"In June this year, 10 ARK dogs will go to find new homes through the famous Battersea Dogs Home in London. Although in the past ARK has sent individual dogs abroad for rehousing, this is the first time so many Japanese dogs have been sent from a shelter in Japan to find homes in another country. Why send dogs to Britain and why to Battersea? Battersea Dogs Home is the oldest shelter in the world, with a 160-year history. It has enormous prestige, and it is said that it is more difficult to adopt a dog from Battersea than it is to adopt a child in Britain. In Britain, dogs are no longer sold in pet shops. When people want dogs, they go to breeders directly, or more often they adopt from shelters."
Elizabeth Oliver of England opened the Animal Refuge Kansai in 1990. She turned away no animal that needed help. She took in severely abused, abandoned and suffering cats and dogs, ponies, goats, geese, ducks and chickens. She said, "There are numerous deserving charities which need one's help and support, but they have voices of their own, and enough people to listen to them. Animals, on the other hand, have no voice . I felt I understood them as well as anybody, so it was natural that I should help them."
Graduated from the University of Nottingham, Elizabeth first came to Japan in 1965, "out of curiosity," she said. She returned to the U.K. to study Japanese at London University. Three years later she came again to Japan, and began teaching at the Osaka Institute of Technology.