A meeting to discuss the “semi-retirement” of William, the “care home dog” in the Highlands, has resolved to return the animal to the facility on a full-time basis.
The eight-year-old Breton Spaniel has been living with the care home manager at evening and weekends – until members of the community asked for him to be brought back to the place where he has so many friends.
The whole issue has become so emotive that it emerged the manager, Claire Cameron, had received death threats in recent weeks.
At a busy public meeting, held last night at Invernevis Care Home in Fort William, volunteers signed up to look after William, after staff ruled that the care of residents had to be prioritised before the dog.
William became a hero last year when he rescued an elderly hypothermic woman who had fallen off a path and was hidden in undergrowth.
The community has subsequently raised thousands of pounds for the animal, who, prior to coming to Scotland was a street dog in Cyprus.
Ms Cameron said: “We need to work together to put a care plan in place for William. We all want the best for him, and we want his life to be happy.”
She revealed that she had faced death threats since William’s retirement was announced and people from as far afield as America had been in touch with her to complain. Some of the threats were so serious she had to raise them with police.
She continued: “We need to put what has happened behind us. But we also need to be mindful that our first priority for staff at Invernevis are our residents. And that some staff simply cannot, or do not want, to look after William as a priority over patients.
“We have a very hard-working staff team who need to do their job with residents first and foremost.”
The meeting agreed that the care of William would be organised by a team of supporters centring around a regular dog-walking and feeding regime.
Members of the meeting and the wider public have also been asked to help out with a dog-walking rota.
