By Ella Korlaki
For many people animal shelters and retreats are just organisations which help and rehome animals looking for a second chance at life. But for Keiran Watson and Romane Molle it’s so much more.
For these two people, helping animals is a long-term passion turned job that involves a lot more than meets the eye.
Watson, a highly energetic man with stiff dirty blond hair, bluey greenish eyes and a gentle, kind heart, always knew he wanted to help animals find their forever home but didn’t know where to start.
That was until he became the media advisor at the RSPCA.
The job meant lots of long hours consulting the RSPCA on media events and topics, but no two days
were the same.
Many early mornings and late nights were spent helping the shelter team with getting long-term animals
adopted by finding newsworthy angles on the stories.
On other days he would be helping out at fundraising events and on another he assists with taking people to court for animal welfare issues.
So, for Watson there was never a dull moment on the job. And he knew that with every puppy he helped get adopted or every event he was a part of he was changing not only an animal’s life but the owner’s life as well.
Similarly, Molle – a soft, petite girl with short, flowy brunette hair and brown eyes – a love of rabbits led her to start her own bunny retreat.
This venture started in the middle of COVID when she would find bunnies who were in poor condition or advertised as breeding stock being sold or given away on Facebook or Gumtree. Despite living in a small house, she would take them home and did what she could to help those poor rabbits.
From that moment she knew she wanted to help poorly misunderstood species to try and give them a new life.
What started as a bunny boarding company now is a fully fledged rabbit rescue service where Molle works with foster carers, people that need to surrender their pets and her most exiting job, finding forever homes for the little fluff balls.
Success stories are the most rewarding part of any animal shelter/retreat as it shows the hard work and determination which goes into giving an animal their forever home.
For Watson, his favorite success story was Lucifer, a goofy, gentle giant of a pitbull which had become a long-term resident at the RSPCA, spending nearly 500 days at the shelter.
This was because whenever people would hear the name Lucifer and see his size, they would feel intimidated and uncomfortable.
Watson thought a name change would be the first step in trying to find the “fluffy beast” a home. So, instead of Lucifer they named him Lucius, after Draco Malfoy’s dad.
He then took the story to The Daily Telegraph and pitched it to them as a feature filled with not only text and photos but also videos to show the interactions between Lucius and his foster carer at the time.
Watson hoped that doing this would help Lucius prove to the world that he wasn’t the scary, big, harmful dog that people were suggesting.
After pitching the story Watson found himself anxiously pacing his office. As the minutes turned into hours, he started to think of the worst. But then his phone started to ring. With sweaty, clammy hands he answered the phone and to his surprise The Daily Telegraph loved the story so much they sent someone out to the foster carer’s house to meet with the star himself. They spent the day filming the dog
tearing round the yard and giving lots of cuddles to all that wanted one.
After the story was published it received so much media attention that Lucius was adopted the next day.
He had gone from a dog with a devil-like name and a description that just said large dog to an animal sensation showing off his true, kind personality, making people fall in love with him and his story.
Being the owner of her own rabbit retreat, Molle has had many success stories. But her most memorable one was little frightened Bambi.
Bambi was found in a national park on a dull, sticky, rainy day by someone passing by. She was malnourished with a small rip in one of her ears, limping painfully on her front leg.
When Molle was taking care of Bambi she noticed she was incredibly shy and would get spooked very easily in the presence of people. When someone would try to pet Bambi, she would either sit there shaking or run away.
This painted even more of a picture of how unnecessarily hard Bambi’s life had been.
The walk to the clinic room inside the vet’s was long and never-ending. As Molle carried Bambi, she could hear the barks and cries of dogs and other animals as they passed each door. Taking a deep breath Molle hoped that everything would work out for little Bambi.
The vet found Bambi had a broken leg which was unrepairable and would have to be amputated in order for the rabbit to become healthy again.
After such a tough life of fending for herself out in the wild, and then having to learn how to walk with only three legs, Bambi made a phenomenal turnaround. And with some extra TLC she was learning to trust and love people again.
Molles’ next quest was to find a family for the precious Bun Bun. With lots of thought Molle found Bambi her forever home where she is loved and adored – with a little boy who begged his parents for a bunny.
Where is Bambi’s happy place?
Sleeping under her best friend’s bed…
So why are animal shelters and retreats so important?
That is the million-dollar question that people tend to ask themselves. Is their only priority to find animals forever homes or do shelters and retreats do more?
For Watson and Molle, the answer is “do more”.
While providing a forever home for abandoned animals is their focus, community involvement and education is also extremely important: all-age workshops, spay and neutering programs, partnerships with local vets and fundraising events.
The aim behind all these initiatives is to educate the community on the realities of owning a pet to help prevent animals being abandoned, surrendered or dumped, while also bringing communities closer together.
A passion project turned life mission is what Watson and Molle chose although sometimes it isn’t all sunshine and roses.
Shelters and retreats are charities relying on donations and funding for vet bills, food, transport and medication.
There is a constant battle to try and make ends meet. But for strong-minded people like Watson and Molle they will do anything in their power to help.
The fight for shelter/retreat animals to find their forever home is ongoing but with every milestone and achievement the animals are …
One step closer to forever.
Featured image: Lovable pitbull Lucius, re-homed by the RSPCA, smiling for the camera. Photo: Kieran Watson