Latest news with #NiallHarbison
CNN
a day ago
- General
- CNN
‘A miraculous journey': How chance encounter with a stray dog inspired Thai rescue group
Author Niall Harbison joins CNN's Fredricka Whitfield to share his remarkable story of redemption after a chance encounter with a stray dog, Tina, in Thailand.
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Examiner
Neglected and mistreated 'street dogs' around the world.... and the man working to save them
It all starts, as so many dog rescues do, with my WhatsApp pinging. A picture message. I don't recognise the number it's been sent from, it's not from a friend or a member of the family back home. So I can be pretty sure that the image I've received will be of a dog — and it's probably not going to be a cute 'awww' kind of one. In those few milliseconds as I wait for it to download, there's a familiar sense of dread of whatever's coming next. It wasn't long after getting sober that my mission to save the street dogs in Thailand began. I've grown used to the fact that I'm like the fourth emergency service out here. For humans there's the fire, ambulance and police services — for dogs, however, well, it's fair to say I've become the go-to in that department. It seems to take an age for the image to become clear. Living in Koh Samui, a tropical island off the east coast of the country, has many wonderful things going for it — clear blue skies, fluffy white clouds and luscious jungles to explore. It even has some of the fastest WiFi in the world but today it was taking forever. A little anxiety seeds in my tummy. Come on then, how bad will it be? You'd imagine I'd get hardened to seeing upsetting pictures of mistreated animals after all this time. Some are cruelly abused by humans, others were just unlucky enough to be born. Unwanted and unloved by anyone. Suffering, because the world just isn't always fair. Yet despite all the horrible states I've found animals in, I never get desensitised. I'm a big softie I suppose, there's always something that can still shock me, make me wince, or induce flashes of utter fury sometimes. (Never aimed at the poor wretched animal. I'm only ever angry at the humans who've neglected them — or, worse, maliciously inflicted the damage. Or just society as a whole for not caring as we should.) Niall Harbison: "Tina had spent so many unhappy years being used for breeding puppies, which had completely worn out her body." A first look at Tina As the picture on my iPhone finally crystallises with definition, turning from a blurry shape into a clear photograph, I see it's a dog on a chain. The fur is fair, thin and matted in places, while sparse in others; there's some expanses of sore-looking skin exposed. I peer closer and notice the poor thing has been lying in its own toileting. Eugh. But the dog's face is long and noble somehow, and poking out from the fur obscuring the poor thing's vision are the most vulnerable-looking dark eyes I've ever seen. The expression is of complete dejection, one of the saddest-looking animals I've ever seen. I groan audibly and put my head in my hands briefly. It is impossible to tell the breed of the mutt from the picture, and let's be honest the 'breeds' in Thailand are way more loosely based on the intended breed. Most of the dogs out here in Koh Samui are a mix-up of all sorts as they've haphazardly mated on the street and multiplied (and multiplied, and multiplied …). All sorts of doggy DNA exists, born by accident and not design. And in my opinion they're just as beautiful as any pooch who might be showcased at glamorous dog shows like Crufts in the UK or the National Dog Show in the US. And their life is every bit as valuable. I just wish there weren't quite so many of them. I read the rest of the text that follows the picture. This particular poor mite had been spotted by a tourist in the mountains earlier that morning. That part of the island isn't one I was so familiar with. I have to admit, I still don't know every corner of Koh Samui. (The fact that for the first couple of years of living in this paradise I was mostly steaming drunk definitely didn't help me in that regard.) I rub my eyes again. God, I'm knackered. I want my dinner, I want a shower, and I want to curl up on the sofa with my own dog Snoop. But this is one of those moments when you just know you have to drop everything. Just go, Niall. I know in every bone of my body that here is a dog in dire need; he or she simply could not spend another night in that miserable dirty state. Whoever it belongs to, and however it got there, I need to go and help it. Immediately. Why opt for sterilisation Spring was fast approaching and Tina had long settled in and had really seemed to be thriving. She was well enough, we decided, to have a sterilisation operation. It was espe cially important to have that taken care of now that she was out and about having fun and socialising with other dogs on our walks. Tina had spent so many unhappy years being used for breeding puppies, which had completely worn out her body, getting the operation was particularly symbolic and a start of a better future ahead. Dogs can't talk to us but they can to each other. You can clearly see Hank here looking on and telling her it'll be ok here. And it's clear Chance knows that too. Hank is my secret weapon 🥰🙏 (7/7) — Niall Harbison (@NiallHarbison) May 27, 2025 I felt incredibly proud of her as I got her ready to be sent off to the vets, like we did with all the others. It was hard to know exactly how old she was, to tell you the truth, but the vet guessed around eight, which meant she could still technically get pregnant, and that was the very last thing Tina needed — or any of us for that matter. It might seem like a small footnote in the bigger scheme of things for Tina, but it still felt like a significant moment of closure for this wonderful lady. 