With the projection of a three-dimensional video montage, what will be the future Island Center for Education and Animal Welfare, which the first Island Corporation will launch in the Argana Alta neighborhood, was presented this Monday in the CBAL Room of the Cabildo de Lanzarote.
"This is an ambitious project, promoted by citizen initiative, and which is extremely important for the island since it will put an end, once and for all, to animal abandonment," said the president of the Cabildo, Pedro San Ginés, during his speech, who stated that, "according to the data on our island, around 2,000 animals are abandoned every year", a figure that he considers "really worrying".
"To put a stop to this sad reality", the Agriculture and Livestock area of the Cabildo de Lanzarote has promoted this project that "will not only welcome and care for animals, but will also work, in a coordinated manner with other administrations and social agents, in the education of children and adults and in the training of volunteers, so the involvement of all the municipalities of the island is very necessary", as the president stressed.
Facilities
During the presentation of the project, it was also possible to visit the future facilities of the CIEBA, with more than 13,000 square meters in the Argana Alta neighborhood and which will have a fully equipped educational/training and coordination classroom, a veterinary clinic for emergency cases, a "novel" cat house, a rescue and recovery center for farm animals and another for the rehabilitation of injured birds, as well as four recreational parks for animals, fully equipped with rest areas, shade, drinking fountains and games, among others.
The public company TRAGSA will be in charge of drafting the intervention project for this public space in Argana, which will include the equipment of the current infrastructures, which are currently in disuse, as well as the management model of the future CIEBA.
Volunteering
For their part, the technicians Ruimán Duarte and Ana Belén Domínguez, pointed out that "the CIEBA will be the perfect complement to the municipal shelters and animal protection associations throughout the island." They also explained that, "this center will have its own staff, such as a coordinator, a veterinarian and several operators and educators, but it will also be nourished, fundamentally, by island volunteers."
In this sense, both agreed to highlight the "great reception" that the project is having and the "significant number of volunteers" who participate in the training courses. In fact, since last November, several courses have been held on first aid for animals, knowledge of dogs or animal health hygiene. For all those people who wish to be part of the CIEBA volunteer team, they can request more information through the email [email protected].
From the center, awareness campaigns will also be launched aimed at the population, with special emphasis on schoolchildren, but dynamic and continuous training days will also be carried out for the state security forces to establish unified action protocols, as well as mass sterilization and chipping campaigns, mainly for the cat colony on the island.
