It’s been a good week for ... friendless four-legged friends
Across Scotland, jumpers are being knitted for "discriminated-against" dogs. Scottish SPCA centres have reported that dogs with dark-coloured coats are being overlooked by potential rescuers. Thanks to something called "Black Dog Syndrome", these animals' features don't show up as well in photograph appeals for new homes as they do for their lighter-coated comrades'
Now Scottish Women's Institute (SWI) groups are busy knitting them colourful sweaters, as part of celebrations marking 100 years of the SWI.
Dogs in the care of the SSPCA at Drumoak, near Banchory, were among the first to get the overcoats. The charity's superintendent Sharon Comrie said: "This syndrome really does affect the adoption of animals in our care and, through no fault of their own, black dogs are almost always the last to find new homes.
"It's a really creative idea to knit coloured jackets to show these dogs off to their best advantage.
"Knitted jackets will be ideal because they will be soft on the skin, have an element of give and stretch, and can be created in any, or many, colours of wool."
Sounds like a shaggy dog tale that’s turned into a bit of a yarn ...
It’s been a bad week for ... a kick-about
A council has apologised after scoring a whopping own goal by planting trees all over a football pitch.
The extra woodwork appeared at Logie Durno in Aberdeenshire. On being contacted by bemused locals, Aberdeenshire Council said the intention was to turn over part of the area for "biodiversity" – but that talks would now be held with the community. Red card for a late tackle, at least.
A spokeswoman said of the site: "Anecdotally it was rarely used. However it is clear now that the community were not engaged with this plan.
"As such, we are going back to first principles with them so they can help us decide what this area should be used for. There are full pitches immediately next to this area for community leisure use and the trees will remain on this site until we can come to an agreement with residents.
"We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused."
That’ll be Logie Durno Forest nil, Local Community United tree.
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