‘CHARITY begins at home,’ Leash of Life volunteers hear over and over. This is inevitably followed by the same barrage of questions: Why rescue dogs from Eastern Europe instead of tackling the growing stray problem here in Wiltshire?

“We just can’t stand by when animals are treated so horribly in other countries,” says Louise Reynolds, a dog groomer.

“People ask, ‘Why not English dogs?’

“The worst an English dog can hope for is euthanasia. In Romania, that’s the best they can hope for. They have very little chance to be adopted over there. There are all these horror stories coming through, you just can’t believe that people would do that. It’s heart-breaking.”

With alarming numbers of animals 'on death row' in foreign kennels, foster carers and adoptive families are needed to step up to the plate in Swindon.

Leash of Life was founded by Louise and fellow animal lovers Sharon Draper and Rachael Lepage in Trowbridge two years ago.

Until that point the women had volunteered with national charity Action Aid for Animals but a shocking, but by no means uncommon, incident at the Breasta public shelter in Craiova, Romania, in February 2014 prompted them to take their involvement with rescues abroad to the next level.

“They wouldn’t let local volunteers in the shelter for two days and when they finally let them in, they said they had put the dogs to sleep but there was blood everywhere," she said.

"They killed 800 dogs in two days. That’s when we got more involved.

"We just wanted to get the other traumatised dogs still left there out of that shelter.”

With the help of volunteers on the ground they started transporting animals who survived the massacre to the UK.

Before long they had a solid structure in place. Leash of Life now counts 10 foster carers and has rehomed more than 400 dogs in Wiltshire, Swindon and beyond since 2014.

“The problem is that shelters there are money-making businesses," said Louise.

"They get a certain amount of money from the government per dog they take in for food and vet bills but they don’t feed them or look after them. The money goes into the mayor of that town’s pockets. The dogs are not neutered, sick dogs are put in with the other dogs. The conditions they’re in are horrendous.”

The trio are now concentrating their efforts on two specific kennels in Romania.

“There’s a two-week policy in Romania before destroying a dog,” she sighs. “And they are very rarely destroyed humanely, some shelters poison, electrocute or gas them. It’s very distressing.

"One of them is small shelter we’re helping is not as bad as some. It’s not a ‘kill shelter’. But the problem is that the dogs are kept in horrible conditions; they are penned up all day, fights break out because of it.”

Dogs are taken in by volunteers on Romanian end of the operation (“They have crates and crates of animals, there are just so many abandoned dogs”, sighs Louise.) The animals are microchipped and vaccinated before being driven to the UK.

On arrival they must spend two days in quarantine. Louise and fellow foster carers across the region then pick them up at the nearest drop off point, either Guildford or Newbury.

Any potential adoptive home is thoroughly vetted by Louise or fellow volunteers.

If a prospective family lives out of the region, Leash of Life calls on a national home checking charity. The adoption fee is high at £200 but it scarcely covers transport, which on average adds up to £140, and veterinary bills.

New dogs are rescued every week by Leash of Life volunteers. As much as she wishes she could save every one of them, with a limited number of foster homes available, Louise has to follow a strict selection process.

She will not bring in aggressive animals, or dogs so traumatised they would never acclimatise to a new home.

“Dogs with too many issues are harder to rehome and we want to make sure we can rehome every dog we bring here," she said.

"You have to think quite harshly sometimes about how many you can realistically save. If you bring them in only to have them institutionalised again, it’s no life for them.”

Although she admits this is easier said than done.

“Sometimes their story gets you and you have to do something. You just have to do the best you can for them.”

Leash of Life recently started working with a shelter in Spain. To adopt a dog, become a foster carer to find out more about the charity go to leashoflife.wix.com/leashoflife or join the Leash of Life Facebook group.