1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh, and 2 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:08,760 Speaker 1: there's Chuck and it's us, but we're joined by a 3 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: third person today in spirit. Her name is Camberly Kate, 4 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: and she seems like a pretty boss person. 5 00:00:18,079 --> 00:00:19,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, she sure was. 6 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:23,440 Speaker 3: If you found yourself in Camberly, England, which is about 7 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 3: thirty five miles southwest of London. 8 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: In Surrey, that's right. 9 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:32,199 Speaker 3: If you found yourself there, and let's say the mid 10 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 3: nineteen seventies, you might have seen causing a traffic jam 11 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 3: in town. Beret wearing, gray haired senior citizen with a 12 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:47,839 Speaker 3: handmade push cart with Ward stray dogs painted on the 13 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:50,600 Speaker 3: side of it. And then some dogs in that cart 14 00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 3: riding along, and maybe another, I don't know, fifteen or 15 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 3: twenty dogs, some on leashes, some not on leashes, but 16 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:01,639 Speaker 3: very good boys and girls walking along with this, you know, 17 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 3: for lack of a better word, crazy dog lady in 18 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:04,640 Speaker 3: the best way. 19 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,039 Speaker 1: Yeah, crazy dog lady. Your name was Kate Ward. And 20 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,040 Speaker 1: the reason she was a crazy dog lady, in addition 21 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: to walking all these dogs around, is that all of 22 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:17,120 Speaker 1: these dogs were hers. She wasn't like helping out a 23 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: friend by taking these dogs on a walk. She had 24 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: taken in all these dogs because they were all strays, 25 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: they're about to be put down, they had been abandoned, 26 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:28,680 Speaker 1: and she took them in as her own. And what's 27 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: really cool about this too, is she took really good 28 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:35,399 Speaker 1: care of them. This wasn't like a situation where she 29 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: was just collecting dogs and you know, whatever happened to 30 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 1: him happened to him. Like, she took excellent care of 31 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: each one of these dogs. And over the course of 32 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 1: her lifetime, actually over the course of just something like 33 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 1: fifty years, I think she rescued hundreds of dogs and 34 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,160 Speaker 1: kept them in great health and gave them great lives. 35 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's amazing. It was more like like thirty something years. 36 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 3: Oh really, Yeah, that's a lot of dogs. And apparently 37 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,960 Speaker 3: here's you know, the little secret is apparently there were 38 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,800 Speaker 3: hundreds of cats. I couldn't find a lot of evidence 39 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 3: of that, but I did read a couple of articles 40 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:12,959 Speaker 3: where they said, you know that no one ever talks 41 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:14,799 Speaker 3: about the cats, but there were just as many cats 42 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 3: over the years. So you know, one of England's first, 43 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 3: probably the first en mass dog rescue person. You know, 44 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 3: from what I read, people would of course taken a 45 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 3: stray here and there and that kind of thing, But 46 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 3: there weren't these big dog rescue organizations. People would like 47 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:36,360 Speaker 3: either abandon a pet's very sadly or just drop it 48 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 3: off at the vet, or drop it off at the 49 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 3: front door of the police station. And that's where she 50 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 3: sourced them. She got dogs and cats from police stations, 51 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 3: from veterinarians out on the streets, just randomly. And it 52 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:53,680 Speaker 3: all started with this greyhound at the very beginning, I 53 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 3: think in nineteen forty three, she had bought a cottage. 54 00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 3: It was her first house. And then she said, went 55 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 3: up the road on the doorstep of the vet. Someone 56 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 3: had abandoned this little lame, skinny greyhound that was set 57 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 3: to be put to sleep. And she was like, no, no, no, 58 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 3: that's coming with me. 59 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: Yeah the vet I heard is very dramatic. The vet 60 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: had the axe in the air in the mid swing 61 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: when she stopped him and said, no, no, I'll take this 62 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: little greyhound in. That became, from what I can tell, 63 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:24,240 Speaker 1: her first dog at the very least of her adult life, 64 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:27,359 Speaker 1: and she and the dog. Did you see the little 65 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: doggie's name? I couldn't find it anywhere. 66 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 2: No, I couldn't find the greyhounds name. 67 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: Okay, but this is her first dog. We'll call him Primo. 68 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 1: And she and Primo were like inseparable for eight over 69 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: eight years, like they were just the best of friends. 70 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: And then sadly, as things happened Primo died, she gave 71 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: him an extra eight plus years of great life. He 72 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: had a new best friend. So his passing was sad 73 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:53,640 Speaker 1: in and of itself, but it wasn't as sad as 74 00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 1: if he had been put down for being lame eight 75 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 1: years earlier. 