Closing Centro Canino will be a “tragedy” says Selina Scott

International broadcaster and celebrity Selina Scott yesterday threw her full support behind the current campaign to save the Centro Canino animal home in Palma, which has been given until July at the latest by the Palma City Council to find a new location or close. Selina Scott, who shot to fame and became a major household name when, alongside Frank Bough, she launched breakfast television with the BBC, has owned a secluded country home on the island in the Andratx area for a number of years, returned to the UK yesterday, but she told the Bulletin that the situation with the Centro Canino is saddening and that it would be a “tragedy” if it has to close. “With so many people coming to the island and so many rich people living here, it would be an awful tragedy if the cats and dogs have to be put down,” she said. Elizabeth Whitehead, who is a member of the committee which has been set up to raise funds for a new centre and to lobby the city council over saving the home for abandoned animals, said yesterday that the campaign is slowly gathering momentum. A 150'000 peseta donation was received from a supporter in Austria yesterday and a charity marathon is being planned to take place in Calvia. But, Whitehead, who admitted “I'm not ashamed to beg in order to save the animals” said yesterday that the committee needs more funds and more people, especially people with office skills to help man the committee headquarters.