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Featured Image Credit: Instagram/@paulogrady
Topics: Animals, Celebrity, TV And Film, Dog
Joe Harker
Donations to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home have surpassed over £100,000 following the death of much loved TV and radio presenter Paul O'Grady.
The 67-year-old passed away 'unexpectedly but peacefully' at his home last month and it has prompted a huge swell of tributes in the presenter's memory.
One of the things people most associated with O'Grady was his love of animals, with his beloved dogs Buster and Olga being regular stars on The Paul O'Grady Show and his series Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs showing just how much he loved animals.
His love of animals extended towards helping shelters find their animals a forever home, as O'Grady was an ambassador for Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.
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The animal shelter credited his influence on thousands of abandoned animals finding new loving homes, with Battersea chief executive Peter Laurie calling the presenter a 'devoted animal lover with the biggest heart' in a statement on their site.
He went on to say that O'Grady 'fell head over heels in love with every dog he met at our centres' and credited the presenter as having 'had an extremely hands on approach' in his role as an ambassador.
O'Grady's association with Battersea Dogs & Cats Home first began back in 2012 during the filming of his first series of For the Love of Dogs, where he fell in love with the place.
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He also took on a number of the dogs housed there himself, starting with Chihuahua Jack Russell cross puppy Eddie, before later adopting Shih-tzu Boycie, Maltese dog Conchita, the mongrel puppies Arfur and Nancy and finally, Sausage the Dachshund.
The charity says they have received a huge volume of messages in the wake of O'Grady's death and since setting up a fundraiser in tribute of the star, it has raised more than £100,000 worth of donations.
They said they would be 'forever be indebted to him for his endless generosity and support', and at time of writing, the donation pot has just climbed above £112,000.
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Plenty of those leaving donations have also left messages offering their condolences to O'Grady's loved ones.
ITV paid tribute to the For the Love of Dogs presenter following his death, changing their schedule so they could air an episode of the show which left many viewers feeling emotional.
A special tribute show, For the Love of Paul O'Grady will be showing on ITV1 on 9 April at 8pm, and before he died, O'Grady had filmed another season of For the Love of Dogs which will air as expected from 13 April onwards.