Shrewsbury woman's love saves life of rescue dog in Bucharest
As a woman committed to the rescuing of dogs from eastern European countries, Debbie Mowl thought she had seen it all.
She has spent months fundraising, collecting items and shipping them over to Romania to help the thousands of street dogs who live rough and are cared for by volunteers.
Some of the dogs make the journey to the UK to be fostered by Debbie and her husband Kevin, a 48-year-old salesman, who live in Shrewsbury before finding permanent homes.
But when 54-year-old Debbie first laid eyes on on a small black and tan dog huddled in a cage she knew she had to do more than just her normal efforts.
"Everyone knows me as the lady who raises funds and fosters dogs from Romania," said Debbie
"I only ever support a particular group over there with the country being so corrupt, but one day on Facebook I saw the photo of this poor dog squashed up in a cage. There was something about her eyes that I felt were begging me for help and I knew I had to do something.
"It took me a few days to find out where she was and how to get her taken 300 miles to Bucharest to a vet fiend.
"My intentions were to get her prepared for travel and to bring re over here to Shropshire where she would live with me while I could find her a forever home like I do with the others I bring over. But this was not to be."
The dog, who Debbie had named Crystal, was found to be a very poorly.
Debbie said: "I spent the next four months fundraising to enable her to have the best treatment I could get. I would phone the vets in Bucharest every day to how she was and most of the time I was told she was at death's door. The vet said there was not much hope of her surviving.
"But she did to everyone's amazement. This would not have been possible without all the donations I received which went towards her care. They came in from all over the world including America, Canada, Austria, Australia and Romania.
"And she survived and is now with me in the UK and will be staying with me forever. As you can tell, this has been a very emotional journey for us all.
"I have people that now stop me in the street to meet her as she has got to many people's hearts. So many people have followed her story on Facebook and the support I have had from the people in Shrewsbury has been amazing."
