A BOURNEMOUTH animal lover is improving the lives of injured street dogs in Sri Lanka after setting up a charity.

Alena Warburton, 34, first visited the country last year, but was left devastated at the plight of dogs living on the streets.

In a bid to make a difference, Alena returned to Sri Lanka and spent five weeks volunteering at a dog sanctuary caring for injured dogs.

While volunteering, she noticed many of the dogs brought to the sanctuary had makeshift collars of wire or rope, leaving them with deep wounds.

It was then she decided to start making collars for the dogs and her charity, Lucas Helps Dogs, named after her own rescue dog Lucas, was born.

Alena said: "I wanted to send some collars over, but after doing some research I found out I could make them myself out of very durable and safe paracord. So, I started to make collars to donate during my volunteer stay. The money raised by selling my collars is either used to purchase supplies to make collars to be donated, or donated to different established charities in Sri Lanka to support them,"

Visit www.lucashelpsdogs.com to order a custom made item or to find out more.