Protect Nature e.V .: Hope for homeless animals in Granada

Project: Stopp euthanasia in Granada – Hope for homeless animals in Granada“ – Report of the funding (fence and dog house) of Tierschutz-Stiftung Bösche

Dear `Tierschutz-Stiftung Bösche,

Our animal welfare project in Spain is very successful and still managed by two great women in Spain Carolina Bejar- Rivera and Sandra Couceiro-Greif of the friendly society called ADAM. We are very grateful for all the help of `Tierschutz-Stiftung Bösche´. Miss Couceiro-Greif has an own private shelter on her property which is 6 ha big. She countinously
cares and hosts about 40 dogs and 8 cats. She pays alone all costs for food and medical treatment of the animals. By a cooperation with friends from Switzerland she is now able to frequently find adoptions in Switzerland. Further Miss Couceiro-Greif has intensified her help to rescue animals from public shelters in Andalusia and Valencia which are euthanizing animals. Miss Couceiro-Greif lives in Catalonia, a province which forbids euthanasia of animals. Since January 2019 Miss Couceiro-Greif rescued about 20 dogs with the help of `Tierschutz-Stiftung Bösche´.
Tierschutz-Stiftung Bösche´ donated in December 2018 the financial resources to buy a new fence in the private shelter of Miss Couceiro-Greif and also to buy two dog houses. We are very grateful for this. Fencing is essential for Miss Couceiro-Greif. If she needs to leave her property for a while or when new dogs needs to be separated first a fence is most important. With the new fence an area of about 400 sq m gives now shelter for dogs together with two new dog houses as a protection against cold and rain.

Sheepdog Betty also benefited from the fence. She sat in the kill and has turned out to be the leader of the pack with Mrs. Couceiro-Greif.

Here you can see Fiona, who was rescued together with Betty in the new fencing.

With about 400 square meters, the area is ideally suited to keep dogs. There are always up to six dogs here.

Betty, the shepherd dog in the new fencing.

Here you can see Fiona in the first fencing, which was financed with the help of the animal welfare foundation Wolfgang Bösche.

Picture the little Nico from the street!

These three puppies also came from the shelter.

Protect Nature e.V. and ADAM say thank you!

Protect Nature e.V.:
“Stopping of killing abandoned animals in Granada (Spain)”

By the financial support of the foundation ´Tierschutz-Stiftung Wolfgang Bösche´ our German friendly society `Protect Nature e.V.` was able to conduct the ambitious project ´Stopping of killing abandoned animals in Granada (Spain)´.
`Tierschutz-Stiftung Wolfgang Bösche` enables us to support the Spanish association `Animales Abandonados Granada´ in Granada to help abandoned dogs.

We could help `Animales Abandonados Granada´ to build up a better infrastructure within their shelter in Granada und to give about 20 dogs veterinary care. The number of abandoned dogs in the shelter varies because luckily dogs are being adopted or could move into foster homes sometimes (mostly within Spain).

The work of `Animales Abandonados Granada´ is only possible by donations. All helpers are working on a voluntary basis. About ten volunteers are actively involved in running the shelter. The shelter is located within olive groves close to Granada city.

The donation from ´Tierschutz-Stiftung Wolfgang Bösche´ could be used quickly and effectively for veterinary treatments. We could castrate, chip, vaccinate and giving anti-parasite tablets to 19* dogs. All dogs received a passport as well. Furthermore we could support a case of emergency , the amputation of a leg of the injured she-dog India, hit by a car. Also she-dog Pila with her injured paw could receive veterinary help thanks to the donation from ´Tierschutz-Stiftung Wolfgang Bösche´.

The dogs: Romina, Tokyo, Rubio, Pluto, Lucky, Beethoven, Yaki, Salsa, Ayra, Pichurra, Pirate, Tigre, Blanka, Lina, Tina, Copo, India, Drako, Munay

Pichurra and Tokyo (left) on the way to castration.

the front right leg must be emergency amputated

In the meantime she has found a loving adoptive family in Spain where she is doing very well.

As part of the project, we have gained the Swiss Sandra Couceiro-Greif, who herself lives in Spain, as a foster mother.
She has taken in the dogs Lina, Caspar, Pope and the very pregnant Minnie.
The heavily pregnant Minnie was found on the street; it was too late for an abortion.

Lina and Caspar were also found on the street and Pope was rescued from the Granada shelter the day before his kill date. Sandra is an animal trainer and makes a living renting a finca and selling olive oil.
She will continue to act as a foster home for stray dogs. She lives with 26 dogs on a finca in L’Amettla de Mar. A living container and a fence were bought for the dogs.

Minnie was found abandoned and heavily pregnant on the streets of Granada.

Minnie, who was able to give birth to her babies in safety at Sandra’s and is obviously feeling well.

Pope shortly after being picked up from the kill.

Finally, the journey has come to an end.

Pope was rescued from the pound and was adopted by Sandra.

Lina and Caspar could also be taken in by Sandra.

Mrs. Bachnik, who was originally supposed to supervise the project on site in Spain as a German, has withdrawn from the project for health and private reasons. Instead, Ms. Carolina BejarRivera, who speaks Spanish and German, has taken over the project management on site. Together with Lea Stanke from the Protect Nature association in Germany, Ms. Bejar-Rivera checked the payments in Spain on site and organized the orders.