76 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,080 Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure. And she said, and you know, how 77 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 3: did this come from? This great BBC interview from the 78 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 3: mid seventies. You can watch on YouTube if you want 79 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:08,000 Speaker 3: to hear Kate in her cantankerous ways, kind of spill 80 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 3: this story out. But she said that at the time 81 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 3: everyone kind of thought like, well, that's it. You know, 82 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 3: no one's gonna like this woman isn't going to get 83 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:16,480 Speaker 3: another dog. 84 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 2: And she was like, that was just the start. 85 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 3: And at this point, it was five hundred dogs by 86 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:24,600 Speaker 3: the time of this interview, and then I think four 87 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 3: years later that had grown to six hundred by the end. 88 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:31,600 Speaker 1: Nuts, man, it's so great too. I say, we take 89 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:33,240 Speaker 1: a little break and come back and talk a little 90 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: more about Kimberly Kate and her saga. 91 00:04:36,800 --> 00:05:09,359 Speaker 4: Let's do it, okay, Chucks. 92 00:05:09,360 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: At some point back there, you had said that she 93 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:14,280 Speaker 1: sourced her dogs from different places, and I couldn't help 94 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:16,359 Speaker 1: in my mind think that it sounded like she was 95 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: running a farm to table operation out of her house. Yeah, 96 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:21,120 Speaker 1: that's not at all what she was doing. She was 97 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: doing the opposite of that. She's not eating dogs. She 98 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 1: was taking really good care of them, as we said. 99 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,359 Speaker 1: And one of the really crazy things about this, or 100 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: neat things about this, is she could rattle off the 101 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,360 Speaker 1: names of all the dogs she'd ever taken care of. Yeah, 102 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: she's being interviewed at age eighty, and she's not only 103 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: rattling off their names like Patch and Daddy, she's also 104 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:43,919 Speaker 1: talking about where she got each one or how she 105 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,239 Speaker 1: found each one too. So it's quite obvious that each 106 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 1: one of these dogs that she took in and would 107 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: have dozens at a time, meant something very important to her. 108 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: Each one. 109 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:56,599 Speaker 2: Yeah for sure. 110 00:05:57,480 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 3: I mean, just to be able to remember six hundred 111 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:02,359 Speaker 3: things at that age is pretty remarkable, Yeah for sure. 112 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 3: You know, and you know she couldn't do this without help. 113 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:08,480 Speaker 3: It seems like there were townspeople who would donate money 114 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:11,680 Speaker 3: for food, although one of them was keen to point 115 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 3: out that like, she never took anything for herself even 116 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 3: when people tried to help her out. Yeah, she didn't 117 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:18,839 Speaker 3: have a whole lot of money, but she did have 118 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:21,799 Speaker 3: the help of a local vet, a guy named Jeffrey Craddock, 119 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 3: who did pro bono care for her dogs. And he's 120 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 3: interviewed and basically was like, these are some of the 121 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 3: healthiest dogs I've come across. 122 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 2: He said. 123 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:32,240 Speaker 3: They seemed to live a little longer than most, an 124 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,479 Speaker 3: average of about sixteen years, and they're in better shape 125 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 3: than the average dog. She feeds them well, he said, 126 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:39,680 Speaker 3: but like not too much, he said, none of them 127 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 3: are overweight, and they're all very well behaved because you know, 128 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:44,640 Speaker 3: as you see on these dog walks, like a lot 129 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,960 Speaker 3: of them even aren't on leash. And in fact, she 130 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:51,119 Speaker 3: battled a leash law that came around at one point 131 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:53,279 Speaker 3: that I don't think was necessarily targeting her, but would 132 00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 3: have affected her. 133 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,359 Speaker 1: No, that's the other reason why people remember her. In 134 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:01,359 Speaker 1: addition to being mentioned in Sir Arthur's Personal History of 135 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:04,920 Speaker 1: twentieth century England called the Lion and the Unicorn. He 136 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 1: gave her that nickname in the book. One of the 137 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:10,120 Speaker 1: reasons she became kind of a legend in addition to 138 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: being the first like basically solo animal rescue person, yeah, 139 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:18,720 Speaker 1: was that she had quite a personality in. 140 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 4: And of it. 141 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:23,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, Like she was known to be rather vocal and defensive, 142 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:27,680 Speaker 1: and anytime somebody threatened her dogs with putting them on 143 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:29,840 Speaker 1: a leash or taking them away from her something, she'd 144 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: let them know in no uncertain terms that they were 145 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 1: not going to do that. 146 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 2: Yeah. 147 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 3: I think it's interesting, like she didn't seem personality plus, 148 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:41,400 Speaker 3: but kind of in a lovable way because she's like, 149 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 3: don't screw with my dogs. 150 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:43,120 Speaker 2: Yeah. 151 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 3: Apparently she would, you know, the cars would honk at 152 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 3: her and stuff because she would cause like, you know, 153 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 3: a bit of a traffic jam at times when she 154 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 3: has all these dogs on these walks and she would 155 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 3: ram that cart into the cars and not be too 156 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 3: nice sometimes, and was not nice to the city council. 