When Harry met Scruffy

We received a lovely story from Kyrenia Animal Rescue (KAR) which had been published by Animalcouriers on their website and we felt it was so nice we would like to share it with our readers to show that animals can get a loving home and live out their years with people who care.   This is the story –

By Animalcouriers UK

” Teresa and her family have adopted Harry, a Cyprus Poodle they met while on holiday in North Cyprus last year. He was taken care of by Kyrenia Animal Rescue (KAR) until he could travel and Animalcouriers arranged for him to fly to the UK via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines, and he is now learning how to live with the family’s five cats.

Teresa told Animalcouriers how she and her family met Harry, and how Harry is connected to Scruffy, who now lives in Jersey.

A stray dog was living on our neighbour’s patio. We said we would feed and look after him until KAR could collect him. One evening we discovered the cleaner of the apartments trying to bundle the poor dog into his car so that he could dump him in the hills! To cut a long story short, intervention occurred and the dog came to stay with us. KAR rang the following week with the good news that he had a new, permanent home in Jersey – and a new name, Scruffy. We agreed to keep Scruffy until the end of the week, which was when Harry turned up.

The day we took Scruffy to KAR’s rescue centre to prepare for his journey, Harry jumped in the car too. When we arrived at the rescue centre the dogs’ barking made Scruffy very nervous. Harry remained calm and helped us accompany Scruffy into the office. That was the last we saw of Scruffy — until his story appeared on the Animalcouriers blog!

When our holiday came to an end we left Harry boarding with Margaret from KAR.  Although we were sad to leave him behind, we could see that he was going to be well cared for and was very happy with all the other dogs. We went back to see him during the school half-term and spent a lovely week with him. Again it was sad to say goodbye, but he was happy to go back into Margaret’s care.

By this time we had of course decided to adopt Harry and on 9 January Margaret took him to Ercan Airport. This was a significant day for North Cyprus as it was snowing! Miraculously the flight left on time and Harry landed on time at Heathrow. When he was led out from the Animal Reception Centre he was very relaxed with his tail wagging. He sat next to me in the car like a co-pilot for the whole journey home, keeping a close eye on the road.

Harry has settled in well, has been out in the snow, gone swimming and been on lots of long walks. As you can imagine, the odd bath has been necessary for our white and fluffy hound as he continues to live up to the nickname that Margaret gave him – Mr Muddy Paws – as wherever there is mud or a puddle, Harry is straight in it!  Our son Alex is delighted to have Harry home, and wherever we go everyone knows Harry and his story, so he is becoming quite a local celebrity.

The whole experience with KAR and their staff, Margaret, and Animalcouriers has been wonderful, with communication channels always open whenever needed.  So a very big thank you from us all and especially Harry! To top it all, Scruffy’s owner and I are now in touch on Facebook.”

What a lovely story, so very touching and with such a happy ending. 

In recent years Chris has written articles about Animalcouriers and he named them The Ice Road Truckers as on one of their first journeys across Europe they encountered the worst possible weather and were delayed time and time again by snow.  They had to keep changing their route but they eventually arrived in the UK with their canine and feline cargo safe and sound to the delight of their new owners who were overjoyed to see them again and take them to their new homes. Read the account of the Ice Road Truckers adventure by clicking here

There has been a very close association over the last few years between Animalcouriers UK and Kyrenia Animal Rescue and many unwanted dogs and cats have been transported to the UK to new homes.  Long may it continue.

To read more of the wonderful work of Kyrenia Animal Rescue and Animalcouriers click on these links :

KAR  :  click here

Animalcouriers  :  click here 

By Margaret Sheard