I left the UK to volunteer on a kibbutz and ended up living in Jerusalem.

Being a devoted animal lover, I started working for a local cattery, then I fell for Donk, a beautiful donkey who belonged to a Bedouin man and he would leave him tethered by the front legs with string or wire outside the cattery. Poor Donk’s legs were bleeding and torn and I helped him recover.

Eventually, I raised enough money to buy him and vowed I’d start a sanctuary for donkeys in the Holy Land. In 1995,I returned to the UK and in 1997, Donk was brought over and his story helped me fundraise.

I left my job as part of an air cabin crew in 2000 and returned to Israel to start my sanctuary.

I also wanted to set up a treatment clinic for working donkeys, mules and horses in the Arab communities and teach impoverished owners about the humane treatment of animals. 

In the Holy Land, donkeys are seen as stupid and are born into a life of daily backbreaking work and abuse.

Most are never fed, watered or rested sufficiently and when they’re no longer needed, they’re often tied to a tree and left to starve. Baby donkeys suffer this terrible fate when they ‘distract’ their mother from her work. Even when donkeys are needed, they’re sometimes so abused, they end up escaping and being hit by cars.

They’ve been loaded with explosives and steered in the direction of an army outpost, and the growing trade in donkey hide for Chinese medicine is hideous.

I can’t abide cruelty in any form, so this work is tough and heartbreaking. Trying to help them when their life is so unbearable often makes me feel powerless.

Their beaten bodies, neglected hooves and awful saddle sores defy belief. Over the years, we have helped several thousands of donkeys and horses, including those working in the Palestinian West Bank.

We’ve enlightened people here that donkeys are sentient beings. We’ve educated children, both Jewish and Arab, and the owners of working animals in the Palestinian sector. However, whatever we do, it’s just never enough.

It feels like a constant uphill struggle requiring endless devotion. Despite the political troubles between Israel and Palestine, there have only been a few times when I’ve felt at risk. I’ve learned to be humble, respectful and smile – showing exasperation usually makes matters worse for the animal.

Many cases have touched me deeply. Recently, we found Zachariah wandering near the Syrian border.

His eyes had been removed and he’d been stabbed. He was so traumatised but now I walk into his stable and he no longer flinches. He’s a precious, noble soul who has suffered intolerably but he’s beginning to understand nobody will ever hurt him again.

Our sanctuary, rescue and outreach work are funded entirely by donations from supporters. We are currently caring for 28 rescued donkeys and five horses, which costs about £4,750 a month.

To continue our work, we desperately need more financial support and supplies like antiseptic ointment, head collars and nose chain covers.”

Visit lucysdonkeyfoundation.org.uk 

Liz Lean, 73, from Camborne, Cornwall, set up the Facebook group Helping Dogs In Romania in 2014 and has since found happy homes for hundreds of stricken hounds.

“I’ve always been passionate about animals and my husband Roger and I had dogs all our lives. We’d decided not to have another because of our age but in October 2014, I saw Bella, a street dog from Romania, on a rescue website.

“Her story touched my heart and in the end, Roger said we could have her. Bella – who’s still terrified of men because they’re the ones who capture them in Romania – was the reason I formed Helping Dogs In Romania. I didn’t realise what I was starting.

It has expanded so much and we’ve saved hundreds of dogs but I can’t save them all and that’s heartbreaking. People say I’m crazy but they don’t understand the level of cruelty these dogs are subjected to. The way forward is to spay and neuter them and the cats too, so fewer puppies and kittens are born.

But it’ll never be enough because the government is so corrupt. We also save disabled dogs and pay for wheels because the Romanians try to kill them by running dogs over.

They are distressingly cruel in so many ways, and Serbia and Hungary are as bad.

Many people in Romania exploit dogs because they get paid by the government to bring them into the kill shelters, where they have 14 days before they are killed, often in the most inhumane way. The dogs we rescue are sponsored by people in the UK at £3 per month.

Our adoption fee is £200, which includes all the vaccinations, pet passport, defleaing and worming and the transport over on ‘the happy bus’ with VIPets.

