Guernsey Press

Islander fundraises for animal charity in Morocco

A LOCAL woman has raised more than £500 for an animal charity while travelling in Morocco.

Published
Lara Baudains has raised more than £500 for an animal charity in Morocco while travelling with her fiance Charlie Skinner. (31700949)

Lara Baudains, 29, grew up in Guernsey and has been travelling with her fiance Charlie Skinner, when they discovered the charity.

‘There are three million wild dogs living in Morocco and after seeing the lack of food, care and shelter for them we thought that there must be something we can do.’

‘We would feed them and give them attention and so we reached out to the charity and it snowballed from there.’

Moroccan Animal Aid help out with wild animals to provide care and treatment.

The pair had been sharing videos of the wild dogs on their Instagram stories, and the money raised for the charity came from friends and family who have seen the videos.

‘We explained how critical it was to raise money for the charity, they don’t just take in dogs, but cats and donkeys. They take on all animals that have been abandoned,’ said Miss Baudains.

‘We had been following the charity’s journey and saw how bad the situation was. They were so appreciative of our donation.’

Miss Baudains and her family are from Guernsey, but she moved to the UK at the age of 16 for school and then to study at university. Pre-Covid she was working as a nutritionist in London, but once the pandemic hit, she moved with her fiance back to Guernsey where they renovated the van they now live in.

The couple started travelling six months ago in Croatia, where they stayed for six weeks, before travelling to the south coast of Portugal and to Spain where they caught the ferry to Morocco.

They live in their van full time, which they describe as ‘a home away from home’, and are in the process of adopting one of the dogs they saw in Morocco, named Koda. It could take three to four months due to the vaccination and microchipping process, but they will fly back out to Morocco to collect her in the future.

While they are currently travelling back to the UK, the couple hope to continue their travels around the world, and potentially settle down again in Guernsey.

They post their adventures on their Instagram page @city2_vanlife which has nearly 20,000 followers.

n Donations can be made to support the charity at https://moroccoanimalaid.com/how-you-can-help/.