Michelle Southern has been awarded the OBE in the New year Honours List in recognition of her work with the charity Street Paws.
Founded in Newcastle in 2016, Street Paws looks after homeless people and their pets across the north of England including outreach in Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. It aims to empower homeless people to keep their pets by their side with the provision of free veterinary care and protect the human animal bond by keeping owners and their pets together wherever possible.
Southern, a former veterinary practice manager from Blyth, Northumberland, was volunteering at a soup kitchen in central Newcastle when she first saw a homeless person bring their dog and realised that there were no services in place to help if the animal needed check-ups, support or veterinary care. She persuaded a vet to come down to the soup kitchen with her the following week, and the organisation grew from there. Today, the registered charity now provides support for homeless people and their pets in The North East, North West, Yorkshire and Northern Ireland.
In 2019 Street Paws launched an ongoing drive to encourage more hostels to become Dog Champions, aiming to equip hostel staff with the skills that they need to ensure a safe place for residents and their pets by providing accredited staff training and support, canine first aid training and a first aid kit, advice on pet policies, owner agreements and full veterinary care. The charity has also launched an online learning platform, and Good Pet Owner Training and dog CV scheme so that service users can demonstrate a responsible approach to their companion animal when moving into permanent accommodation.
Responding to the honour, Southern said: “Things like this just don’t happen to people like me! I am completely overwhelmed, and I’m also excited for what this award will do in raising more awareness for the charity and our work.
“The general consensus is that around one in ten homeless people have a companion animal with them. This means there is a large amount of pets that need support, and we saw that we could make a difference.
“Getting recognition like this for the charity, its hardworking volunteers, supporters and the issues we represent is huge, and I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who makes Street Paws what it is.”
