2020 –
Following on from our move back to the UK and subsequent retirement from pet transports and reduction on re-homing activity we have refocused our attention, and this site, to pet ownership and animal welfare.
Our focus now is very much on working with charities to help them, through volunteering and taking on trustee and advisory roles.
With this site we will be documenting our experiences with re-homing and transport which will hopefully help others.
2009 – 2019
We started the ALStrays Re-Homing project in 2009 while we were living in Spain.
Initially we helped the strays in Almerimar through the blog we had set up to document life in Spain (www.almerimarlife.com) – hence the ALStrays i.e. Almerimar Life Strays – and via a range of fund raising initiatives, which included Chris running a half marathon!
The ALStrays Re-homing and Transport project is run by Sandra and Chris Marshall with the aim of helping to re-home owned, abandoned and stray cats, to transport pets and re-homed animals, and to provide other help to animals in need.
In 2010 we added pet transport to the project, initially to transport the re-homed cats to Germany, but once the 6 month quarantine had been lifted for pet transport to the UK, we added the UK (and dogs) to our portfolio.
The rest, as they say is history! From January 2010 until March 2019 when we left Spain and returned to live full time in the UK the project (and our own rescued pets) took up all of our time: during which Sands re-homed 1725 cats and Chris drove 750,655 miles delivering a total of 7595 cats (4023) and dogs (3572).
Having returned to the UK both the re-homing and pet transports have had to change. Sands is still working with the Spanish rescues and Germany charity to re-home cats, but she no longer (obviously) has a hands on role in this, and Chris no longer runs scheduled transports between Spain, Germany and the UK.
For now we are still offering Chartered pet transports between the UK and EU, and are concentrating on UK pet transport for now, but for how long we don’t know as age, wear and tear on the body, and family commitments mean we are looking at more cerebral ways of getting involved with animal welfare.
The project has always (and will always) be run on a a ‘not for profit’ basis, which of course means we have to make a profit in order to continue funding the various activities, but all profits are used to continue our involvement in animal welfare issues.
The project is run through our Limited Company, Marshall InnovationsPlease feel free to contact us via the site or write to us at Marshall Innovations Limited, 14 Jonathan Road, Trentham, Stoke on Trent, ST4 8LP
Updated: 4th March 2022