A representative of a local animal sanctuary is highlighting how dogs, or any other kind of animal, should not be given as Christmas presents, as 10 of the 19 dogs they currently home were surrendered by their owners in the last month following the festive period.

Speaking to The Impartial Reporter on Friday, January 27, Diane Boyle, a trustee of Bright Eyes Animal Sanctuary in Ballinamallard who deals with rehoming and marketing, explained that just the day before, two puppies were surrendered to the charity.

“We had a lady who surrendered two puppies so they weren’t very old, probably about 10 weeks.

“We’re not there to judge anybody on the situation that they may have found themselves in but we do believe they could have come from unwanted Christmas presents.

“It’s a great idea maybe at the time but puppies are a massive responsibility. They are like babies and they take a lot of care,” she said, adding: “Literally just yesterday that just happened so we have foster families that have taken them because babies like that will need a lot of care and attention and to have them in the sanctuary probably wouldn’t be as as good as having them in a home.”

When asked how many dogs have been surrendered to Bright Eyes since Christmas 2022, Diane responded: “At the moment we have 19 dogs so I would say probably 10.”

Unwanted Christmas presents

To help avoid animals becoming unwanted Christmas presents, the sanctuary suspends rehoming over the festive period, resuming adoptions in the new year.

“A dog is not just for Christmas, so we would never really rehome before Christmas because we don’t want [an animal] to be a Christmas present.

“A dog is not a present. It’s a massive responsibility, a massive commitment. So that’s just always been our policy. Our founder, Pat Nolan, he set things in place whenever he established the sanctuary in 1989. I think that would be something that he would have always been a stickler about,” said Diane, going on to note that it is the 10th anniversary of Pat’s passing this year and to celebrate his life’s work, a memorial dog walk is taking place at Castle Coole, Enniskillen on Sunday, February 12 at 3pm and all are welcome to join.

Full to capacity

As the sanctuary is currently full to capacity, Bright Eyes has some dogs out on foster.

“This is something that we haven’t had until this year really,” said Diane, explaining that Bright Eyes volunteers would help by fostering the dogs.

“With fostering, there’s a rehoming donation that would be paid but the animals are still owned by the sanctuary. These people would just care for them, we would supply any food and any medication or whatever they need. Then when they’re ready to be rehomed, we would put them up for adoption.”

Support

Grateful for the support of volunteers at Bright Eyes, Diane said: “Volunteers come up and walk the dogs and help with cleaning, it’s just constant.

“They donate whatever time they can, there’s no set times but we are very, very blessed to have them.”

Commenting that the cost of living crisis is having an impact on the rehoming of dogs, Diane explained: “The cost of living crisis is definitely something that we’re seeing. People just cannot maybe manage financially and are worried about vet fees so that’s stopping us getting dogs adopted as well.

“They are worried about taking on an animal that maybe they aren’t going to be able to vaccinate and everything else.

“So we’ve actually reached out to the Food Bank in Enniskillen as well because we’re keen that maybe if we have extra donations of dog food or cat food, that maybe we could liaise with them and help families in that way. Obviously we have to look after the sanctuary as well but if we have extra, we’re more than willing to help.”