The Barking Mad Story
All it took was one dog. One picture. One window into the suffering.
That dog was Pixie.
Pixie lived in a park in Bucharest, with her mum, brother and six other dogs. They were fed, vaccinated and neutered by a woman who wanted to help the park strays. The pack survived the best way they could. Winters were harsh. Their guardian built them a kennel and locals smashed it to pieces.
Then, in 2013, the law changed. All strays were ordered to be rounded up and killed. Pixie, like many others, found herself in a privately-owned shelter. Although safe from the dog catchers, Pixie had lost everything else. Her freedom. Her life. She stopped eating and couldn’t get used to life behind bars.
In desperation, the woman who had cared for Pixie in the park posted Pixie on Facebook asking for someone to take her away from Romania and give her the home she deserved.
Hilary Anderson and Alex Shipp took Pixie into their home in Scotland. And into their hearts.
Unable to stop at just one dog, Hilary rescued Elsa and Kirsty and started a Facebook page to help coordinate rescuing other dogs. Along with a Romanian rescuer, Hilary organised for Tiree, Lewis, Jura and Luca to be pulled from a state kill shelter and found them homes in the UK.
Barking Mad Dog Rescue was born.
Determined to find out more, in May 2014, a visit to Romania was organised. Nothing could have prepared the nascent Barking Mad team for the impact of seeing so many beautiful, affectionate dogs, all desperate for attention, crammed into a small shelter. Many were thin, all were full of ticks and fleas, and pups were dying.
The charity mobilised, determined to make a difference.
Since the charity started, over 3000 dogs have found new homes in the UK and Germany. Barking Mad feeds around 400 dogs every single day - between our own shelters, Coca's dogs in Calarasi, vilage dogs who rely on us and the dogs at the hoarding place, down the road.
See how you can help our shelter dogs here.