Yorkshire couple help street dogs in Bulgaria

A North Yorkshire couple who moved to Bulgaria and set up a charity to help street dogs say they have rehomed more than 1,500 animals.

Former police officer Emma and commercial diver Anthony Smith left Skipton in 2013 and lived in the Dryanovo region, which was overrun with animals in need.

They set up the charity to help neuter the dogs and rehome as many as they could, with their story now being told in a new book.

Animal lover Emma said she was "a bit of a 'you either put up or shut up' kind of person" and took the plunge to become a full-time dog rescuer.

"I could see that there was a huge dog problem," Mrs Smith told the BBC, after they moved to Bulgaria.

"There was a hospital just up the road and there were 26 [dogs] constantly mating, fighting, [they were] starving, sick dogs."

"My husband and I are animal lovers, and we wanted to give something back to the country we'd gone to live in."

Along with Mr Smith, they set up Street Hearts BG, which had the aim of preventing unwanted puppies and reducing dog abandonment.

The non-profit venture is documented in a new book called Street Hearts.

The idea for the charity came about after Mrs Smith saw a larger dog trying to mate with a much smaller dog, leaving the animal in "fear".

They planned to "at least castrate some dogs so that there's not more misery on the street", but it soon developed into a full-time job.

The charity was difficult to set up as a foreigner, Mr Smith said.

"The local mayor provided us with some authority to collect street dogs and neuter them on behalf of the municipality, but it soon became apparent that that was not enough."

After seeking help from the Bulgarian government, it took 18 months to become a fully-fledged non-profit, but the couple say the wait was worth it.

"To date, we've sterilised over 4,000 dogs and rehomed 1,500 dogs, and continuing a free service for neutering for all dogs in our municipality," Mrs Smith said.

Since they started their work, the street dog population in the Dryanovo region had drastically shrunk, she added.

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