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• Despite everything, we carry on!
• Judge suspends removal of animals
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• End Animal Suffering

Early July Update

If You come down to Es. Pil-lari today you’re in for a big surprise!

We’re almost ready to re-open.

For the past 18 months, we’ve been working hard, often 7 days a week, preparing for the new Centro Canino to be ready to open. The great news is, as of July 2006, we’re actually very, very close to getting there.

This is where we stand: The dog kennels are finished and perfect. The automatic water-feeders (meaning no more traipsing round with a hose-pipe to see who is running short of drinking water) are installed and the final windows are being put in. We’re ready to accept dogs.

To legally open a dog shelter on Mallorca, licences are required. We have the first licence and until yesterday (June 29), were waiting to hear from the authorities, when the inspector would be coming to view the site, to give us the okay to go ahead for the 2nd licence. Our worry was, the inspector wouldn’t come before August and then everything would close down and we wouldn’t stand a chance to open before autumn.

Yesterday, we were told that the inspector was coming in the next 7-10 days, before July 10th. Hopefully, he/she will either give us the go ahead immediately or ask for some straightforward easy changes to be made before the license can be granted. We’ll make whatever changes immediately and then (touch wood) be granted the licence and be able to open. We’ll let you know the outcome of the inspection as soon as possible.

Dozens of healthy friendly non-aggressive good-hearted dogs and cats are being destroyed/put to sleep every month while we’re closed. We feel terrible about this and want to open as soon as possible, so that as many dogs and cats as possible can be taken in, cared for, put up for adoption and successfully re-homed.

Meanwhile, our ‘Kitty Lofts’ are behind schedule! We do have perfectly fine, clean, nice homes available for the cats/kittens in our care, but the situation is not ideal. Our aim is to have plenty of comfortable spacious homes for the cats in our care, but we’re not there yet.

In late June 2006, we installed three additional CCTV infrared cameras in trees dotted around the perimeters of the new Centro Canino, facing Street wards. Security wise, it occurred to us, that watching & recording the Streets & surroundings around the centre, wouldn’t do any harm; just in case a hooligan tried to inflict damage upon the site. On a personal level, I must say that if our security measures seem over the top, I can only say that discovering that someone (maybe a local, living in Es Pil-lari, maybe not, we don’t know) was prepared to break into our centre, and poison then hang by the neck, a very sweet stray pedigree small dog, then I think it’s best to be over cautious.

A firm of landscape gardeners has kindly donated its time plus provided us with several very nice plants and trees, to make our central garden much prettier and attractive.

The problem is that our resident donkey thinks the garden is his stomping ground. Shooing him away works, but only for ten minutes or so. Talking of Gresa the donkey, although his front legs are badly buckled and look painful/wobbly, he is regularly checked over by the vet, who assures us he’s not in any pain and is happy.

Gresa spends his day, seeking out one tree after another, and sitting in the shade. If you’re coming to see us, please remember to bring him a few carrots, either small ones, or chopped in half (length wise) large ones.

Everyone involved with the Centro Canino wishes Marlis (our wonderful head-carer) better after her operation, also ‘Get better soon’ Charles. Very sorry to hear about your dodgy back.

If you have a car, and a few spare hours a week, You’d be doing the animals of Mallorca a massive favour if you’d consider becoming a home-inspector for us. We urgently need people who’ll pay prospective animal adopters a brief visit, in their homes, to check that the pet they’re adopting will be comfortable and safe. We’ll give you full training (okay, we’ll sit down over a nice cup of tea with you and discuss what’s involved) and explain everything.

In late July / Early August 2006, we start our first major *‘Corporate Sponsorship’* campaign, which basically means we’re contacting over 1000 hotels, bars, restaurants, carhire companies in South-West Mallorca and asking for a little (or even better a large) donation. In return we’ll be giving each Corporate Sponsor a very nice plaque to hang on their wall, to show what a kind generous firm they are.

So, to sum up – We hope to be open for saving animals and re-homing animals very soon. The dog kennels are fantastic, the cat lofts are behind schedule, we need more volunteers, especially home-inspectors and we’re seeking additional corporate funding.

The stray, abandoned, lost and deliberately abused, punched, kicked, starved, used for hunting, used for dog-fighting dogs of Mallorca rely totally on You to help the Centro Canino to help them.

We can rescue dogs, we can re-home dogs, we can push the authorities to bother to prosecute people who deliberately inflict pain on dogs. All this can only be done with your help. This isn’t Britain and we don’t have the massive funds of say, the RSPCA or Dogs Trust, behind us. We just have a small amount of money, a lot of dedication and a real desire to help as many dogs and cats on the island live happy decent good lives, both giving and receiving love.

With your help (not just financial, although sponsorship /donations are incredibly welcome and appreciated; but please do consider volunteering, you’d be surprised at how satisfying and fulfilling helping unloved pets is) we aim to get back to rescuing and re-home’ing hundreds of dogs and cats a year, we aim to make dog-fighting a thing of the past on Mallorca, we aim to help educate the younger generation of Mallorcans on proper responsible pet ownership and animal welfare. We aim…

Well, this is only the beginning!