157 00:07:56,840 --> 00:07:58,400 Speaker 3: Like I said, with that leash law, It's not like 158 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 3: she went in there with hat in hand. She even 159 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 3: petitioned the royal family at times, right. 160 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, apparently she would regularly write to them and I 161 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: don't know that they ever wrote back, but there was 162 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: an incident where a teacher said publicly that they saw 163 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,040 Speaker 1: Kate beating one of her dogs with a stick, and 164 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: she got so incensed about this and was so concerned, 165 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 1: I guess about what people thought of how she was 166 00:08:24,120 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: taking care of her dogs. She wrote to King George 167 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,880 Speaker 1: the sixth, Queen Elizabeth's father and said like that did 168 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: not happen. Unequivocally, that didn't happen, nor would it ever happen. 169 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:37,600 Speaker 1: So she would appeal to them too if the city 170 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,840 Speaker 1: council wasn't behaving. And I don't know what effect it has, 171 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 1: but it's definitely worth mentioning. 172 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,559 Speaker 3: Yeah, apparently she even sent Queen Elizabeth when she got married, 173 00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:50,720 Speaker 3: well before she's queen, I guess in November nineteen forty seven, 174 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 3: and it says that one of the dogs sent a 175 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:56,960 Speaker 3: wedding gift a dog leash to those corgies that Queen 176 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 3: Elizabeth loved. So that's pretty cute, you know. She she 177 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:03,439 Speaker 3: lived on a pension. Not a lot is known about 178 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,480 Speaker 3: her early life. I think I found that she was 179 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:10,080 Speaker 3: sadly both her parents had died when she was a 180 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:13,480 Speaker 3: young age and was raised by her aunt and kind 181 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:15,720 Speaker 3: of worked as a when she became a teenager, worked 182 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 3: as a housemaid at various places and institutions, and apparently 183 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 3: it was pretty religious, because she did say that, you know, 184 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:28,319 Speaker 3: capital h him, these animals belonged to him, and that 185 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:30,600 Speaker 3: I'm just sort of caring for them, you know, the 186 00:09:30,640 --> 00:09:31,200 Speaker 3: best I can. 187 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 1: I'm just cleaning up their poop exactly. She Yeah, you 188 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:39,080 Speaker 1: mentioned that, and I think it's worth pointing out again 189 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: she was not wealthy. She was living off a pension 190 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,680 Speaker 1: from the government from what I can tell, Like you said, 191 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:47,600 Speaker 1: she'd been a housemaid here there, and I don't know 192 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:50,320 Speaker 1: that she was occupied much after that. Once she bought 193 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:53,640 Speaker 1: her house for six hundred pounds. By the way, but 194 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:56,200 Speaker 1: there's a this is from a House of Works article, 195 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:00,760 Speaker 1: and there is a person named Heather drisk gold Woodford 196 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 1: who curates a Facebook page to Kate Camberly Kate and 197 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: has a lot of information about her, but basically points 198 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:12,199 Speaker 1: out that Kate was like the forerunner to the people 199 00:10:12,200 --> 00:10:14,920 Speaker 1: who are rescuing dogs today, and like you said before, 200 00:10:14,960 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: like this just did not happen. People just abandoned dogs. 201 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:20,840 Speaker 1: Maybe you would take as stray and like you said, 202 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: I think, but she just came out of nowhere and 203 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:26,960 Speaker 1: made such an impact and became so memorable that she 204 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: inspired other people to do the same, not nearly to 205 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: the degree that she did, Like there's very few animal 206 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:36,800 Speaker 1: rescue people with a couple dozen dogs at any given time, 207 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 1: but or let alone, not just fostering them, keeping them 208 00:10:41,559 --> 00:10:44,560 Speaker 1: for the rest of their lives. But she definitely inspired 209 00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:46,200 Speaker 1: people in that respect for sure. 210 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:49,199 Speaker 2: Yeah, very sadly she passed. 211 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 3: I guess she was about eighty four because this was 212 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:54,520 Speaker 3: in nineteen seventy nine. She had a series of strokes 213 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:57,559 Speaker 3: in the BBC she was eighty and seventy five. So 214 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 3: a nice, full life, saved a lot of dogs and cats. 215 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 3: So we salute Kamberly Kate. 216 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 1: Yes, we take our berets off to her. And short 217 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:07,559 Speaker 1: stuff is. 218 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:11,640 Speaker 3: That stuff you should know? 219 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:13,160 Speaker 2: Is a production of iHeartRadio. 220 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:16,880 Speaker 3: For more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 221 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:19,959 Speaker 3: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.