Carolina Bejar-Rivera is 56 years old and has been involved in animal welfare in Granada and Motril for several years. Since she was recommended to the Protect Nature association, she quickly and easily took over the volunteer coordination of the project on site.

The company Dog House Malaga has built high-quality dog houses for the Refugio, which can withstand any weather. The new dog houses were immediately well received by the dogs and were gratefully accepted by “Animales Abandonados Granada”. We were able to buy 9 M size kennels and 4 L size kennels.

The dog houses, which form a shelter for the dogs from heat and cold, were placed on pallets and filled with straw. Animales Abandonados Granada was very happy to receive these huts.

The dogs gladly accept the safe shelter.

In order to be able to take in more dogs and to prevent aggression among the dogs in the Refugio, an additional fence was built with the support of many volunteers.

Fence construction is not easy on the uneven terrain, and in the past heavy rains created large holes under the fence through which dogs could escape. Heavy stones, however, provide additional protection during heavy rain so that the sandy, muddy soil is not washed away.

Here you can see how the new fence is created.

The refuge, which is about 2 hectares in size, was able to get another fence with the help of the animal welfare foundation Wolfgang Bösche to be able to separate animals.

The work on the fence is watched with interest by Minnie, Rubio, Tokyo, Yaki and the other pelt-noses.

Here the bottom of the fence is cemented.

Many volunteers help with the fence construction.

Also a door must be installed for the fence.

The Refugio of Animales Abandonados Granada is located in a mountainous region near Granada.
So that food, medicines and blankets can be stored protected from moisture, we were able to donate a metal hut with the help of the animal welfare foundation Wolfgang Bösche. This is a big step forward for the ambitious Refugio. In addition, we have ordered two more plastic huts for better cleaning of the huts, e.g. for puppies that are not yet housebroken.

Two metal and plastic huts were delivered

There is finally storage space in the metal hut.

The galgos abandoned by their owners Pimpi

and Nela have found a safe haven at the Refugio.

These puppies were found in the garbage and were rescued in time. After a short stay in the Refugio, they were quickly placed in Spain.

All huts are always filled with straw, as this does not retain moisture, unlike blankets.

The dogs of the refuge are fed twice a day for several hours by volunteers and get their cuddles, like here the dog Salsa with Laura, the president of the association Animales Abandonados Granada.

Nerea with Beethoven. Nerea takes care of almost everything at the Animales Abandonados Granada association.
Each dog has a chip and a small name tag on the collar.

From left to right: Yaki, Pluto, Ayra, Salsa, volunteer dog and Pichurra.

Ayra and Salsa (best friends) with Miriam from Animales Abandonados Granada. They will soon be allowed to go to Sandra in Spain for fostering and from there to Switzerland for adoption.

Current Issues/ résumé:

Currently some human changes in the association ´Animales Abandonados Granada´ occured. These changes affect the passionate and English-speaking volunteers also.
Therefore this moment the most effective way to continue helping abandoned dogs seems to extend the capacity of the reliable foster home of Sandra Couceiro-Greif. She is able to organize and conduct adoptions to Switzerland from Spain.

The shelter of ´Animales Abandonados Granada´ should always be a refuge for a certain time but not for longtime. Especially in summer and winter it is despite all improvements difficult for dogs to stay healthy in the shelter.

The acquisition of financial funding at place was conducted by ´Animales Abandonados Granada´ doing public relations work in the last months. Despite a certain success there is always a lack in the budget for food and veterinary costs.

Absolutely reliable in all respects has been Caroline Bejar-Rivera as our project coordinator in Spain.

´Protect Nature e.V.´ built up a cooperation between Carolina Bejar-Rivera , Sandra Couceiro-Greif and the German association `Geniushof e.V.`primarily for adoptions to Germany in the future. `Geniushof e.V.`has authorization for adoptions from Spain to Germany.

Carolina Bejar-Rivera keeps staying in contact with ´Animales Abandonados Granada´. The same time she works indepently in animal welfare for dogs around Granada. The goal of ´Protect Nature e.V.´ is as a next step (as already mentioned before) to extend the capacity of the reliable foster home of Sandra Couceiro-Greif. This is most effective to find adoptions for the dogs of the shelter of from ´Animales Abandonados Granada´.

Sandra Couceiro-Greif urgently needs another fence to be able to foster further dogs. Ayra and Salsa are the next two dogs which should move to Sandra.

Summing up by the financial support of ´Tierschutz-Stiftung Wolfgang Bösche´ a lot of dogs received medical treatment and the shelter could be improved very much. The project resulted in a wonderful network of valuable contacts in Spain interested in improving the situation of abandoned animals. Friendships and cooperations could be developed by the project. There was indeed much more effort for ´Protect Nature e.V.´ to run the project at hand in a satisfying way. Nevertheless for ´Protect Nature e.V.´ every dog having a chance for a healthy life now was worth the effort.

The exact continuation and development of the project in the future is this moment in discussion. One thing is for sure, we will continue helping!