ROO'S RESCUE STORY

1. Meeting Roo..

Roo's story started in October 2023..

I was on holiday in Barbados, staying at my partners family home taking each day as it came.. After a long day at the beach we returned home to find a tiny little puppy sat outside the neighbours house tucking into some food which had been put out for her.

She was clearly very skinny, too skinny!

I asked who's she was and the neighbour said that she'd got home from work and

found her outside, nobody knew where she came from. She was extremely

malnourished which made her legs look long and gangly and had big pointy ears

resembling a kangaroo. We nicknamed her Roo Roo (Ru Ru) that evening, and the name stuck!!

I've cared for street dogs in Barbados and other countries before and i always save any leftover foods and feed it to the dogs around, so with Roo on my mind, I'd wake up early every morning and go out to check she was ok and offer her some sort of breakfast! I'd always find her sleeping on the neighbours veranda, right outside the door. Despite how malnourished she was and how covered in ticks & fleas she was, she was the happiest little puppy, filled with energy and always happy to say hello.

There was lots of other larger free roaming dogs in the area which are known to fight and be aggressive and after witnessing some show dominance over little Roo and run at her while i fed her. I decided to lead her 30 seconds down the pathway onto the property i was staying at as there was no dogs in this area that would hurt her. She decided she liked it there and started sleeping under the house at night and hanging around in the garden during the day. She'd still run down the pathway when she heard something to see what was going on or hang out with the neighbours, but she quickly adapted to living in the company of us and even guarding the property like other dogs in the area did theirs.

2. The realisation..

After caring for little Roo and realising how she'd adopted us, i worried about her fate on the island and couldn't bare the thought of us one day not being there and her not knowing what happened. I know street dogs are robust but unlike others i've helped, she was so young, malnourished and frail. I wasn't confident she'd have much chance surviving. Especially seeing how some of the other dominate dogs in the area acted towards her. I asked around but unfortunately nobody wanted her and after reaching out to the shelters which are always full, there wasn't much hope.

I've always wanted a dog of my own and to help one in need has always been the dream but unfortunately i did not have the funds to bring Roo back home to the UK with me. Even though housing her wasn't the issue, it was the costs of everything entailed to get her flown from Barbados to the UK which i could not afford. It was very frustrating.

3. How it started..

A friend who was with me at the time suggested setting up a Gofundme page for Roo to raise enough money and although i was reluctant to set up a page and ask anybody for any money, there was nowhere for Roo to go and i couldn't bare the thought of leaving her to fend for herself on the island.. So i did it!

With a surprising positive response, it felt like giving Roo the home and life she deserves was finally a possibility! With absolutely no clue, i started researching what i had to do in order to bring her home! It took hours of scrolling through masses of text trying to break down and establish what the exact legal requirements were for dogs entering the UK, specifically from Barbados. What vet treatments and paperwork were needed, if she needed to quarantine, how to book her on a flight, then depending on the airline, what their specific requirements were for travel.. there was A LOT of information to process.

4. Stress

The first step was taking Roo to the vet. In order for dogs to arrive in the UK without quarantine, they need to have received a rabies vaccination no sooner than 21 days before their arrival.

21 days before i was due to arrive back in the UK was a Sunday and i was not able to take Roo to the vets until Monday which meant the earliest date she could leave the island was the day after my flight which i'd already had booked and could not afford to change.

At this point I didn't actually know how everything was logistically going to work out, i had faith in the universe and although time was against me, i did everything i could do make it possible hoping that I'd raise the money in time.

- The definition of winging it!

Roo got treated for fleas, ticks and worms and got a microchip which is also a requirement for dogs entering the UK. The vet suggested she was around 6 months of age by looking at her teeth which was a shock to me. She was so small i thought she was around 12 weeks! At 6 months old, people said she wouldn't grow much bigger, i knew that being so malnourished, most likely all her life, could have stunted her growth although, she could still grow with the correct nutrition.

