On Tuesday 28 July 2009 I was paid a visit by Animal Welfare who were following up on a report sent to them regarding the animals kept at the Funny Farm. It was a very hard blow for me as people who know me, know that I have always put animals before everything else often to my own personal detriment. I struggled for many years to find the funds the keep the horses that I was constantly coming into contact with, and succeeded in setting up a proper NGO with a full working committee to finally be able to offload some of the workload.

I was also very careful to make sure that all funds coming into the Funny Farm where documented by my treasurer. No funds can be withdrawn by any member of the committee, including myself. For payments we have a chequebook account with which two signatures are needed. Contrary to what was written in sections of the media, I have continually stressed to people that I am not a dog sanctuary, but have to concentrate on horses, which are what my committee and myself are all about. Nevertheless I took in dogs that were found along the wayside or unwanted by their owners only to find that it worked against me in the long run. We have a total of 25 dogs at the farm. At least 16 of those dogs belong to people who help at the Funny Farm. I care for the remaining dogs. They include a fox terrier who was found staggering through Bidnija valley. We picked him up and took him to the vet who checked him over and found that he was suffering from sand-fly. He is now on the way to recovery but has to have his daily medication. Most of the dogs we have up at the farm have similar stories.

Again, I really must stress that we are not a dog sanctuary. Unfortunately when people call up and say they have found a dog etc. etc. and I say that we are not a dog sanctuary, I get a lot of harshness thrown in my direction.

Today was the hardest blow of all. Not only was I accused of undernourishing the dogs, but actually had photos shown to me of dogs that have sand-fly but were also successfully rehomed almost two years ago now. When Animal Welfare came up to the farm, the vet was not happy with a few of the dogs. Two of them were Rottweiller pups of just under a year old. Apart from one of them being sat upon by its mum at a few days old, suffering permanent hip and brain damage, both were diagnosed with sand-fly over two months ago for which they were receiving medication. The vet initially wanted the two pups taken away, but when he was told they were on medication, he changed his mind. I told them to go ahead and take them, knowing full well I was sentencing them to their death. However this was the second time in two months that I had a visit from Animal Welfare regarding the pups and I infact told them that the reports were not going to stop until the dogs were gone. People don’t care about what you are trying to do for the animals, or even offer to help. They can only criticise and put you down for doing your best to help and take in what others throw out.

So today I said goodbye to two young dogs, whose only mistake was to get sandfly. And to another rottweiler, whose owner decided to abandon her more than five years ago and was taken into the farm, only to find that after years of developing a trust in a human being, was being whisked off to a new life, or death because she was a rottweiller. Out of the five dogs that were taken away, at least I was assured that a young pup was set up with the AAA after many attempts were made to find him a home.

So now do you really believe it will end there? I think not. I believe that as long as there are people who feel that they can always do better, by criticising what others are trying to do, when in actual fact they should be offering aid, the world will never improve. There are lots of people like me who believe in the good of people and who don’t know the difference between a person who is truly on your side or one who is out to damage you. No matter how many times I get slapped across the face, I turn the other cheek. I believe in the good in people, and have always done so. Unfortunately, it hasn’t done me any good at all.

Sue Arnett

The Funny Farm Horse Rescue

Bidnija