The “Francis of Assisi Shelter”, located in the city of Coro, state of Falcon, northwestern region of Venezuela, welcomes street cats and dogs that have been abandoned or that have been mistreated. Currently with more than 200 animals, the shelter undergoes material and financial difficulties, and cannot offer the necessary cares.
Animals abandoned on the streets
The shelter has been working since 1991, when the Venezuelan couple Xenia and Ricardo moved to the city of Coro, some 700 kilometers from the capital Caracas, and perceived the difficult social and economic situation of the place. There was a great quantity of abandoned animals throughout the region and they immediately began a program of service to the Animal Kingdom with the rescue on the streets.
Dogs with malnutrition
Network-of-Light
In 2008, Teresa Maia, currently the coordinator of the Network-of-Light of Coro, visited the shelter and began to cooperate with the work. And since 2015 the whole Network-of-Light began to give support, by means of prayer and raising of funds.
“I became deeply impressed and touched as I saw that the caregivers did not count on more support. The kennels had floor made of earth, and the partitions were made with recycled objects. So I decided to work and help this project closely, raising funds to, especially, make the concrete floor and the partitions of the kennels with blocks”, said Teresa.
Scarcity of food and medicines
Today, due to the social crisis and the financial imbalance that Venezuela faces, the Network-of-Light cannot supply all the needs of the shelter. The animals live in a precarious situation, due to the lack of water, food, medicines and cleaning products. The priority is currently nutrition, as there are already cases of malnutrition.
Lack of support
The lack of support from local authorities for the cares, sterilization and castration of cats and dogs, and the scarce number of volunteers of the community, for more than 20 years, has brought as a result the increase in the population of animals in the shelter.
Overcrowdedness
With capacity for 70 or 80 animals, the shelter currently has more than 200 animals. Some are rescued by them and others are taken by people from the community, when they observe the generalized indifference, mistreat and lack of consciousness concerning the animals. In some occasions, the place has over 300 animals.
Castration
With the collaboration of some friends from the shelter and from the Civil Association Network of Canine Support of Venezuela (RAC), it has become possible to castrate all the animals in the last years. Nevertheless, with the crisis in the country, the shelter cannot count the with help from the RAC anymore.
Bazaars have been held, concerts and countless activities to try and help the shelter, but this was not enough.
Network-of-Light of Venezuela
“We are a family of little economic resources. At the beginning we used to feed the animals with rice, greens and animal feed. But things have been changing to the point that today, in spite of all the efforts, we can only give leftovers of chicken with rice and greens, in the best cases. Now our income permits us only to buy a bag of animal feed”, explained Teresa.
Information and donations through the e-mail:
redeluzsul@fraterinternacional.org
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