For the love of dogs

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0:39In her home in Northern England, Nicola Baird is scrolling through social media on her phone when a post stops her. It looked like a poor Ugandan gentleman holding a dog with a bone exposed from his leg and I found it quite shocking because I thought that must be so painful. He was asking for donations to get veterinary help. I just thought, you know, poor guy, he's doing his best for this animal. Nicola loves dogs. She has four, including a retriever called Sebby. Oh, Sebby, get down. Come here, Sebby. Good boy. They're just so loyal. They're very loving and I think that they're a comfort and they are family to me.

1:28And this dog called Finn in Uganda in the social media post that needs help looks a lot like her dog. The post says Finn has been hit by a car. They urgently need money for treatment. I messaged him and he was very pleasant. You know, we're just doing our best. We really love Finn. You know, he was in a road traffic accident. We want to get him help. We just have no money. And you always want to see the good in people. So I said, well, what can we do? What's veterinary care like there? And he said, oh, no, there are some lovely vets near us that we can use, but they're very expensive here. So Nicola sends him 80 US dollars.

2:10A few days later, the man sends her pictures of the dog supposedly after the operation lying on the ground. But something doesn't feel right. Nobody who cares about dogs, if they have taken a dog from an accident and they want the best for the dog, would then place that dog in the filth that they had placed him. It just, nobody, it doesn't matter where you're from or your level of education, you would not place a dog in that environment. I work in the veterinary sector and I sent the image to my colleagues and they confirmed, you know, my fears that it was not a legitimate operation. You know, this is abuse.

2:51And actually that was their comments, this is abuse. I felt devastated, absolutely devastated and very guilty that he had been subjected to that pain. We review hundreds of similar campaigns raising money for dog shelters in Uganda, many of them from one town, Mitiana. That's a two-hour drive from the capital Kampala. Taken together, these Mitiana pages appear to have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. But where is that money actually going? This is For the Love of Dogs, an Africa Eye investigation for the BBC World Service. I'm Nyasha Michelle.

3:43Nikola starts watching these posts more closely. Soon, Nikola's social media feeds are full of similar posts. Please help me. My dogs are going to die. No one will care for them. Here a question for help to get dogs food. I'm calling upon to your support. Young men in Uganda asking for money. Dogs they say they have rescued that are starving, that are badly injured.

4:16As you see, our dogs are hungry. Please, you need your help. The closer she looks, the more she's convinced they are scams. So now, every time she sees a similar video, she leaves a comment. Be careful. Sometimes, she even messages the people donating. The donors that were sending money to the scammers were middle-aged white women that were animal lovers, generally very religious ladies. Whenever I contacted them, I would always be very kind to them to say, look, this is happening, because I knew how devastated I was. It starts to take over her life. She needs help. I started the page and people from all over the world contacted me to say that they had been thinking the same thing and it was so nice to see a page that actually was highlighting what was going on.

5:08It was really nice to be able to work with so many kind-hearted animal lovers that wanted to see good being done and wanted to see things being done properly and to stop the cruelty that is going on in Uganda. Hi ladies. What's been going on this week with the scammers? What's the plan of attack for the coming week. There's too much to do every day. I found so many scammers. In 2024, Nicola set up this group called We Won't Be Scammed or WWBS. Today, a few of the group are online discussing their next steps. Animals are only money making machines for them. It has to be stopped. Also, we have that problem.

5:50Yeah. We have to fight against enablers who We're a group of around 20 women. We are all women. We're all over the world, from the US to Australia to Italy, Poland, Finland, Singapore, absolutely everywhere. You know, you name it.

6:16again and again the same kinds of videos appear the same kinds of appeals the same kinds of injuries and in lots of them the same dog we had seen him on instagram tiktok x even linkedin

6:39His name is Russet. Oh, my friend, dear Russet, I really love you so much. I really love you, Russet. In the videos, the fox-red Labrador lies on the ground, weak and thin. His leg is badly injured. He looks in a terrible state. He is crying out in pain and he looks severely abused. It was very, very distressing for me and everyone on the group. We were heartbroken and felt helpless. Under the videos are dozens of comments. People asking for updates, people sending more money. But Russet isn't getting better. In fact, he's getting worse. In some videos, he appears to be getting veterinary treatment.

7:31We saw him being forcibly held down and the people around him, they had no idea what they were doing. He is crying out in agony again and they are poking the wound, which no vet would ever do. But they are poking him in this wound while he is fully conscious. There is just no treatment protocol there. It is just complete abuse. Nicola becomes convinced that Russet's injuries are not accidental, that he's being deliberately hurt to make the videos more shocking and raise more money. We want to find out whether she's right. To do that, we need to try and find Russet and the people raising money in his name.

8:15You're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

8:22At Britbox, character is everything. Stream the iconic characters defining British TV on BritBox, including Ludwig. I think I might just have solved a murder. Vera. Now we're getting somewhere. Agatha Christie's Poirot. Bonjour. And more beloved favourites. I'm a policeman. I'm professional. I'm a time lord. I'm the Duchess of York. Once you know them, you never quite forget them. I be in vain. I just am special. Stream the best of British TV on BritBox. Watch with a free trial today at BritBox.com. This is the invoice she told me for Rousset. The veterinary doctor gave it to me today. Videos of Rousset and other dogs don't reveal much about where they're filmed.