I'd reached out to varius organisations which claimed to help/deal with the process of transporting pets with not much response. When sombody finally contacted me back, they quoted me a price which i knew was much higher than the actual costs. I know everybody needs to make money somwhow, however, i did not have money to spare and decided to figure it out by myself and save as much as possible. With everything so far so good, the realisation sunk in that Roo was likely coming home with me. I brought her a collar so people knew she had a home and a lead to familiarise her with lead walking and start basic training. Although she was sweet, she was very much a wild puppy.

I started driving her down to the beach every morning so she got used to riding in the car, exploring new places and walking on a lead. She was so good off the lead, she wouldnt wonder far and followed us wherever we went. I was with a group of friends/family at the time and she'd become one of the gang.

5. What's meant to be will be..

Time was running out and although i had the vet part of the process completed, i was struggling to book her onto a flight. I had no idea how to go about it or where to source a crate for her to travel in which met the airlines requirments, especially on such a small island with limited time. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of the online community, the fund raiser was gaining momentum and while donations were being made by people who wanted Roo to live a life she deserves, I was frantically contacting whoever i could to find out what i had to do to make it happen! I also had people i didn't even know contacting me who had been contacted by their friends, giving me numbers for people to contact.. all for Roo! It felt like a frantic panic of people desperately trying to somehow get Roo on a flight before i left the island.

Just as it felt like time was running out, i was put in touch with a woman who had previously transported 3 dogs from Barbados to the UK. She was amazing, she told me where i could get a crate and put me in touch with another incredibly kind and helpful lady who worked at the cargo place.

As Roo had to fly separately to me, she was classed as cargo which may of been why it was so difficult to book her on a flight as you cannot do this yourself and need an agent. After reaching out, I was luckily just in time emailed back and asked to bring Roo to the airport with her crate to be weighed and photographed in order to book her onboard..

Dog crates in Barbados are expensive, as i didnt have one yet, i had to get one quick!

It cost £250 from a store for a crate which met the airlines requirements. I brought it and arranged to get Roo weighed and photographed as soon as possible! There was still a lot more running around to do, with a last minute trip to the vets for a specific worming treatment required before travel, and a trip to the government vet for a final certificate,

I also had to find an agent in the UK who could clear Roo through customs on her arrival.

After managing to complete all the steps required which invloved me running around till the very last minute and painting the words 'LIVE ANIMAL' on her create whilst packing my suitcase.. The day of my flight leaving the island had finally come and i'd never felt so stressed.

I had to leave the island without Roo, even though everything was seemingly going to plan, it still didn't feel certain. I had to organise all Roo's things including a rope toy i'd brought her to have our shared scent along with various paperwork, attach it to her crate and say goodbye before jumping on a my flight.

Knowing i'd be pretty much useless from the UK, all i could do was hope that everything went smoothly. I was lucky that my friend who i was staying with has a flight leaving the island the next day which was the same day as Roo's so she was able to drop Roo off at the airport for me.

Because I was scheduled to arrive in London the day before Roo, i had to stay an extra night in London so i could collect her before heading back down to Cornwall. It was a very exciting yet extremely nerve racking! I just had to sit and wait while hoping everything went accordingly..

The next morning came and right on schedule, i got the call! Everything was ok, Roo was ok and we were good to go!

I jumped around the hotel room with joy and we went to collect her straight away!

We had to wait a while for her to come out but when she did, her tail was wagging and she was super excited to see us which was so amazing because it can be a stressful journey for them! We were not really prepared because we'd just returned from Barbados ourselves the night before, however she was happy to sleep on my lap for the next 5 hours while we drove to Cornwall.. It was a long journey for little Roo but she is so resilient and was more than happy to confidently explore the first service station we stopped, meet some people and woof down some food, she wasn't phased at all!

We got home and she settled in right away! Fast forward to today, she's still the happiest sweetest girl, just 5x the size and a whole lot healthier!

If you'd like to see more of Roo living her best life in the UK,

head to her instagram page @island_pup_roo