For over fifteen years I visited Jamaica for holidays, captivated by the island’s beauty and the warmth of its people. But over time I began to notice something that stayed with me long after I flew home. In many areas, poverty has created heartbreaking conditions for animals. Dogs are often left to suffer without food, medical care, or even kindness. Some are neglected. Others are abused. Many are simply forgotten.
During one visit, I came face to face with that reality, and it changed my life.
While on an e‑bike tour through a remote hillside, I passed a run‑down shack. Two tiny puppies were tied to a tree outside, their ribs showing. A third dog — a little brown one — wandered nearby, thin and weak, and followed me for the rest of the tour. Back at my hotel I couldn’t eat. The next day I brought food and water back to them, and the day after that. But I knew it wasn’t enough.
When I returned to the UK I couldn’t stop thinking about them, so I booked another flight, determined to rescue the puppies. By the time I arrived I was too late — the owner had moved away and taken them, and the little brown dog who had followed me had been left behind. He hadn’t survived. He could have been saved with just a little care.
The dog who lived
Nearby, a small community welcomed me. They had four dogs of their own, covered in ticks with no access to medical care. For three days I came back with food, medicine and supplies. On one of those walks I found a tiny dog lying on the sidewalk — nothing but skin and bones, collapsed from exhaustion. She was very young and very sick. I rushed her to an emergency vet, where treatment began straight away, and not long after she was brought safely to the UK.
I named her Hope.
She survived. Today she is healthy, happy and thriving — and she became the inspiration for FurEver Hope Foundation, founded to give Jamaican street dogs the second chance she got. Her story is just the beginning.
Every dog we feed, treat and rescue carries a little of Hope’s story. You can help us rescue more dogs like her, or sponsor a rescued Jamaican street dog and follow one journey from the streets to a loving home.