Wild at Heart Foundation.
The first thing that greets you whenever you meet renowned florist Nikki Tibbles in her home is a welcoming flurry of dogs with wagging tails and huge ‘lovely to meet you’ slobbery licks. Followed up closely by Nikki appearing with a big grin and a warm welcome into her colourful Notting Hill pad.
Rita – one of Nikki’s rescue dogs
Wild at Heart Florist in Westbourne Grove
While Nikki is super well known for her gorgeous and booming florist business Wild at Heart, her other passion is dogs and more importantly dog rescue. She set up the Wild at Heart Foundation back in 2015 with co-founder Nadine Kayser when they happened to adopt dogs from Romania at the same time and bonded over their desire for doing something important to address the issues of the global stray dog population.
Fast forward to today, and the charity is picking up the pace on both supporting animal welfare projects around the world and fundraising to further increase their reach. Did you know for example, that over three-quarters of the world’s dogs are strays and the problem is getting worse? Research from the World Health Organisation estimates that there are 600 million stray dogs worldwide and numbers are rising.
Over the next few years, the Wild at Heart Foundation will be continuing their mission organising and sponsoring rescue projects, neutering programmes, awareness campaigns and education initiatives. I know there are a ton of charities out there vying for everyone’s attention. But if you’re a doggy-type person like me, then this one is a great one to take a look at.
Ruby the rescue dog
Wild at Heart Foundation… how can you support?
Fozzie, our rescue dog, captured full pant by dog photographer Clare Walpole.
We have a rescue dog in our family – Fozzie (above) – who was left in a cardboard box on the side of the highway in New York with his brothers and sisters, now safely re-homed with us and relocated with us back to Blighty, this is definitely a cause close to my heart. The Foundation is funded part through the donation of profits from Nikki’s Wild at Heart business, and also by funds raised from various fundraising events. Take a peek here at last year’s super successful charity Art night. With a summer fete and mahoosive gala event in the pipeline for next year the WAHF team are busy, but could always use your support.
You can help by adopting a dog here. But you can also support by donating here or buying one of the limited edition sweatshirts created by Black Score here.
We’re also putting together a mini-shopping guide of Nikki’s favourite spots in her Westbourne Grove neighbourhood – as with all my other shopping guides – it’s always best to ask a local – so be sure to check back here for that in the near future.