Blackpool is a hotspot for rehoming Romanian street dogs

The resort has been nicknamed ‘Rommypool’ by Noah’s Ark Romanian Rescue thanks to the large number of people signing up to rehome Romanian street dogs.

Some 22 dogs were welcomed into Blackpool homes last month.

Amy Crook, 36, who lives in Victoria Road, Thornton, and is the Blackpool co-ordinator for Noah’s Ark, said: “Romania has a huge stray dog problem. None of these animals are spayed or neutered, so that leads to a lot more homeless dogs.

“Every two weeks, the ‘happy bus’, which is a big white transit van with kennels, carries 40 dogs from Romania to the UK.

“Most of these dogs are rehomed by people who have seen the dogs on our website, so there’s a lot of trust there.

“Once the bus has come through customs in the UK it comes up the M6 and everyone comes to their nearest collection point to meet their dogs for the first time, and it’s always really emotional.”

Each Romanian street dog is fully vaccinated, neutered and microchipped before embarking on a three-day journey across Europe to reach the UK.

The cost of transporting each animal is around £290, which is paid for by the

adopters.

In the past two years, more than 100 former street dogs have been rehomed in

Blackpool.

Amy said: “This charity will rehome to families with children of any age. We do do home checks to see if it will be a safe environment for the dogs. That’s one of the reasons why it’s becoming so popular to rescue foreign dogs.

“All the fosterers’ faces glow when the dogs finally find a home. It’s an overwhelming sense of doing something good for these dogs. It takes a lot of time but I feel this is my calling.”

People can find out about adopting Romanian street dogs or volunteering as fosterers online by searching for 'Dog Rescue, Adoption and Rehoming in Blackpool and Lancashire' on Facebook.