How a British writer ended up helping
animals in Sliven
Lucy Irvine’s year on a desert island
once featured in a hit movie - now her LIFE organization fights for animal
welfare.
By Gabriel Hershman
Peace is what she sometimes craves. But her
nights can be surprisingly noisy. It's not the roar of traffic, of course, not
here, deep in the Bulgarian countryside, a half hour drive from the city of
Sliven. Instead, it's the thundering of horses' hooves that sometimes keeps the
British pensioner awake in her caravan.
Lucy Irvine is a writer and even a
celebrity once upon a time in Britain. Now she lives in Bulgaria and rises at
dawn to begin tending to her rescued animals; there are roughly 300 in total if
you include all the horses, donkeys, dogs and cats under her supervision (some
of which are in the community and not just in her yard). She keeps what she
calls "tropical hours", especially during summer's scorching sun -
the kind of heat that can drive tethered, thirsty animals crazy.
She takes great pride in her organization's
work with animals, what is now known as the Lucy Irvine Foundation Europe
(LIFE) - whose website charts its mission in terms of education, outreach and
rescue.
It's an unorthodox life for a well-bred,
65-year-old Brit but Lucy has tended to spurn normalcy. She hasn't been to the
UK for years, and has devoted the last 14 years to her animals and educating
the (mostly) Roma local communities on how to look after them better. Yet it's
a combination of carrot and stick and sometimes she has summoned the police for
extreme cases of cruelty.
Her story is actually a great window into
rural Bulgaria life and its surprising vitality and of course, problems.
Notable achievements notwithstanding - her
recent cancer treatment and diminishing funds have lent it a growing urgency.
The (really deserted) desert island
It's all a big change from the celebrity
coverage Irvine "enjoyed" (or should that be "endured"?) 35
years ago where her extraordinary experience on a desert island was made into a
hit movie by acclaimed filmmaker Nicolas Roeg.
Back in 1980 British writer Gerald
Kingsland had advertised for a companion to spend a year with him on the
remote, uninhabited island of Tuin in the Torres Strait between Australia and
New Guinea. Lucy accompanied him and later wrote a bestseller about her time
there, Castaway. The eponymous movie followed, featuring Amanda Donohoe as Lucy
and Oliver Reed as Kingsland.
Lucy fleetingly experienced the high life -
stays in luxury hotels, and author tours of the US, Australia and Europe etc.
The way she describes it, you get a sense of "been there, done that, and
dispensed with the T shirt". The sybaritic lifestyle was not for her. The
nearest she gets to luxury in Bulgaria these days is her "island style
bucket baths". A "conventional" life simply didn't suit her
either - Irvine even uses this word to describe a period she spent on a
Scottish island!
She certainly doesn't regret the year on
Tuin. "I'll always be grateful that Gerald chose me to go with him though.
It was a fantastically educational experience to live on that island and I
still don't take things for granted, am still grateful for water and impressed
by electricity. It set me up well for life in rural Bulgaria, among other
things!"
Demonstrating, not lecturing
Lucy moved here in 2007. Why Bulgaria?
"My eldest cycled from John O'Groats
to Lands' End to raise money for a Bulgarian orphanage and decided to visit the
place personally. While in Bulgaria he wrote me a message saying I'd like the
villages. I should buy a property, have a bit of land to call my own and stop
paying rent. He was right on all counts." She loved the simplicity of
life. "If there's a culture here I favor over others it's the dying
Bulgarian village one. I love the independence of the Babas who still grow and
preserve their own and don't see the need to step into the supermarket
world."
When Lucy first arrived she had envisaged a
"quiet life" for herself. All that changed when her house burnt down.
While camping in the ruins she came into contact with the local Roma community
and - as she describes it on her site - "the thin, overworked horses they
drove into her yard to carry away scrap iron and debris from the fire".
They brought mange-ridden dogs, too, and kittens with injured eyes, which Lucy
learned to treat. Her work expanded to include a purpose-built haven for
horses.
Her former house remains a ruin, and today
she lives in a caravan filled with rescued cats and surrounded by rescued dogs
and horses. LIFE is the culmination of her work.
