Stray Dogs and Covid 19: A crisis appeal

Covid 19 is one of the biggest challenges that charities like ours must face. Stay home, protect the NHS and save lives. The three most important sentences you will hear this year. Saving lives will not just apply to us humans but also to our four legged friends who have come to depend on us so much. Charities like ours are working very hard to look after each other and also the Spanish stray dogs of Spain that need us so much.

To help dogs we need funds and we have lost a large source of income overnight. Our charity shops in Spain, which would help to cover the food bills for the dogs, have been forced to close to comply with the lock down regulations imposed by Spain.  In addition to that adoptions are now frozen with no dogs able to leave the pound and travel to the UK.  

Every year we work hard to ensure that 250 dogs have homes in the UK. This allows to free up space at the pound for the many dogs that arrive weekly and keep overcrowding at bay.  This is a real source of worry for all the volunteers, who must work hard to minimise the stress dogs suffer at the pound.

Our vets continue to visit the pound and ensure that sick animals are monitored, treated and kept comfortable. Around 200 dogs are treated yearly by our vets for many illnesses and conditions.

All this care and love comes at a cost. More than £3,000 are needed monthly to cover just food and vet care for 300 dogs. This does not include the emergencies that often come our way, dogs that arrive to us experiencing extreme hunger, dogs that have visible tumours that need to be surgically removed, dogs with very painful skin sores that need to be treated quickly.

This week, several dogs arrived at the pound in a terrible state, one of them an  emaciated female podenco. To save her, the vet is working around the clock.  She will live, but only if extreme care continues for a prolonged length of time. This care is not cheap.

When the lock down is over we are expecting a huge increase of strays being brought into the pound. In times of crisis dog abandonment seems to increase. In addition to this, the abandoned dogs who have not been collected from the streets in months will arrive now all at one time to an already full pound.  These dogs will be emaciated, weak and most likely suffering from disease due to the time they have been outside without access to basics.  Special veterinary care will be needed to save them.

Small charities like us do not have a great deal of reserve that can take us through long periods of drought so counting on donors, and supporters to help us is  now more important than ever.

Amee Townsend, President of the Charity, says: “We are trying very hard to keep our heads over water but with each passing day, it becomes harder and harder, However, helping the dogs is our priority and the whole team continue to work 24/7 to ensure the wellbeing of the dogs. They know that they depend on us and we cannot fail them”

So, if you have the means and capacity to contribute financially at this time of need, please help our charity to help these dogs. In this time of crisis we need you more than ever.

With difficult times coming our way, and many good causes crying for your attention, it may be easy to think that dogs do not matter.  Dogs, sadly, will be the first ones to suffer the consequences. Charities like ours will be there fighting to help them

We are fully aware that many of you will have your own financial worries to attend to, and may feel equally frustrated. Please do not worry. We fully understand and want you to look after yourselves first.

If you can and wish to donate you can do online here, you can also write a cheque, or you can email: amee@spanishstraydogs.org.uk

Thank you for always being there for us!