'Don't you worry, angel,' I kissed her affectionately on her wet snout before she went under the general anaesthetic. 'We're just making sure you never have to have another puppy in your life again.' Not only would her ill health not have coped with a pregnancy, but I felt she deserved to just focus on being a dog for the first time in her life, and sharing all the amazing love and affection she had to give. To be very precise Tina was the 521st dog we have sterilised since starting this mission to solve the street dog problems in Thailand. And yes, I really do keep count of each and every one, as it just means so much to me. I used to keep a count in my head but now I've developed a helpful spreadsheet. I know their little quirks, like who doesn't like the rain, or who needs their skin checked during the wet season. When a dog is walking a little gingerly, I can look at them and know if it's serious or not. If they are a little underweight or need to see a vet. I don't have kids but I guess this is a similar way parents would know through intuition about their kids. With 80 dogs to look after, I know the odds are stacked against me in terms of keeping them all healthy and alive, but they are my pride and joy. I think of it as having 80 pets that happen to live on the streets. Street dogs across the world I think there's 500 million street dogs in the world — that's more than the population of America — and I want to halve that in my lifetime. Sounds crazy, but I think I can do it, and I'm really proud of the fact that we now have eight other partners in three countries, not just Thailand but Sri Lanka and Indonesia, too. Until as recently as 2022, I wasn't even aware of what neutering was. In the space of just two and half years, we have amazingly reached 90-95% coverage of dogs sterilised here on the island of Koh Samui. We can never get to having 100% of the dogs sterilised in any given area because some locals won't allow their dogs to be done; there are still, sadly, some dog breeders who want to make money from puppies, and dogs are still being brought in by workers. But we've stopped a vast amount of unwanted, unloved and uncared lives being brought into this world. Tina: The Dog Who Changed the World (HarperCollins) is out now @NiallHarbison
CBS News
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Dog rescuer and author Niall Harbison brings book tour to Chicago
Viral dog rescuer and author Niall Harbison brought this book tour to Chicago on Monday. A long line of dog lovers and their dogs wrapped around "City Lit Books" in Logan Square for a book signing. Harbison shares his journey to save street dogs on social media. His Instagram account is followed by over 1.4 million users and features the dogs with their adoption stories. He said this work saved him from alcoholism and depression. His latest book, "Tina the Dog Who Changed the World," tells the story of a golden retriever named Tina he rescued in Thailand. Harbison found Tina was shackled to a short chain and in poor health. Proceeds from the book will help build a veterinary hospital in Thailand, named after Tina.
Daily Mirror
18-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mirror
I was an alcoholic who saved an abused dog - until the unthinkable happened
After hitting rock bottom, Niall Harbison started rescuing street dogs in Thailand. Then he found an emaciated golden retriever who embraced her freedom after life on a chain… Moving to Thailand and giving up everything to care for stray, starving and abused dogs wasn't on Niall Harbison's bingo card seven years ago when he was running his own business in Manchester. But suffering from depression, alcoholism and seasonal affective disorder (SAD), he knew he needed a life change, and after visiting the South East Asian country a few times before, he decided to make the leap. 'I'm quite impulsive,' says Niall, 45, from Tyrone, Northern Ireland. 'I sold my business so I had a little bit of money. The idea was to relax and find something to do. I came here to escape the rat race and get healthy. But when I got to Thailand I had nothing to do, there was nobody to tell me not to drink so I drank every day for more than a year. "It was a combination of things - I broke up with a girlfriend who moved here with me, it was covid and everyone was drinking a lot. I was stuck in the house with nothing to do - I always like to be busy and I had no purpose. All those factors came together.' He was living on the paradise island of Koh Samui, yet Niall was just stuck inside, drinking. 'I drank myself nearly to death,' he says. After being rushed to hospital, where he was treated in the ICU ('they were pumping me with drugs as it's dangerous to detox too quickly'), he had a series of revelations about his life. 'When I was nearly dying, I thought that no one's going to care or remember you if you didn't do anything worthwhile. I realised that money and fancy possessions don't really matter. I knew that, if I survived this, I wanted to do something worthwhile. The things that had flashed in front of my eyes were memories of playing football as a kid, and my dog. " Dogs were a huge thing for me as a child and as soon as I got my first house when I was 33, I got a dog the next day. He was a labrador-cross called Snoop - he came to Thailand with me.' (Snoop died last year). In early 2021, once Niall was healthy again, he started stopping to feed the odd stray dog. 'There are a lot of dogs in this part of the world,' he says. 