75,000 meals donated to animal charities

Hertfordshire based pet food brands, Barking Heads and Meowing Heads, are donating over 75,000 meals of their dog and cat food to a number of animal charities across the UK this month. Named after their canine mascot, ‘Bailey’s wet food giveaway’ hopes to raise awareness for the many pets bought as Christmas gifts who are abandoned early in the year and the pressure this put on animal rescue shelters, dubbed the annual ‘Christmas throw-out’. Barking Heads and Meowing Heads have visited several charities in their local area to hand over their donations, including Appledown Animal Rescue in Eaton Bray and the Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted branch of Cats Protection. Amanda Broome, who volunteers for the Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted branch of Cats Protection, explained: “January and February are the worst months for rescue centres; we call it the ‘Christmas throw-out’ as many people that aren’t used to the hard work involved in caring for cats or kittens make the difficult decision to give them away. "At the moment we have 31 cats in our care, but we have a long list of more waiting to be taken in”. Julie Shelton, centre manager of Appledown Rescue who has been taking in stray dogs for over 18 years, has said, “Our team are really pleased to receive this wonderful donation we received from Barking Heads. The dogs are going to enjoy their dinner tonight!” Barking Heads and Meowing Heads are now asking their fans to nominate charities on social media for their final two deliveries. For the two selected charities, they will then donate one meal for every ‘Like’ received on special Facebook posts next week. The campaign follows a series of charity giveaways in December, when the brand decided to give something back to those caring for animals over the festive season. Through contact with charities since this campaign, they have found that while the Christmas period is always a busy time, the hard work increases for these charities in the months following Christmas. Paul Hunter, co-founder of Barking Heads, has commented: “After organising a series of charity giveaways in December, the incredible response compelled us to continue our charitable work into 2017, especially as we learned more about the increases in abandoned pets post-Christmas. “We hope our efforts will shed light on this phenomenon, encouraging others to donate and also think carefully about welcoming a pet into their lives.” You can nominate a charity for the final two donations to go to by visiting the Barking Heads, Meowing Heads Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/BarkingHeadsandMeowingHeads), or by tweeting them at @BarkingHeads or @MeowingHeads.