A high-flying city trader, who used to broker £120m deals for an asset management company in the City of London, has quit the rat race to Wales to start a website dubbed 'Facebook for pets'.

Martin Bowen left life in the City to work on creating his website A4Animals, which recently went live and enjoyed 8,000-page turns in its first 10 days.

The inspiration for the site was Martin’s loyal black labrador Ben – who tragically died due to a suspected case of anti-freeze poisoning three years ago.

While A4Animals does not let animals 'like' or 'poke' each other yet, it allows pet owners to feature their favourite animal in words and photographs and link with other owners via a range of social networking pages.

It is something akin to what Martin says he desperately searched for but could not find in the wake of Ben’s death.

The seeds of Martin’s career change were sown after a tragic episode out walking with his black labrador Ben near his home in Bridgend in 2009.

The regular route the pair walked was often a dumping ground for joyriders and after Ben took a drink from water in a nearby ditch he died within seven days.

It was only afterwards that Martin, who was a police officer and captain of South Wales Police Life Saving Team before his career in property finance, suspected the water may have been polluted with leaked chemicals or anti-freeze.

And he said Ben’s death was more upsetting than any bereavement he had ever experienced.

It is anticipated the website will soon secure some £78,000 of advertising revenue, increasing to a potential £600,000 per annum by year five.

To visit the site click here