ho is Jane Costello?

People often ask how I became involved in animal rescue.

The honest answer is that I don’t really remember a time when animals weren’t part of my life.

My first dog was a timid little Italian Greyhound called Bambi. My dad bought her in a Glasgow pub for half a crown because her owner apparently valued another whisky more than his dog. I was only a year old at the time, so I can’t claim any credit for rescuing her, but Bambi became my childhood companion for the next sixteen years. Looking back, she was probably my first “Underdog”—although we didn’t use that expression back then. Our other family dogs all came
from local rescue shelters, and without realising it they quietly shaped the way I would look at animals for the rest of my life.

I grew up in rural Scotland surrounded by farms and Border Collies. I could happily spend hours watching a shepherd and his dogs working together across distant hillsides. It fascinated me that two completely different species could communicate with such trust and understanding. I think that was my first lesson that dogs are not lesser beings than ourselves—simply different, with their own intelligence, emotions and extraordinary ability to form partnerships with people.

After college I began travelling, eventually working as a yacht chef in the Mediterranean, Caribbean and the United States. Wherever I lived, I always seemed to find the local dogs. While other people admired beaches and sunsets, I was usually chatting to a dog outside a café or
making friends with the neighbourhood strays. Living in different countries taught me that while cultures treat dogs very differently, the bond between a dog and the person who truly understands it is universal.

Life has a funny way of leading us down paths we never planned to take. I certainly never set out to found an animal shelter.

In 2008 my husband Patrick and I moved from France to the tiny Caribbean island of Nevis with our three rescue dogs. A year later, during an evening walk along a beach, we found a starving Great Dane–Mastiff cross who had been abandoned after being used by a dog-fighting ring. We called him Marley. Rescuing Marley changed the direction of my life. His story opened my eyes to the plight of hundreds of other dogs on the island and led to the creation of CARE Nevis Animal Society, the first rescue shelter in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

For the next eight years my life revolved around dogs—and the remarkable people willing to help them. CARE grew far beyond anything I had imagined. We developed international adoption programmes, community outreach, humane education in schools and partnerships with veterinary students. We also hosted two World Vets mass spay and neuter campaigns, bringing free veterinary care to hundreds of local animals and giving many pet owners their first experience of modern, compassionate veterinary medicine.

Animal rescue is rarely straightforward. If you’re trying to change things, you occasionally find yourself standing toe to toe with people who would rather nothing changed at all. I’ve never been particularly good at walking away when animals are the ones paying the price. Some battles were won, others weren’t, but every challenge reinforced my belief that lasting change only happens when people begin to see animals differently.

One project that never came to fruition was a small veterinary clinic we hoped to build on Nevis. When the project was finally abandoned, I asked Allied Analytic to use the diagnostic analyser we had purchased to help another rescue organisation rather than refund the money. Instead, Jennifer and her team came up with an even kinder idea. They used its value to support several animal welfare and wildlife projects, creating what became known as Jane’s Kindness Grants. I was deeply touched because, to me, kindness is most meaningful when it keeps spreading from one person—or one organisation—to another.

Today I’m back in Europe, still doing what I’ve always done: championing the animals that are too often overlooked. My current project, The Underdogs, champions long-stay shelter dogs as they learn, grow and help them to prepare for a second chance. Alongside that I’m developing Planète Dog, a project inspired by one simple belief: The bond between dogs and humans has weakened in the past decade, I want to find out why and how we strengthen that bond. When we better understand dogs, we’ll build stronger relationships with them—and perhaps become better humans ourselves.

Looking back, I’ve realised that every important chapter of my life seems to begin with a dog. Bambi taught me compassion. Marley gave me purpose. Cookie reminds me every day that rescue is only the beginning.

After all these years, I still believe the greatest lesson dogs have to teach us isn’t about obedience or training. It’s about relationships.

Dogs have been teaching humans for thousands of years.
We just haven’t always been listening.

Author: Jane C 

Date Published: August 13th, 2026