Search icon

News

21st Sep 2023

Liam Gallagher adopts stray dog from Thailand after application stuns sanctuary owner

Charlie Herbert

Liam Gallagher adopts stray dog

‘The name on the form was Liam Gallagher, but I thought that’s obviously not him’

A dog rescuer was left stunned when Liam Gallagher got in touch with him to adopt a stray dog from a Thailand sanctuary.

Niall Harbison, 43, initially thought it was a wind-up when he saw the former Oasis frontman’s name among the applications to adopt Buttons.

He told Sky News: “The name on the form was Liam Gallagher, but I thought that’s obviously not him.

“Then the next line was occupation, and it was ‘singer’. I thought my mates were taking the p***. But I checked it out a bit more and his details all stacked up.”

Harbison rescues and cares for abandoned dogs in Thailand at his Happy Doggo sanctuary, and has almost 650,000 followers on Instagram, with people then able to submit applications to adopt the dogs.

Gallagher had filled out a Google form just like everyone else, and Harbison ended up on a video call with him to make sure that his home would be the perfect fit for Buttons.

“I did interviews with him and his lovely [partner],” he said.

“They have cats and they just really wanted a dog. They’ve been following me on social media and wanted Buttons.”

Harbison later shared the news of Button’s famous adopter in a post on X, with Oasis’ Stand By Me playing in the background.

At the age of just five months, Buttons had been abandoned by her owners for “not being cute enough,” and spent three months at Harbison’s sanctuary, on the island of Koh Samui.

Gallagher also shared a post of him with his new pet, with Harbison commenting: “I knew the second she set foot there she was home. She knew it too. What a feeling. Big love to you all.”

The singer shared a couple of snaps with his new canine companion (Instagram/liamgallagher)

Harbison, who is originally from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, set up the sanctuary two years ago when he was recovering from problems with alcohol.

Having initially started with 80 dogs, the sanctuary is now home to 800 pooches.

Related links:

Noel Gallagher calls Adele ‘f***ing awful and offensive’ in huge rant

Noel Gallagher adds fuel to rumours of Oasis reunion following Liam comments