Breaktime read

A First World War dog ambulance funded by Mrs Elphinstone Maitland of Connecticut, USA.

DID YOU KNOW?

Blue Cross estimates that it has helped a staggering 38 million lives.

A Blue Cross Fund wounded war dogs poster.

English law may have only recently recognised animals as sentient beings, but there have always been those who have considered the needs of animals and helped people in less fortunate circumstances to care for their animals.

This year, the Blue Cross charity celebrates its 125th anniversary and we look back on a journey which mirrors that of wider society, refl ecting our changing attitudes and a deepening bond with the animals that share our lives.

The charity was initially founded as the ‘Our Dumb Friends’ League’ (ODFL) to help working horses in London, who were often underfed, carried heavy loads, and were prone to injury on the slippery asphalt roads.

In 1900, it supported dog owners who could not afford to pay a licence fee, which could result in them having to give up their pet. The dog licence remained a legal requirement until 1987.

It also ran a scheme loaning water troughs to shops and homes to provide refreshment to passing dogs during hot weather.

In 1906, the charity opened its fi rst animal hospital in Victoria, central London, treating working animals and pets whose owners could not afford private veterinary care; it was thought to be the fi rst of its type in the world.

Its symbolic blue cross fi rst featured when the ODFL raised funds to help animals during the Balkan War of 1912. A fl ag bearing a blue cross on a white background was used on the fi eld of battle to indicate facilities for injured animals, as opposed to the red cross for humans.

At the start of the First World War, the charity set up hospitals near the battlefi elds of Belgium and France, treating injured horses, dogs, and other animals used during the confl ict.

Horses were indispensable for both the cavalry, and for pulling gun carriages, wagons, ambulances, and munitions trucks. Dogs acted as messengers and carried fi rstaid equipment on their backs.

Not surprisingly, by the end of the war, many soldiers had formed bonds with dogs they had befriended. When the time came for them to return to Britain, many found they could not afford the fees for the required six-month quarantine. The ODFL acquired kennels at Charlton, South London, and turned it into a dog quarantine station. A total of 285 dogs from France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Mesopotamia (now Iraq) were received there — free to their soldier owners. The start of the Second World War saw animals at home suffer. Many were abandoned when people fl ed cities for the relative safety of the countryside. When the bombing started, those who stayed often lost their pets. Disorientated by the noise and devastation, the pets would escape and be unable to fi nd their way home.

The ODFL stepped in, collecting stray animals and rescuing them from bombed out buildings. Newspaper appeals were launched to fi nd owners or secure temporary homes. The charity also produced white ‘saddle cloths’ for dogs to wear that enabled them to be seen during blackouts.

The Victoria Animal Hospital continued to work around-the-clock treating sick, injured, and frightened animals throughout the war. The Charlton kennels, used to quarantine befriended dogs in the First World War, became a refuge for the pets of servicemen and women called to serve overseas.

The charity has always campaigned to raise awareness and improve the lives of animals. In 1949, it took up the plight of council tenants banned from keeping pets, resulting in an agreement that enabled pet ownership. In 1955, the ODFL offi cially changed its name to Blue Cross.

In 1991, it launched a Pet Bereavement Support Service to support owners who had lost a pet or had to hand over an animal due to a change of circumstances. Blue Cross also became the fi rst animal charity to employ a dog behaviourist to address behaviour issues in rescued dogs and improve their chances of being rehomed. During the covid pandemic, it launched a helpline to assist the nation’s pets and their owners in managing changes to their home environment. Protecting people and their pets

The rebuilt Victoria Animal Hospital was opened by Her Majesty the Queen in 2001, and the charity now has four animal hospitals, fi ve pet-care clinics, and 11 The Blue Cross marks its 125th anniversary this year. Alison Gallagher-Hughes DID YOU KNOW? The charity plans to help rehoming centres across the UK. It recently launched an appeal to raise £40,000 to support people and their pets fl eeing across the borders of Ukraine. To date, it has raised over £150,000 and this looks at the history of a charity devoted to animal welfare. more than 120,000 pets over the next three years through its rehoming, clinical, education, and behavioural support total continues to rise; visit www.bluecross. org.uk/blue-cross-ukraine-pet-welfare-fund Kerry Taylor, education manager at Blue Cross, refl ected: “We are very proud of our heritage and the work the charity does. We are needed today more than ever, with pet services. theft, online scams, and impulse purchase from unscrupulous sellers.” Despite changing times and the growing bond between people and their pets, there is still a need for the valuable work that Blue Cross undertakes, to protect people and their pets and, in turn, bring more people and pets together. BLUE CROSS MEDAL In 1940, the fi rst Blue Cross medal for pets was awarded to a dog called La Cloche, who saved her French sailor owner after he fell overboard. La Cloche dragged him to the safety of a raft where he was rescued by his crew. Great Dane Juliana is the only pet to have been awarded the medal twice. She fi rst won it in the Second World War after miraculously extinguishing an incendiary bomb during the Blitz. Three years later, she was awarded the medal again, after alerting customers to a fi re ripping through her owners’ shop.

Second World War soldiers are reunited with a German Shepherd at the Charlton kennels.