9:09But when we start comparing posts from different accounts, something stands out. The same red door, the same brick wall, the same wire mesh fence. Different accounts, but the same location. It leads us to a dog shelter run by a man called Charles Lubaja. This is where my colleagues, working undercover, come in. They pose as people hoping to start making dog rescue content. We've been told some shelters operate more like rental businesses, charging creators to use dogs in their videos. When our reporter speaks to Charles, he confirms it. He says he charges eight US dollars to film there. We arrange to visit.

10:03Inside, Charles takes them to a small cage. Dogs are crammed together, climbing over one another to avoid lying in their own waste. They're in a poor state. Very quickly, Charles offers some revealing advice. There are ways, he says, to get more money from foreign donors. You tell the white people that you are being evicted and the landlord has given you one month notice to leave. They will then start a GoFundMe fundraising campaign for you to build land. And once you receive the GoFundMe money, use it to buy a car or build a house. If you already have your own shelter, you just repair and move things around and just for sure.

10:51Charles also admits he misleads his donors. He says he'll ask for$500 for a week's worth of food when it actually costs them about$42. And he tells people that the dogs are sick and need treatment to bring in more money. He describes it as good business and speaks openly about deceiving those who donate. You stick the needle in the dog's fur. So you pretend to the donor that you're treating the dog. And you show the medicine. But in reality, you have only injected it in the far. We do it all the time. Some white people just watch your videos and don't engage at all. Those are the majority, and they donate the most.

11:39Once you get a white donor, don't treat them as a brother. You have to squeeze them, drain them out of their money. Drain them completely. You can hear our undercover team laughing there. Not because it's funny, but out of disbelief at how openly Charles describes the scams. He shows no real concern about what he's admitting. But he is wary of one thing, people trying to expose operations like his. He warns us to be careful of groups dedicated to calling out creators they believe are scamming donors. He also tells us that in the past, some people would deliberately harm dogs to create more compelling content.

12:28Sometimes the dogs fight each other, or some young people would cut the dogs. Others started cutting the dogs, and the white people caught on. When they ran out of content, some people started intentionally cutting the dogs and asked for money. But he says that donors have become more aware and can now recognize when suffering is being staged for attention. Then our undercover team pull out their phones and show Charles a video of Raset. Straight away, he says, that's my dog. He's surprised that we have the video because he says he deleted all the videos of Raset from his accounts. When we ask him where Raset is now, he says he was hit by a motorcycle and then taken away from Mitiana by foreigners.

13:25Sometimes if they realize the dog cannot be treated here, they come and take it away for treatment and keep it. He doesn't tell us what happened to Raset after he was taken. So we're going to find out. And while we're in Mitiana, we meet someone who lives near a dog shelter and can tell us more about how the scammers operate. When someone succeeds and gets money, they often spend it on kaza. When other young people see this kaza, they want to do the same. This is Ashuraf, an animal lover who looks after chickens in his garden and cares for goats with greys around the town. I'm now going to show you the goats, my goats.

14:18Its mother is one week pregnant, so soon you're expecting babies.

14:31To others, especially young people, dogs are seen as a source of money. As for me, I love animals. When I look at an animal growing under my care, it gives me a sense of responsibility. It gives me joy.

14:47Even though I desire the money and the lifestyle of the scammers, their business has never been my thing.

14:56The animals used in these scams cannot call for help. Some people are afraid to speak out about the scammers because they could use their wealth and power to retaliate. They have fear.

15:14If it's risky for locals in Mitiana to expose the scammers, can outsiders help?

15:23Hiya, hi. You look beautiful. Lots of wagging tails, that's what we like. Nicola and her group decide that warning people online is not enough. They start trying to intervene directly, and their tactics are controversial among some in the animal welfare community. At first, she says they try to negotiate with the men posting the videos, offering to send food or veterinary supplies, in exchange for the dogs being handed over. So we could work with them, we could, you know, I could send dog food, I could send veterinary supplies and we could build a relationship with them. And in that way we could then transfer the dogs that were being abused to the vets.

16:07As the scammers have got wealthier and greedier and crawler, it's become more and more difficult. And every case we have to approach differently. Nicola says she has a small trusted group of people she works with in Uganda who basically steal the dogs. We know we have to act fast. So we work with our partners in Uganda who work undercover. Some of them pretend to be scammers. Some of them literally just hide out to watch the shelters. and when the scammers are away and they all go away for these trips we will then just take the dogs and I don't feel guilty about that because these dogs are being and cats are being horrifically abused and without us they would die very quickly and we are saving them from that abuse.

