The Pet Food Project that's helping struggling owners to keep their pets

A Pet Food Project is helping owners struggling with rising costs to keep their much-loved pets instead of having to surrender them.

Karl Bilby set up the non-for-profit company last summer after seeing a huge increase in the number of owners forced to give up their animals because they can no longer afford to buy food for them.

His aim was to make it as easy as possible for people to donate pet food, by having drop-off bins in handy pet-friendly locations like vets, cafes and pet shops.

Karl then does twice-weekly pick-ups and distributes supplies to local pet foodbanks and animal shelters.

The first wheelie bins were put in place across Wirral in the autumn and since then the project has proved so popular that he’s now looking to expand it into Liverpool in 2024.

There are 11 already in Wirral, and he is hoping to have even more on both sides of the river by the end of the year.

The idea for The Pet Food Project first came about when 52-year-old Karl was looking to adopt a rescue dog.

He explains:

“Our dog, who we’d had for 14 years, passed away and so after a bit of time we were looking for another one and wanted to get a rescue dog.

“We started looking around and it really hit home how many pets in general are being abandoned at the moment because the owners aren’t able to feed them.

“I read a report that said the rescues were overflowing, not necessarily because people were just abandoning their pets but because they literally couldn’t afford to feed them. Families who are going to foodbanks themselves are having to give some of their food to their animals and it’s just a horrible situation.

“It’s so sad that people are giving up their pets, not because they want to but because they have to.

“We were following the likes of Carla Animals in Need on social media and you could see similar backstories behind a lot of these animals.

“That was what struck a chord with me, and I saw how hectic pet foodbanks can be already and then they have to go out and collect donations.

“When it comes to pets, people have a good heart and they are keen to donate so I just wanted to take away some of the hassle and make it easier for them to do that. Then I can get the food straight to where it needs to be.”

Karl set up a website for The Pet Food Project community interest company in July last year. He then bought a batch of red wheelie bins off Amazon, had some stickers printed and began contacting local businesses to see if they’d be happy to take one.

“It’s just about getting as close to the problem as possible in terms of helping so I’m always looking for somewhere people are regularly going to go back such as vets, pet shops, pet-friendly cafes and kennels.

“Places like Wirral vets and Broadway vets have been great. They have bins in all their offices so people are regularly coming in and out, they get to know they’re there so come with donations when they’re next visiting or passing.”

Karl works with two pet foodbanks, Pawz in Need and Furry Friends which has a community shop in Wallasey, and in November the project became an official RSPCA Pet Food Bank Partner.

He Said:

“At first it was just a toe in the water to see if it would work, or if it would help, and then the donations really started coming in which was great,”

“It’s not only about getting food to the pet foodbanks, it’s getting a regular supply to them so they can rely on that.

“They tend to get spikes of donations, so one week they might get loads and then the next two weeks there’s nothing, which is quite hard for them to manage. They are often looking after people on a short-term basis whose circumstances have changed, to cover that period, so for them to know some food is definitely coming their way is really useful.”

Karl has already started speaking with foodbanks in Liverpool, as well as the Whitechapel Centre and The Florrie, to grow the service this year.

“Ideally I’d like to have 15 locations on each side and there’s an option to convert to a charity which is the long-term goal.”

He already has one helper who’s enthusiastic to get involved with marketing – Rigby, the two-year-old Labrador/German pointer cross who he ended up adopting from Carla Lane last year is the gorgeous face of the project!