A dog owner faces a race against time to pay thousands to have her pet returned to her.
Sarah-Loiuse Heslop's dog Bailey came over from Ukraine with an animal charity. Now, she is trying to raise up to £3,000 or her new pet could be put down, reports Cheshire Live.
Bailey was brought to the UK from the heavily-bombed city of Lviv through an animal charity. But just as he was beginning to settle in with her at her home in Wilmslow, there was a knock on the door.
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The marketing manager, 49, says officials sent on behalf of the Department for Food, Agriculture and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) were at her doorstep explaining they needed to seize Bailey and take him into quarantine. She says she was told that she would need to pay for his kennelling and vet treatment, otherwise he could be destroyed.
Sarah-Louise said: "Defra has relaxed the rules for refugees' dogs - which is great - and said they have to quarantine for three weeks in their new homes, and that the costs would be covered. But they've not made the exception for our dogs, which came over with a rescue organisation."
Bailey was one of around 24 dogs who had made the gruelling 50 hour journey from Ukraine through Poland and then finally on to homes in various parts of the UK. Sarah-Louise got him home on March 20 and while he was timid, over the next week he began to settle in.
Then on March 26, the officials turned up. According to Sarah-Louise, she was told that the results of rabies tests that were conducted in Germany were "fraudulent", and so were not valid. She said she was then told that if all the costs of his quarantine, vets' bills and transportation could not be covered, Bailey would have to be destroyed.
Particularly worrying for Sarah-Louise is that the dogs - having travelled so far from Ukraine to their new homes - are now being boarded in various places around the country. Bailey is in Berkshire, but she said she knows of one dog that was taken all the way from the Shetland Islands to Southampton.
She estimates Bailey, a cross breed, is between two and three years old, but some of the other dogs are just puppies. She added: "They're going to be missing all that time that they should be getting trained and socialised."
The dogs were brought to the UK by Staffordshire-based charity Paws Help UK. It had no idea that the tests that were done in Germany were not legitimate, and its founder Elina Oliferuk said if it had known the paperwork was not valid, the charity wouldn't have placed the dogs with their new owners.
Christine MiddleMiss, UK Chief Veterinary Officer said: "Checks have confirmed that these animals did not receive the necessary blood tests to enter the UK. We are taking quick action to limit the risk of disease spreading by quarantining all animals involved in this case until further notice.
"We are grateful for the cooperation of the households involved and would encourage the public to contact us with any information they may have. Animals without the correct vaccinations pose a real disease threat to both our own beloved animals and to people whilst also impacting the rabies-free status we have held for many years."
Sarah-Louise is now looking to raise around £3,000 towards bringing Bailey home. You can support the fundraising effort here.