17:00This is the first time Nicola is admitting publicly she has organized for very sick or injured dogs to be stolen from some of the shelters. But she insists she never pays the shelters. No, we never, never pay them. And because that would be enabling abuse. And that's something I personally would never agree with. And actually, when we sent mobile vets to treat dogs, they are always asked for money. And of course, they go, well, I don't, I don't have any money. So they have to stand firm and but no we've never ever paid for a rescue because all it would do is pay for the next dog to be abused as well so it wouldn't be stopping the problem.

17:41We asked Nicola what her response is to criticism of stealing the dogs and those who say it also fused the problem. We try every way possible to rescue an animal in the safest most legitimate way. These are stray animals that have been taken in to be viciously abused and exploited the dogs that we steal are the ones that are the most severely abused and and I mean severely abused I don't feel bad about stealing a dog that's being abused by a scammer and I know I'll get criticism for that but you know I have to put that animal's life first above a a criminal as I see it that just wants to hurt an animal like that for money.

18:45Dr Isa Lutebe Mberwa was at his veterinary clinic in the capital city Kampala when he received an email from a woman in the UK, Barbara. She tells him she has managed to negotiate the release of a very sick dog from a guy who was making fundraising videos of him in Mityana. The dog's name is Russet. Barbara wants to pay Dr. Lutebembeira to go fetch Russet, but she warns him that she is sceptical that the people holding Russet were handing over. So she asks him to do everything he can to have the sick dog released. We tend to have cars which we hire and then go and pick dogs and then bring them.

19:26But for this case, the description that I was given indicated that these people needed someone whom they are a bit familiar with if they are to give up this dog. I'm supposed to be a bit friendly with them, not so off to scare them off and run with the asset. He has to move quickly. Barbara gives him a number to call and the person who answers gives him a location to head to. Now on call, I just made an assessment of what kind of individuals are these. Are they the kind of individuals, if you go with a car, are they going to be scared? Or are they the kind of individuals, if you go with something which blends in, they might be more welcoming.

20:04The decision I came up with was to go with something which was blending in, so they don't think it's something off. So I rode the bike up to Mityana to pick the dog.

20:16But when Dr. Lutebe Mberwa gets to the agreed meeting place, there is no one there. It's just a dead end. He calls the number again and is directed to a compound with an incomplete brick house about a kilometre away. There he is met by a group of young men. There were around seven boys, all of them in the ages of around 28 years and below. And they had brought out russet and put him there. But in something like 100 meters from where I was, I could hear dogs barking. They did not want me to think about the other dogs. Since my priority was on this very dog, all I did was examine him there to see if he can manage the journey.

20:57Then moved him to the clinic. So I was shocked to see immediately these young boys who were having phones, which I realized had very good cameras. And I wondered why they were filming. what was the thought behind filming and what were they going to use the videos for. Dr Lutebe Mberwa says at this point he had never heard of dog shelters raising money from videos online. His focus is on getting Rasset out, back to his clinic for urgent treatment. In this room we have six cages. Now the six cages are majorly for intensive care dogs which we are putting on ribs. That's real intensive care where you have a lot of observation.

21:40Rasset is heavily sedated. His injury shocked Dr. Lutebe Mberwa. He doesn't believe they were caused by an accident. The chances of this being an accident are low. Why? Because if you look at these bones, all of them are broken almost in the same positions, positions which is the weakest.

22:04Dr. Lutebe Mberwa and his team perform a delicate operation to mend Russet's broken legs. Then they wait. They are hopeful he will recover. Barbara is introduced to Nicola and her group We Won't Be Scammed by one of Dr. Lutembe Mbero's contacts. She gets in touch with Nicola, saying she has rescued Russet and he's getting treatment. We were also relieved and delighted that Russet was safe. A British lady contacted me to say that she had managed to release Russet from the scammers and get him to a vet and that he was now going to get treatment and that he had been administered pain relief. I felt like I'd been so upset for two weeks watching this poor dog and just thought of him getting some pain relief was just enough for me to kind of take a breather for a second, you know.

23:00But just three days after his operation, Rasset dies. Dr. Lutebe Mberwa can't explain it. To this day, I still wonder why he died after the surgery. I had a lot of expectations to have him really move on his legs. And I committed a lot, but it never worked out. It was really sad, given everything he had gone through. He did not deserve to die. he had a bright life ahead of him because I mean he even had a person who was willing to foster him.

23:43On his laptop is the last photo of Rasset. He's resting on a checkered blanket on the floor of the clinic calmly looking at the camera and Dr. Lutebe Mberwa who's holding it. This was a very sad pic. I look at it and I remember his story. I think it's the best pictures which show his actual face and how he looked like. Which really, if you looked in his face, you would see that he had endured a lot of suffering and a lot of pain.

24:27Charles Lubaja, the shelter owner in Mitiana, admitted to our undercover reporter that he had at one point owned Rasset. We contacted Charles for comment. When shown images of Rasset, he said he did not recognise the dog. He acknowledged that content creators paid to film at his shelter, but he denied injuring dogs. Mitiana police told us they have previously investigated animal cruelty at dog shelters and made arrests. Before broadcast, the BBC informed the relevant Ugandan animal welfare authorities about conditions at Charles Lubadja's shelter. It's now been more than four years since Nicola started exposing pet rescue scams.