'One day, I fed one in the middle of nowhere but then I thought, 'who's going to feed this dog tomorrow? So I went back to that one dog and noticed more, so it started organically like that.' He didn't realise but that was the start of Happy Doggo, a charity dedicated to helping neglected and mistreated street dogs, that now employs 18 people, including a vet, with the goal of saving 10,000 dogs a month. Dedicated fans of Niall and his charity's work are gripped by the stories he shares on social media to his 1.8 million followers, showcasing the animals' incredible transformations from skin and bones at the point of rescue to looking sleek, happy and well-fed, often heading off to their forever homes (Liam Gallagher adopted one, Buttons, who'd been abandoned as a puppy). 'I put the stories online to share some positivity. Everyone is sick of wars and the cost of living. It's all bad news and I try to put something positive out there and that's resonated with people.' Each rescue is given a celebrity name, with Cindy Crawford, Britney, Emma Stone and Tom Cruise all wagging their tails and melting hearts at Happy Doggo's sanctuary. But Niall says, 'There was no big magic plan. I was feeding and doing my own thing. I had no social media at that stage and my friends and family were always worried about me. I started sharing the videos on Instagram for them and it snowballed.' The number of dogs he helped also rose. 'It was step by step - I started feeding 40 dogs, not crazy expensive - I started cooking for them and making cheaper food with rice and chicken. Then it was 60, and it got up to 80 dogs everyday. It was eating into my savings but it was giving me such a big sense of purpose. It was very fulfilling. 'The dogs would come running and follow my moped. It was the first time in my life that I felt reliable - I was so conscious of the fact that they were relying on me. Then I learned more and realised that they needed to be sterilised. I also realised that they were sick. I needed somewhere to take the very sick dogs so I built a sanctuary in the jungle.' By the end of 2022, Niall was able to help dogs who needed more than a regular meal - those being mistreated, starved and forced to breed relentlessly. Then a few months later he heard about a horribly neglected golden retriever used for breeding. She ended up inspiring him so much that he has written a book in her honour, Tina: The Dog Who Changed the World. 'A tourist had driven past her, DM-ed me her location on Instagram. I went to see her owners who don't want to lose face so they said, 'she got hit by a car, she's got some internal issues'. We asked, 'can we take her?' and never heard from them again.' He called her Tina after Tina Turner - 'the blonde spiky hair fit perfectly,' he smiles. 'You could tell she was amazing. But at the start she was terrible - on a chain and emaciated. In those days I didn't know what to do with starving dogs and I gave her a big meal to get some food in her belly. She started bloating - I had fed her too much and I nearly killed her.' He took Tina to the vet but Niall admits, 'I didn't think she'd make it. I thought we were taking her away to die. The first few days were touch and go, then I thought she might live a week or two. 'She was starved, she had terrible skin - very bad mange - and blood disease from ticks that suck their blood and give them tick fever. She was probably about eight or nine but she'd had a tough life, which makes it hard to tell her age.' But defying all odds, Tina got better. She started following Niall everywhere, smiling and wagging her tail. 'She was like a golden retriever in a movie,' he says. 'It felt like the first time she had freedom. She wasn't aggressive - she loved people so much. 'I didn't need to put a lead on her, she'd try and sit as close to you as possible - a real lap dog. Even though she'd had so much trauma and all her babies taken away, she didn't have an ounce of badness in her. From day one, I had her in my house to make sure she wouldn't die on her own. She'd sleep in my bed, on my head sometimes! 'For three or four months she was bubbly and looking great, and then we got the call after taking her for a routine check-up. I can still remember it: stage four kidney failure, which means you've got a couple of months at best. 'It was a result of her body being battered over the years - it all caught up with her. She had made it so far and had tasted freedom and got that blow. It was a bitter pill to swallow.' In August 2023, Tina died. She had been with Niall for six months, surviving just two more months after her diagnosis. 'She lived more in those six months than anyone could have. We took her everywhere on adventures, it was a wonderful end to her life.' Tina, says Niall, is the 'driving force' behind Happy Doggo, which now feeds 1,200 street dogs a day and rehomes dogs around the world. 'It's a constant battle and I never give up feeding the dogs. I do that every morning. That's why I got into it and that's what I love.' Niall's mental health has improved. 'I haven't drunk for four years,' he says. 'But I still suffer from depression. Not like before - it never goes away - but it's much better.' And Tina's attitude inspires Niall to this day. 'There are times when I think about giving up or taking a break but she makes me push on. I think of her face when I feel stressed. Thinking of her and her suffering gives the whole thing purpose and a mission.
CNN
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
‘A miraculous journey': How chance encounter with a stray dog inspired Thai rescue group
Author Niall Harbison joins CNN's Fredricka Whitfield to share his remarkable story of redemption after a chance encounter with a stray dog, Tina, in Thailand.