Married to her work
Lucy says that the standard of animal care
in Bulgaria is generally lower than elsewhere. "In Bulgarian villages it
is common to see puppies chained as future guards to inadequate shelters from
an early age, never leaving that rarely cleaned spot until they die, often
after just a few years, of neglect and a diet of bread only. It is more common
for dogs to run free in Roma areas but disease and abuse are rife, and the
catalogue of suffering among puppies, is heart-rending."
Surrounding her are Bulgarians traditional
villagers and provincial townsfolk, and several Roma cultures including
Turkish-influenced, as well as Karakachani and expatriate bubbles. She enjoys
good relations with everyone but keeps her distance.
"There are of course people I've grown
fond of and those I feel closer to and trust more than others. But If I
attended one Roma or Bulgarian wedding or funeral locally I'd have to attend
many or cause offence! So I attend none. Nor do I attend social occasions with
expats. That said, I have a friendly relationship with my fellow villagers of
all stripes. I'm just still at heart a desert island hermit and I'm grateful
that such eccentricity has been accepted. The detachment I have is important to
my work though because I need to be able to work with all sorts - including
those who are unkind to animals."
She says she has also reached "a tacit
understanding" with the local municipality. "We keep a lot of dogs
off the streets and take hundreds to be sterilized every year."
"To merely condemn does nothing
useful"
Lucy says that remonstrating alone -
although perhaps justified - serves little purpose. Instead she gives an
example of practical enlightenment. "A Bulgarian neighbor threw kittens
into a gully to die slowly of hunger, exposure and thirst when I first came
here. I rescued them and went round to ask him not to do that again. We could
arrange to spay his cat, which we did. And when another cat had kittens on his
property he brought them to my gate in sugar and bread bags. I named those
kitties Sugar and Slice."
Happily, attitudes seem to be changing.
"Lots of Bulgarians now ask us to help get their cats and dogs spayed, as
do Roma in four villages. And we've demonstrated in Roma areas how there's no
need to hack mangey dogs to death (as has happened) or stone them away from
houses. They can be treated quite easily. I now get calls asking for dogs with
all sorts of skin conditions to be helped. Lectures don't work. Demonstration
does, in my experience. The same applies to the horses we work with in the
community."
In 14 years in Bulgaria Lucy has learnt to
communicate with the locals and also observed changes in their community.
"Globalization is having a homogenizing influence on all the cultures
here. Wealthier Roma are now becoming almost as devoted to TV and
superstore-molded culture as Bulgarians and expats."
Irvine's is a truly worthy cause and her
dedication is unquestionable. Both summer and winter can bring grueling
conditions in the Balkans - and LIFE's work is ceaseless and alternately
frustrating and uplifting. "Nothing exasperates me more than to see
cruelty occur due to ignorance and lack of empathy. Empathy is hard to teach
because it comes from within. It's there in some people, not all. But we can deal
with ignorance through education. And when a person knows what's cruel he
should change his behavior or be punished by law."
Her greatest pleasure comes from those
individual transformations. "Nothing gives me more satisfaction than to
see the fear leave an animal's eyes after he's recovered physically and
mentally at LIFE. It's even better if he then goes on to find a permanent home
with kind people."
Preserving the legacy
In a personal message on her site she
writes matter-of-factly about her illness, always focusing on her goals and the
need for more volunteers and funds. Above all, she wants to ensure that LIFE's
work can continue without her. So far its work has depended exclusively on
donations although Lucy says they are now investigating possible grants.
LIFE's work is varied. "When someone dies and leaves a dog no one takes, for instance, we find a nearby baba to feed it and help with food. Ditto arrangement with small kids who can't fully care for pups they pick up. We support the pup, then spay. Unfortunately, there's still a bad habit among some Bulgarians. They dump dogs in Roma areas. Whole litters of pups. It's accepted practice but not acceptable if one has any thought for the welfare of the pups. That said, many Bulgarians now care for their dogs and cats to a high standard. Change has already happened in bigger cities."
This article appears by kind permission
of Kapital Insights, where further quality journalism on matters related
to Bulgaria can be read.
https://kinsights.capital.bg/
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