An animal rescue shelter in Co Fermanagh says it has been ‘saved’ after finally securing a new premises with weeks to go on its current lease.
Husky Salvation in Irvinestown currently houses 40 dogs and had been looking for a new premises for almost a year without any success.
Volunteer at the shelter, Johanne Judge, said the organisation may have had to shut up shop if it had not found the property.
“The house we were living in, the landlord decided he was going to sell it and we just couldn’t raise the £200,000 to buy it,” Johanne told MyFermanagh.
“We had been there for five years, and we had been looking for a place to move to since last year.
“We had been looking from then until now but nothing was coming up, but then a friend of mine started a social media appeal which then led to us securing our new home between Irvinestown and Dromore.
“It’s a huge relief and we have got this one for life, so we have no stress of ever having to move again.
“It has saved us for sure, otherwise we would have had to shut the doors and that would have been it.”
Johanne runs the shelter with the help of her daughter and a handful of other volunteers, and said it had been difficult to source a premises to house so many animals.
She added: “We’re not a huge rescue but we can rescue up to 40 dogs. Our main object at the start was rescuing huskies but then other people started asking about different breeds.
“We work on surrenders only, so when people have situations that they can’t deal with any more.
“At the moment we haven’t thought any further about our future plans other than just our main goal of getting in and getting settled and we’ll take it from there.”
