A pensioner has vowed to travel the length and breadth of the country in search of her two dogs after they were given new homes while she fought for her life in hospital.

Rita Johnson, of Thornton, Bradford, is pleading with Bradford Social Services to return her "boys" - nine-year-old Benjamin and 12-year-old Tinie.

When the pensioner collapsed in a neighbour's garden last May the animals were taken to kennels in Doncaster by social services and re-housed in Whitby.

After defying the odds and surviving two brain haemorrhages and a massive heart attack, Miss Johnson was distraught to find the animals had been separated and given new homes without her consent.

Residents in Thornton are backing her bid to be reunited with her beloved animals and have decided to start a petition.

And today the 60-year-old said, is all else failed, she would travel to Whitby herself to track down the dogs and brings them back home.

"I suppose I am in no fit state to travel up there, but I will get myself a taxi if need be.

"I am determined to get my boys back. I have already stocked the freezer up with meat and chicken ready for them coming home."

Miss Johnson's neighbour, Sheila Kelly, who is spearheading the petition said: "When I read about what had happened to Rita in the Telegraph and Argus I knew I had to do something to help. There has been an injustice. The dogs should never have been given new homes and they should never have been separated."

Social services say Miss Johnson agreed to hand over responsibility for the dogs during her illness, and say now that the animals have been re-housed the matter is out of its hands.

The owner of the kennels in Doncaster where the dogs were kept said the new owners knew about the mix-up, but were unwilling to part with the pets. "They have obviously become very attached to them."

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