I don't see caring for animáls as a job

Centre boss retires after 50 years

- MARTIN FRICKER

ONE of Britain's most dedicated animal charity workers is retiring after saving thousands of pets during his 50-year career.

Animal-lover Neil Edwards, 67, began volunteering with the Blue Cross in 1974 when he was a teenage schoolboy.

He has spent the past five decades rescuing or rehoming tens of thousands of sick and abandoned animals.

They have included dogs, cats, horses, birds, foxes, tortoises and even a bat.

Dad-of-three Neil retired yesterday but has vowed to carry on helping out for free.

He began volunteering at the UK's first-ever animal hospital in Victoria, Central London, aged just 15.