THEY arrive howling, lonely and terrified - many have been roaming the streets for days - their only hope is Bolton's Destitute Animal Shelter.

This Christmas, while you're tucking into your turkey, spare a thought for these unwanted and cruel discarded animals.

For them, Christmas will be spent behind bars. No cuddles from a loving happy family, no doggy chocs under the tree - just loneliness and confusion as to why they've been abandoned by owners they loved and, above all, trusted.

Of course this is an all too familiar scene and one which is especially poignant at Christmas.

But sadly it's not just the festive season when animals are abandoned - it's all year round.

"Christmas is always used to drive the message home," says shelter manager, Karen Rickards, "because it's a time that tugs at the heart strings.

"But dogs and cats are being abandoned all year round."

Karen admits that Christmas is a particularly busy time because people still insist on buying animals as pets - especially "cute" puppies and kittens. More often than not, when those tiny balls of fur grow they are promptly thrown out on the streets.

But this doesn't deter people from buying animals as gifts.

"In the last couple of days I've had three separate phone calls from women wanting to buy kittens.

"Each one wanted to reserve a kitten now and pick it up on Christmas Eve.

"One even asked if we could stay open late that night so she could pick it up when her daughter was asleep.

"It's pathetic, they treat the animals like toys. This woman wanted to put the kitten in a box so it could jump out on Christmas morning - needless to say none of them got a kitten from us."

It's not unheard of for people to throw out an older pet in favour of a new one.

"You'd be surprised how many people chuck out an older dog or cat then come looking for a new puppy or kitten," says Karen. "They just throw the old pet out onto the streets - it's criminal."

But the shelter offers some respite for the lonely pooches and moggies. With 70 dogs and 30 cats in residence at any one time the place is a hive of activity and very, very noisy.

As you approach the building on Northolt Drive the heartbreaking howls and yelps of the dogs and puppies slice the air.

With the biting winter wind and freezing rain swirling round the grey landscape it could be a scene from a horror movie - but inside the atmosphere is decidedly homely.

Karen and fellow manager, Neil Martin discuss the day's business while Thomas, a stray black and white cat who's "decided" to take up residence at the shelter, sprawls across the desk.

"He never moves," laughs Neil, giving Thomas a stroke, "apart from when he hears the rustle of sandwich papers.

"As soon as I get my sandwiches out, he's awake."

Meanwhile, over in the dog pens the presence of a stranger promotes much excited barking and yelping. Dogs of all breeds and ages jump up, sticking their noses through the wire mesh of the cage door.

Apart from one. "That's Woolfie," says Karen pointing to a large wiry-haired, melancholy looking cross-breed in the end cage.

"He's been with us for a while now, he was found roaming the streets - he was in a terrible state."

Woolfie doesn't look too happy today. He sits motionless behind his cage door staring forlornly at me and, Nigel, the photographer. We talk to him, stroke him and gently try to coax him over - but he doesn't respond.

As we walk away I glance back over my shoulder. Four-year-old Woolfie is straining to see where I've gone - pushing his head through the wire. He must have enjoyed the company after all.

KAREN and Neil run the shelter with a no-nonsense approach.

"You have to," explains Neil, "otherwise you'd let your emotions get the better of you and that's no use to the animals."

Karen agrees: "Sometimes I go home and have a really good cry. Some of the the things I've seen break my heart."

Like the time four Lurcher pups were brought in to the shelter in a large bag.

"They were dead - their necks had been broken," Karen remembers, the anger still clearly there. "That's something I'll never forget.'

But the dogs and cats in the shelter are certainly well looked after. Their cages are warm and clean and each animal is given a name and a registration card displaying their temperaments, health and personalities.

Trixi, a beautiful tan-coloured mongrel with almond-shaped eyes is "good with people and other dogs but never seen a cat". This information will be passed on to new owners.

The card hanging over Jamie's kennel - a jet black mongrel - tells us he doesn't get on with other dogs.

"He's a bit of a bully," says Karen, "he beats up the other dogs," she jokes. This is obviously why Jamie has his own quarters and he seems keen to show them off to anyone who happens to pass by.

Over in the cattery, things are a touch more tranquil.

Oscar, a black and white cat, sticks a tiny paw through the wire of his cage and rests it on my finger.

Above his cage the card reads "Please mash up my food - I've got no teeth'. "We don't know how he lost them," says Karen, "but he seems to manage okay."

Dexter, a proud black cat, has just woken and is eating his dinner.

"He was left alone in a boarded up house," says Karen softly. "His owners moved and simply left him behind. He was there for days before someone found him."

These stories are sadly all too common. Dogs and cats are discarded like pieces of rubbish.

AND both Karen and Neil admit things will get worse after Christmas.

"No matter how often you try and ram home the message "A Dog is For Life, Not Just For Christmas", it doesn't make a scrap of difference," says Neil.

"People still insist on buying kittens and puppies and anyone who comes in here asking for one will be told to come back in January.

"If they still want one then, then we'll talk to them."

Staff at the shelter - which has 50 volunteers in total but only three or four working there at any one time - are dedicated to the animals.

Come Christmas Day, each one will have its Christmas dinner - turkey cooked by one of the volunteers - and Karen, Neil and their helpers will make sure each cat and dog gets a Christmas cuddle.

"At least they're warm, dry and looked after," says Karen. "But for each animal in here, hundreds more are being left to roam the streets.

"And people seem to think we have a never ending pot of money. But we don't. It takes hundreds of thousands of pounds to run this place - food, blankets, electricity, vet's fees - we need all the help we can get."

The shelter is full to capacity all the time and no animal is "put down" unless, says Neil "it's very ill and nothing else can be done for it.

"We treat each animal as if it were our own."

According to Neil, people abandon pets for all sorts of lame reasons - can't afford to keep them, too boisterous, noisy or destructive.

Some even "lose" pets when they go off on holiday then miraculously find them at the shelter on their return.

"They don't want to pay kennel fees," says Karen.

But the most abhorrent must surely be those who throw out a pet they've had for years.

Karen says: "Some pets have lived with a family for six, seven, eight years when, for no particular reason, they're chucked out.

"Can you imagine the fear and confusion that dog or cat will feel.

"Can you just imagine it?"

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