Bringing compassion across borders: Angela’s story

Previously involved in animal rescue in the USA, Angela Hockaday readily joined OSF on moving here

Angela shared with us: 

“It’s so good to visit people who don’t have a lot of interaction with others”

“I grew up in the USA and started volunteering with animal rescue at the age of 15.  I lived in several different states including Georgia, where animal rescue is a massive issue, with over-breeding and a very different attitude to pets leading to many being abandoned and euthanised. People there still abandon pets, and those in the military sector have a reputation for doing so which has led to an unfair assumption that all serving personnel do it. 

My husband, Paul, is stationed at RAF Lakenheath, Suffolk (the largest US Air Force base in the UK) and when we moved here in 2016 with our children who were six and eight years old at the time,  I could no longer foster cats as it is not allowed in our rented accommodation. But we can have our own pets, though, and so we have two dogs, a Basset Hound called Higgins and a Greek rescue dog, as well as two cats.  

Research into how I could help other animals led me to OSF, and what especially encouraged me to join as an AAA volunteer is that the charity really wants to keep pets in their own homes, and to achieve this, arranges fostering and other services for clients going into hospital or facing other difficulties. 

I started with dog walking, then for more than a year visited a client, Janet, with Higgins. Initially this was in her own home, and when she needed to go into a care home she didn’t move until assured that our visits could continue. Maintaining our fortnightly visits has helped her to transition to her new environment.  Higgins loves going there and gets excited when he knows we are getting ready to go. It’s so good to visit people who don’t have a lot of interaction with others.

Our other dog is younger than Higgins with a sweet temperament but for now is too excitable to visit.   I also used to flea treat a cat for its owner, and have helped Cats Protection with various tasks, as well as helping OSF with transport when I can.  As I work in a school cafeteria on Feltwell base I am not able to attend OSF training sessions as they are not convenient for me, and so far have been unable to join other volunteers when they meet in Mildenhall.  But it’s reassuring to be a member of the OSF community, knowing that I could call for help with my own pets if it were ever needed.

I am pleased to say that in the years I have been away, attitudes in Georgia have been changing, and going in the right direction. Better practices have been introduced and networks set up to help the state’s animals.”