IN A TWIST of fate, a pair of abandoned Labrador puppies rescued from certain death and starvation in Sarajevo have been reunited in Swindon.

Nine-month old brothers Laurel and Hardy, or Lolek and Bolek in Serbo-Croatian, were born in a hole in the ground in Bosnia-Herzegovina and suffered hunger, painful skin infections and unspeakable cruelty as they were left to fend for themselves before being saved and taken across Europe to caring foster families in the UK.

When just a few weeks old, Laurel wandered into a house and was chased by its occupants who chopped off his tail with garden shears leaving him fighting for his life.

It was only down to the love and care of lone rescuer Mia Ozegovic, who refused against all advice to have him put down, that he survived.

Eventually, she found Hardy a temporary home in Old Town with dog-lover and private foster carer Julia Arman. The Labrador Retriever Rescue charity took Laurel under its wing and looked for a suitable family in the South of England.

In a lucky and unexpected turn of events, the organisation ended up finding Laurel a carer, Chris Scott, just six miles away from Hardy in Oakhurst. The dogs, whose antics earned them the names of the legendary slapstick comedians, were reunited for a few hours of play yesterday for the first time since their arrival in the UK six days ago.

Julia 51, a drama teacher, said: “Both of these dogs had a terrible start to life. It was a miracle that Laurel survived and Hardy had a terrible skin disease.

“The situation in Bosnia is terrible for dogs and cats. They are treated like vermin and the government and local authorities do not implement humane control of the dog and cat population, despite receiving funding to carry this out.

“Instead dogs are rounded up and killed in horrible ways such as beating, poisoning, shooting and lethal injections into the heart with bleach or poison by dog catchers who are paid approximately €5 per dog.”

She added: “We didn’t know until the day before that the dogs were coming to the same place.

“They were reunited in Swindon. It’s really fantastic.”

Although safe and in loving homes, their journey is just beginning as the tough little dogs are looking for caring people to adopt them.

To find out how to adopt Laurel contact Pauline Griffiths of Labrador Retriever Rescue South England at pauline.lrrse@gmail.com.

For Hardy contact Julia at sya@gmx.co.uk.