Every fortnight, they drive dogs 4,000 miles to the UK for adoption and fostering, where they’re quarantined for 48 hours and seen by a vet. Ours all have a home to go to.

Most of the dogs are so loving and the majority are just happy to have a home, which most of them have never had before. Some, though, had loving homes and were kidnapped for money. I worked in the NHS for 32 years before I retired, ending up as a housekeeper. Roger worked as a postman for 43 years.

He helps me with my annual fundraising dog show. When things are bad, I cry – but then I take our four rescue dogs for a walk and I think if I didn’t do what I do, three of them wouldn’t be here now, so I get over it. Doing this takes over your life – everything gets neglected.

Sometimes, I wish I didn’t know what goes on because then my life would be peaceful but I can’t ignore it.”

Helping Dogs In Romania is on Facebook, call 01209 712261 or visit hdirsponsororadopt.com. 

Margaret Ray, 67, moved to Cyprus in 1995 from Somerset with her husband David, 74. She founded Kyrenia Animal Rescue (KAR) in 1997 to help stray cats and dogs.

“We retired to north Cyprus from Somerset in 1995 after we’d fallen in love with the area while on holiday. KAR began after a few of us found four puppies walking in the middle of a busy road. After trying to find them new homes, we decided to work together to help other street animals.

Back then, most cruelty cases were due to ignorance. Unwanted dogs were abandoned in the mountains, tied up without shelter, food or water and diseases were left untreated. Some locals were – and still are – frightened of dogs and can be extremely cruel. Cruelty to animals makes me angry and makes me take action. But when an animal is in distress, I switch off emotionally, like a paramedic would be at the scene of an accident, so I can help it.

In 1999, we opened our rescue centre in the beautiful Besparmak mountains. It’s home to about 300 dogs and puppies and 60 cats and kittens. We find homes for many but there aren’t enough good homes here, so it’s wonderful when visitors fall in love and offer a dog or cat a home.

In 2004, we set up an education team to teach children how to behave with dogs and cats, and hopefully this is now filtering through to the older generation, although half-starved dogs full of ticks are still left at our shelter overnight.

Their eyes light up when they see us. They’re so trusting – even after what they’ve been through. We’ve encouraged the local authorities to take responsibility for street animals and slowly we’re seeing changes. Microchipping and registration is now law for all dogs.

The infrastructure is in place but isn’t enforced enough to make it work. To begin with, we were neutering dogs and cats in a garage on a kitchen table with a vet working for free.

Now we use private vet clinics but the cost is astronomical. Soon we’ll have our own neutering programme run by our own vet at our own clinic but we have to employ a Turkish Cypriot and there aren’t any looking for a job. We receive no government help, so we raise funds through events, our three charity shops and collection boxes.

Visitors to our centre sponsor cats or dogs for £10 a month, which is regular income. In May, we celebrated 20 years of KAR. We’ve achieved huge things – but there is still so much to do. When David and I arrived, we were looked at with amusement when we took our two German shepherds for a walk on leads.

Now local people walk their dogs on leads, proudly displaying smart collars. I’m sure KAR has had some influence in how people now respect their animals.”

For more details, visit kartrnc.org. Rescue rules Strict laws are in place for bringing animals into the UK.

For entry without the need to be quarantined, dogs and cats must have a pet passport, a rabies vaccination and (usually) should have been treated for tapeworm.

They also need to be microchipped (before the rabies vaccination, otherwise the jab won’t count) and travel with an authorised transport company on an authorised route.

Find out more at gov.uk/take-pet-abroad. Companies such as Airborne Pets (airbornepets.com, 01784 425303 or 0161 359 3914) provide a full import process for your pets, including the necessary UK import paperwork.

Rescue rules

Strict laws are in place for bringing animals into the UK. For entry without the need to be quarantined, dogs and cats must have a pet passport, a rabies vaccination and (usually) should have been treated for tapeworm. 

They also need to be microchipped (before the rabies vaccination, otherwise the jab won’t count) and travel with an authorised transport company on an authorised route.

Find out more at gov.uk/take-pet-abroad.

Companies such as Airborne Pets (airbornepets.com, 01784 425303 or 0161 359 3914) provide a full import process for your pets, including the necessary UK import paperwork.