The Sara Association for the Protection of Animals and Plants has launched a "desperate cry" addressed to the citizens of Lanzarote and their public representatives, "in yet another attempt to make Lanzarote a more dignified place for animal life."
According to the shelter, "it cannot afford to stand idly by the regrettable spectacle of seeing animals being run over on the roads we travel. Domestic animals, cats and dogs that are irresponsibly abandoned by their owners and wander disoriented and lost throughout the island." Because, according to "Sara", "the macabre spectacle, far from disappearing, continues to increase."
In these circumstances, they state that the association "is absolutely overwhelmed to take in more animals in the current situation, as its facilities have become small and the financial amounts that the various municipalities of the Island signed at the time, in most cases, have not been made effective."
Throughout last year, 987 animals entered the association's facilities, more than half of which were dogs, although they point out that, "fortunately, 930 were adopted by citizens." And with regard to the sterilization campaign, in 2008 it reached 752 abandoned animals. "This implies an expense in each sterilization, an amount that in the total sum, we find difficult to bear due to the continuous increase in the number of animals that arrive at the Shelter," they point out. Currently, the shelter houses about 200 dogs and 60 cats.
History of the association
This association arose in 1986 and currently brings together 215 members who donate 60 euros per year for the maintenance of man's best friends. But despite this financial aid, the shelter assures that the amount is not enough. This is because the expense generated by the association amounts to 16,000 euros per month, which is equivalent to 500 euros per day.
The Arrecife City Council and the Cabildo also collaborate with the shelter's expenses. However, according to a collaborator of the Association, Flavia Baridón, "in 2002 agreements were signed with all the City Councils of the island and with the Cabildo by which economic commitments were acquired with the shelter", but now only the Arrecife City Council and the first island institution have maintained their commitment to the shelter.
Problems and solutions
One of the biggest problems currently facing the shelter is precisely the expense involved. "We need financial help because it is a social cause in which we are all involved," says Baridón. For this reason, she asks for support from the institutions since, according to her, "the shelter's proposals are ignored."
Some of the solutions proposed by Sara are to study the implementation of an island-wide citizen awareness campaign to prevent the abandonment of animals; the removal of animals from public roads and their identification and subsequent castration; and that the City Councils process and severely sanction the owners of abandoned animals that can be identified.
A better future
Its facilities, located on the road that connects Tahíche with San Bartolomé, house abandoned animals that the association's workers and volunteers collect around the island to attend to their care in the shelter's facilities. There, a veterinarian and two assistants take care of the abandoned animals.
The function of this association is to take care of the needs of the animals found and try to find them a responsible home. Pets usually arrive at the shelter either because their owners leave them there or because members of the association pick them up on the street, sometimes warned by a neighbor of the island.
Thus, at the shelter they vaccinate, deworm and take care of their health. Once the cats and dogs are cured of the diseases they presented upon arrival, the task of finding future owners who will not abandon them as the previous ones did begins.
The shelter collaborates with various German associations to which photographs of the pets are sent to try to relocate them and it is common for the Sara shelter to send the animals to that country by plane.
