Support animal charities in memory of Matilda

In memory of our beautiful greyhound Matilda, who died in transit to join us in our new lives here in Australia, we are raising money to support the various animal rescue and welfare charities we have been involved in in the past and are discovering here in Australia.

If you'd rather donate directly to the charities we already support, you can do so via the following links. Otherwise, any donations here will either be passed on or used to buy essential goods to donate. Thank you!

UK Charities:

Australian Charities:

On 11th January 2023, at the end of our first night starting our new life in Australia we received the devastating news that our beautiful black greyhound, Matilda, had died in Changi Airport on her way to us. She was a fully vet checked, healthy five year old with no underlying health issues and deemed “fit to fly”.

It was suspected heat stroke but we had to wait another 4 months for the results of the post mortem confirming this.

Matilda was left in her crate at Changi airport, without water or air conditioning, for several hours as the temperatures rose to 29C and she died from heatstroke as a result. There is no record of her water bowls being correctly filled before departure and they were not checked or filled at Changi airport. We believe her death was the result of avoidable and inexcusable human error on the part of Singapore Airlines and SATS ground staff.

It is difficult to express the pain, guilt and grief of the last 18 months and to condense all the information we have received into words that do justice to the beautiful and gentle girl no longer in our family. We miss her every single day, she is there in our hearts, in our thoughts and even after 18 months we are still very much grieving for her. The law places no value on the lives of your pets but we hope by telling our story we can help avoid this happening to someone else’s much loved family members.

We know that - like us - you will want to take your pets with you if you are moving but the risks, though rare, are painfully real and you will have no way to force acknowledgement of responsibility or liability. If you are thinking of flying your pets, please do your research and think very carefully if they will be transiting through hot and humid conditions they are not accustomed to. Ask questions, chose carefully and, if possible, try to plan travel for the time of year that will be least dangerous to your pets.

We have recently become foster carers for the Lost Dogs Home here in Australia to try to help fill the missing piece of our hearts. The refund we received from the pet travel company was donated to the rescue charities that our own pets came from. We are further fundraising to support all these charities and others that support animal causes.

Please support us and share her story. Our hope is to help someone, somewhere be better informed and get your beloved pets back to you safely.

- Matilda's family