I first became aware of Pumpkin back in October 2025 and completely fell in love with her. Who wouldn’t? She’s absolutely adorable. Later I discovered that she was the ambassador for Pumpkin and Friends Charity. Their messaging seemed to tally with what we were trying to achieve with Woofability, focussing not on a dog’s disability but on what they could do to live happy, fulfilling lives.

I messaged my colleague Sue Davey and suggested we should put them on our page dedicated to rescues (which at the time I thought they were) and that I should also contact them to see if they’d like to write a blog about Pumpkin.

I was so taken with the charity that I then contacted my good friend Dr Marc Abraham OBE who runs APDAWG and suggested that CEO Tammie Fox should be one of the speakers at their upcoming State of Rescue event in Parliament. I introduced them via email, and he kindly agreed to invite her to be a speaker.

Meanwhile I wrote a blog about disabled dogs (read here) and emailed all the charities I’d put links to in it, hoping it would help them promote their work. That’s when I got an email from CEO Tammie Fox explaining:

“Unfortunately, I won’t be able to share it on our social media channels at this time, as one of the charities mentioned has been attacking us for a number of years and there is currently an ongoing police investigation. It’s been incredibly heartbreaking to deal with, especially when our focus is simply on helping disabled animals and their families.”

I was shocked. This sounded awful and so unlike the kind people we knew who worked in the disabled animal sector. To be frank I also found the tone of her email extremely patronising. She went on to say:

“I hope you don’t mind me also gently clarifying that Pumpkin & Friends Charity does much more than was mentioned in the blog (and I truly say this with appreciation, not criticism). Alongside providing wheelchairs and mobility equipment, we also fund rehabilitation and veterinary costs, deliver education and training, work directly alongside vets and professionals, run a wheelchair fitting and training centre in Lincoln, and operate our first charity shop. Our mission is very broad, and we’re proud of the holistic support we provide.”

The blog was about disabled animals, not about charities or rescues. I’d only included links to them as a courtesy, but she seemed to think her charity deserved more coverage.

And then everything changed. We discovered who the rescue was that she referred to as having attacked them for a number of years. That rescue was Broken Biscuits Charity and their account of the last four years of being attacked and targeted by Pumpkin and Friends Charity was utterly horrendous. Unlike CEO Tammie Fox who provided no evidence for her claims, Broken Biscuits Charity provided a plethora of cold, hard evidence.

We had already started talking to other people who had also had bad experiences with Pumpkin and Friends Charity and its Trustees over the years. A picture began to emerge of a very different situation to the one I’d seen on social media and initially been so taken in by.

Unfortunately, this happened just prior to the APDAWG event, and it was too late to uninvite Tammie Fox to speak, and I felt it wouldn’t be fair to interfere with an invite I’d arranged. Another unfortunate situation arose on the evening of the event with Marc Abraham’s mum saving me a seat which happened to be right next to Pumpkin in her pushchair and Tammie Fox and Richard Blogg. However, when she stood up to speak, she was right next to me, and I heard every word with crystal clarity.

Before she read her speech she told the audience of 200 which consisted of dog rescues, charities and MPs how she came to adopt Pumpkin. She said that the rescue didn’t tell her about Pumpkin’s condition and gave her no support. There was an audible gasp of horror around the room upon hearing this. And that’s when I knew for sure we were on the right track with our investigations.

Nine months later we had no option, because she blocks anyone who asks questions on her social media platforms, but to set up a Facebook page called Pumpkin and Friends Only Facts that asked the questions we felt it was in the public interest to understand the answers for. This is when CEO Tammie Fox and her followers unleashed a torrent of abuse on an innocent disabled animal rescue called Pawsitive Futures with the charity’s founder, Helen Lomax, bearing the brunt of the personal attacks.

We couldn’t let this continue so we announced who was behind the questions. Unfortunately, this didn’t stop the attacks on Helen, but it did give CEO Tammie Fox a new and even more vociferous target for her personal attacks. Me. And this time she didn’t just rely on the outrage of her followers to troll and send abusive messages. She did it herself. As usual, she took everything out of context for maximum rage-baiting. She even accused us of reporting concerns about a disabled dog to the RSPCA, which we absolutely hadn’t done.

Then she put photographs of me on her page, circling me like prey. She called me a ‘disgusting piece of shit’ and one of her close friends Tony Hoffstetter posted the following comment:

“The only thoughts going through my head are things that would land me in prison. So I’ll try to say something nice. Linda Goodman I don’t think you have a mother. You weren’t born. You rose from the depths of Hell. You’re a Demon B*tch. If you do have a mother, I’m sure she’s heartbroken over what a piece of shit she gave birth to, and regrets the night she spent with the devil 9 months prior. If she’s not alive, then she probably died of shame!”

As a result, we felt we had no choice but to release a Public Statement on social media, which you can read here.

If this is the quality of her friends and followers, and someone she refers to as ‘family’ it says a lot about the kind of person CEO Tammie Fox really is and the way she runs her charity.

I was horrified at the sudden personal attacks on me when all I did was ask questions. I didn’t attack her charity or her personally, but she obviously felt very threatened by our questions to have erupted like that on social media. She created outrage in her followers provoking them into sending threatening and abusive comments and emails to me, and to be honest I began to feel fearful for my personal safety and that of my rescue dogs. I was so scared that my friend and colleague Sue Davey had to come and stay with me because I was going to pieces with the emotional stress of it all. I just couldn’t stop shaking.

Never, in all my years of investigating puppy farmers, puppy dealers and backyard breeders, going undercover to get evidence of animal cruelty have I ever experienced personal fear like this. I hated that I had gone from being an investigator to becoming yet another of Tammie Fox’s victims overnight.

During the five days my friend and colleague Sue Davey stayed with me, putting her own personal safety at risk, we talked things through and I’m now in a better place. One incredible thing that did come from those five days was our discussion around resurrecting a campaign we’d run alongside our anti-puppy farming campaign, C.A.R.I.A.D.. This campaign was game-changing and made an enormous difference to rescues, the public and animals in need. We will be launching this initiative soon, and we hope the public will get behind it.

UPDATE – 4TH NOVEMBER ‘PREY’ POST RESHARED

On 4th November, CEO Tammie Fox felt the need to reshare the post where she circled me as prey on her Pumpkin the Wheelie Westie Warrior Facebook page.

What kind of person chooses to reshare a post publicly accusing me of bullying when those allegations have already been categorically disputed in a public statement?

The backlash from Tammie Fox’s original post caused me such genuine fear for my safety that I felt compelled to issue that statement.

For Tammie Fox, the CEO of a registered charity, to deliberately bring those accusations back into public circulation is, in my opinion, utterly disgraceful.

So much for women supporting women. Where is the compassion, the accountability or even the most basic consideration for another woman’s safety and wellbeing? Apparently, those principles are easier to preach than to practise.