A KIND-HEARTED and dedicated Evesham woman is set to receive a special award recognising her work in rescuing unwanted and abused dogs.
Pip Singleton, 48, set-up a charity in 1989 to care for abandoned, neglected and abused lurchers and greyhounds, dealing with up to 1,000 dogs every year and never turning away our four-legged friends that need her help.
Now she is set to collect the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s (IFAW) Animal Action Award for Dog Rescue at a glitzy event hosted by TV wildlife presenter Bill Oddie at the House of Lords on Tuesday (October 20).
For 20 years Pip has been working at Worcestershire Regulatory Services as a Dog Warden and Animal Welfare Officer often taking unwanted dogs home that would have otherwise been put down.
Speaking about her achievement Pip said: “I’m very pleased to be given this award from IFAW, but it’s just something that I have to do. No matter how much I give to the dogs they are so special they give me twice as much back.
“I was recently looking after an elderly dog that had been cruelly treated, but she had to be put to sleep. I was heartbroken but I never think of giving up as I know at least she didn’t die alone and I think about all the ones I might still be able to save.
“They might not all come running up to me for cuddles, but when they accept me and we break through the barrier of mistrust they have after being mistreated, that’s the deepest and most intense reward imaginable.”
As well as her day job and charity work Pip also organises a team of foster carers who volunteer to temporarily house the 45 dogs being cared for at any one time before they can be re-homed.
Philip Mansbridge, UK Director of IFAW, said: ” Pip’s dedication to dogs in her day job and at the charity she set-up has seen her rescue countless dogs over the years, many of whom would never have got a chance of quality of life otherwise.
“Pip is a brilliant example of animal welfare in action and she is a very deserving winner of IFAW’s Animal Action Award for Dog Rescue.”
