MARINA Kennels will re-open after generous offers of help.

Kennel owner David Worrell said that hundreds of people and businesses had offered to fund and carry out the vital sewage work.

It means that although the kennels will have to close today they should be able to re-open within a month.

David Worrell and his wife Janet are delighted and thanked the many people who offered them support.

Mr Worrell said: “We’ve had a terrific response, it’s been unbelievable and we’re really grateful because we never thought this would happen.

“We’ve had people donating ground work materials, labour and cheques have been coming in to help fund the work. It has been a brilliant response so we will do that work and get this place back open as quickly as we can.”

Unfortunately, the Leeds Road kennels will have to close today because the licence granted by Kirklees Council will be invoked.

The 10 dogs currently at the kennels will be relocated.

Work will then start on the sewer system which they have been ordered to improve.

Mr Worrell said he hoped to be able to re-open the kennels within three or four weeks.

He added: “It can only be done if people do help us.

“It has been a bombshell – the last few weeks have been out of our hands.

“But the response since it was in the Examiner has been unbelievable.

“We will have to close but we’ll get straight onto doing the work once the dogs are all safely moved to other kennels.

“Then we can get back to taking in stray dogs and getting back to how we were.”

The Worrell’s were meeting the groundwork team yesterday to get a timeline of the proposed work.

In the meantime they say they will do their best to find a home for any stray dogs reported.

Last week Marina announced it would have to close on February 20 because it cannot pay £25,000 for a new drainage system to meet standards.

The couple, who have taken in thousands of animals in the last four-and-a-half years, run the pound on a non-profit basis and could not afford the bill.

They have a strict policy of not destroying any of their animals and many dog lovers feared the animals would be put down. But the couple say they want to get back to business as soon as they can.