PortugalAanifeira
ARPA the Cedar Centre Animais de Rua Aanifeira
Aanifeira – Associação dos Amigos dos Animais de Santa Maria da Feira is a non-profit organization with around 400 abandoned dogs and a small amount of cats in its care. With a no-kill policy everything is done to ensure that a dog or cat that is not adopted can live out its life in the best possible comfort at the shelter. the Cedar Centre
 Click on photo for album
After years of working and looking forward to retirement my wife and I decided to sell our business and home in the UK and retire to Portugal. We had always loved animals and from now on had not realised just how much our retirement was going to change as they would become an important part of our life.
The first animal to come into our care was a stray bitch. From then on the dogs continued to arrive. Next came Oscar saved from the prospects of being shot as he was no longer needed then came Oliver, Barney and Mister. From then on we seemed to attract all the local strays in the area. We came across an injured dog we named Ben as we had found him caught in a trap on a bend in the road. The longer we were here we began to realise just how much the animals were terribly neglected and were in need of love and care. It was at this stage 17 years ago we decided to build a community kennel. Not only did we re house the stray dogs and puppies but started to acquire kittens. We became somewhat of a name in the area and soon the locals were bringing strays, injured and animals they no longer needed to our door. We expanded and took in other animals 2 sheep called “Benson & Hedges” and 2 goats called “Clive & Maud”. We had to increase the size of the kennels and the cattery but when we reached a total of 50 residents in the kennels we decided we had to cut back due to lack of funds as this was putting pressure on the quality of care we could give. We have had a few tragedies along the way when someone poisoned Oliver, Barney and Mister all within a matter of days but this did not deter our passion to look after and care for these animals. A donkey joined the fold named Doogle who was so weak he had to be carried, he survived under our care for a couple of years. He was quickly followed by another seven all had been rescued from a terrible fate. Our care, devotion and hard work over the years have been truly rewarding. We have been totally self funded. We have tried to raise money through various events and with the kind help of close friends and family who have willingly given their time to help work in the kennels and to raise money through sponsorship we have managed to care and give love to many helpless animals who would otherwise have had no quality of life. The Cedar Center has An Isolation / Recovery / Whelping area with 4 kennels; 4 large community kennels ; 3 single kennels; Stabling for donkeys; Inside pen for the sheep; Large cattery for 6 cats; Housing for the Goat. We have a small clinic area where we administer first aid only. It is quite well equipped and we are at times called upon to deal with injured animals. Unfortunately we have had to turn part of the clinic area to a storage place to hold the products we sell to raise money at the Boot Fair. Our main policy is that provide quality of life not quantity of animals. We never charge a fee when an animals is adopted but use our best endeavours to ensure that the new home is suitable. (You do not have to be rich to be kind). We try to work with the local schools to show that there are right and wrong ways to behave towards the animals. This is sometimes difficult as there is a definite cultural mentality where we live in the country. But we are winning over some of the younger generation. Our Website is www.thecedarcenter.com Update september 2011: The Quinta is in a village called Casais de São Clemente. It is because of location that we are limited to the number of dogs as we are on the edge of the village. Casais is approximately 20 kilometres south of the City of Coimbra. This is a city of long standing and boasts one of the oldest established Universities in Europe. It sits beside the Mondego River. Casais is a very small village the nearest town is Miranda Do Corvo. The authorities there have been very supportive in allowing us to raise money using the gardens in front of the Town Hall to hold a monthly fair. There is not much else to say about Casais except that we have been here for 24 years looking after the animals for 18 years and we love it. Unfortunately the stipulations required by the DGV (Director General Veterinarians) regarding the design layout, and other specifications make it financially impossible for us to be able to expand. Many of these rules and regs came into force long after we started looking after the abandoned animals. Although the rules only relate to Dogs. Our kennels are large clean with separate sleeping accommodation. The dogs are fed twice a day and cleaned out every morning. All kennels are connected to separate septic tanks. Although we are not strictly in line with the regs the DGV have turned a blind eye providing we do not expand the dog population. Hence our decision to assist where possible with the grazing animals. We are maintaining our small but effective clinic and support where we can the local population with first aid and where necessary problems such as abscesses, open wounds. antibiotic injections etc using directions either psychically or by phone with our very supportive group of vets. Animais de Rua
The Animais de Rua NGO's main goal is to neuter and spay stray animals. The over-population of pets in Portugal is a reality one cannot afford to ignore: the number of animals in need of a home is far greater than the number of families willing to adopt and take them in, which leads us to the painful reality of so many animals being born and raised in the streets, without access to primary cares such as enough sustenance, healthcare and protection from the harsh environment. Many of the stray animals end up needlessly dying of hunger, illness or abuse. The Animais de Rua project was created to try to ease the suffering of those animals.
We run a TNR programme nationwide, and have sterilized, to this day, 2892 cats and dogs. We have protocols with 29 private veterinary clinics from North to South Portugal, that perform the sterilization of the animals we trap. We also foster a number of tame or sick animals and promote their adoption. Animais de Rua also runs an educational programme at schools, to promote responsible pet ownership and the importance of spay/neuter, and lobbies the municipalities to end trapping and killing of ferals and promote TNR as a more humane and effective way to control feral cat and dog populations. www.animaisderua.org ARPA Portugal
Everyday countless animals are
abandoned in Portugal, mainly dogs and cats. These are abandon for various
reasons, usually due to a lack of the owners commitment to their pets. This
situation is exacerbated as a result of the excess number of animals and the
ease of adoption. People do not give due consideration or thought to the love,
care and dedication required when taking an animal into their homes.
Unfortunately these animals are doomed to one or more of the following fates. They will most likely to end their lives in a municipal kennel where they will inevitably have to be destroyed, in an animal shelter and wait to be adopted and hopefully get a loving home or be involved in a road traffic accident, left to starve, pick up a poisonous product or disease or die from hypothermia. This is not the way to allow animals to be treated. Not to mention the threat they pose regarding health and hygiene to humans especially children. In Portugal alone it is estimated that 100,000 pets are put to sleep in municipal kennels every year. Please read further in below PDF File. http://www.arpacg.blogspot.com/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/ARPA/183977864975102 
|    Click on the photos to go to the photo album of the shelter.
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