00:00 It's so important that we keep these pets with their people. They're often the last
00:08 link that they might have to their former life before they became homeless. They can
00:12 be their only source of companionship and warmth and they're often looking after their
00:17 pets better than they're looking after themselves. We've seen that over and over again. So it's
00:22 very important that they're not marked down as voluntarily homeless because they've got
00:26 a companion.
00:27 Being asked to imagine someone experiencing homelessness may call forward the mental image
00:32 of a person accompanied by a dog. In fact, researchers found pets can be an important
00:37 stepping stone back to independent living, as well as providing vital services such as
00:41 medical and mental health care for the homeless. But out of the more than 2,000 homeless hostels
00:47 here in the UK, only around one in ten provide accommodation for both pet and owner.
00:52 I think the reason that hostels are not accepting pets or historically have not been accepting
00:58 pets is just they've probably had a bad experience. Something has happened and it's just going
01:03 to put them off or they're being told, the computer says no, we don't accept pets without
01:08 actually really looking into what the benefits would be of starting to accept pets but also
01:13 what can be done to help them to do so.
01:16 Latest data reveals there's been a 10% increase in the use of these hostels since 2022. But
01:22 with as many as one in four homeless people having a pet, thousands are being turned away
01:26 at the door. But now Street Vets and Tails.com have partnered to provide more shelters and
01:31 staff the training necessary to be accessible to more people.
01:35 So it's a full support service. So they'll come in and they'll provide training for the
01:39 hostel management and staff on how to accommodate dogs, troubleshooting, answering the kind
01:46 of frequently asked questions of what should I do if X, Y or Z occurs. They'll also provide
01:51 backup support. So free medical care is part of the service with Street Vet. So these dogs
01:56 will be vaccinated, microchipped, you know, flea and worm treatment given, any health
02:01 issues will be looked after. If the owner maybe needs medical care, you know, we can
02:08 offer a boarding service either with boarding kennels or veterinary clinics who are part
02:12 of the scheme as well.
02:14 As it stands, when an owner refuses to give up their pet for a room, they're marked as
02:17 voluntarily homeless. It's an issue many of us can sympathise with, putting ourselves
02:22 in another's shoes. 44% of us would prefer to sleep rough rather than relinquish our
02:28 beloved animals.
02:29 The difficulty, I mean, in terms of if they have a pet is to contact us. So we have obviously
02:34 outreaches in 18 locations across the UK, but we will also help people who are out of
02:40 area if they need support with their pet. In terms of sort of getting off the street
02:47 over the winter, the best thing really is to contact StreetLink, which they basically
02:53 will look to make sure that they locate that person and then try and get them off the street.
02:58 But if they have a pet, I'm not going to lie, it can be more difficult.
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