It was one of those rare rainy days that seldom grace the Algarve with their presence. Gloomy, grey clouds encapsulated the scenery as I drove past the urban landscape of Loulé and into more rural settings, as shown by medieval crumbling walls alongside narrow roads.
As I reached my destination and parked at the gates, an enthusiastically smiling face was ready to greet me. After a quick introduction, Sharon Henderson, who was ARA’s Executive Director, and my first point of contact with the Association, escorted me into the villa sitting atop the hill of the walled estate.
I stepped into a dining room where three other people were awaiting my arrival. Sid Richardson, President, Ian Henderson, Executive Director, and Márcia Carvalho, General Manager, were all sitting across a table filled with paperwork and freshly brewed coffee. There was a serious atmosphere filling the room, and had it not been for the two puppies running about, the meeting could have been mistaken for a business boardroom.
This was a group of highly passionate individuals, who were concerned with more than just providing shelter for disadvantaged animals. They want to lead by example, to be the change they want to see. This, I was about to discover, is not the easiest thing to in Portugal.
Currently, there is widespread inadequacy on behalf of most shelters to provide effective and dignified treatment to all animals, but the blame falls not on the shelters themselves. Sid thinks that most kennels are built with the best of intentions, but due to the fact that ‘Local Government and Council are very happy to dump animals on shelters, these people end up drowning in their own problems’.
Most hardship arise from the very little funding available to animal shelters, which have seen a considerate increase in the influx of animals in their care since September 2018, when a new animal-rights laws came into effect. A situation which has been condemned even before the law came to be, when the National Municipal Veterinary Doctor’s Association declared to TSF that, yearly about sixty thousand animals are taken from the streets. Of those animals only a third were adopted, and about twelve thousand were euthanized. Additionally, the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities had already told Expresso that the timeframe and funding available to ban the practice were insufficient, in part due to the need to accommodate for the increased number of animals.
At its core, the new legislation recognised animals’ status as ‘sentient living beings’, albeit still subjected to property legal guidelines. This means that animals can still be owned by someone, although that someone cannot mistreat, neglect, abandon or kill them.
In spite of it being ‘a kind law’, according to Sid, ‘it is a farce’ and created a problem for Local Governments nationwide, who are now prohibited from euthanizing stray animals for population-control purposes, ‘resulting in many more thousand dogs being around now when compared to last year’. This, in turn, led to an increase in the sheer volume of animals needing shelter - resulting in overcrowded, underfunded, and understaffed kennels.
In a dog shelter, I was told, the three main areas of running costs revolve around staff, veterinary bills, and dog feed. And when I enquired my hosts on how funding is distributed, I received a passionate reply in unison: ‘there is no funding!’.
Moreover, there is no institutionalised subsidisation that charities can rely on for their basic running costs. This means that shelters have to procure their own funding from either their Local Governments or civil society at large.
In a nutshell, Councils are obliged by law to shelter stray animals and prohibited from putting them down. Consequently, said animals must be put in kennels, but Councils have no obligation to fund said kennels.
The new law effectively pushed Councils into illegality simply because it did not create the necessary frameworks to deal with increased demands for animal care. Additionally, authorities have no incentives to inspect shelters because that would mean Councils would penalise themselves for not fulfilling the law.
At this point in the conversation my head was spinning. I was trying to grasp how could a law be passed with the intent of safeguarding animal safety, wellbeing, and dignity, while being so detrimental to those same exact things?
The ARA response
Sid Richardson is a visionary, who acts in the present with his gaze on the future. Consequently, he was able to lay the foundations of what he hopes one day to be a national model for animal welfare.
Having a background in business, Sid has now chosen to invest in his legacy. A legacy which he wants to see materialised in the dignified treatment of animals for generations to come.
And in spite of all his successes, Sid preserves a humble stance saying that ARA has become the experts in their field because they took the time to ‘learn a lot of what they do, and travel, and listen, until eventually evolving into experienced people’.
Among the things that make them unique, is their approach to volunteering, which works alongside the workaway platform, allowing national and international volunteers to exchange their labour for room and board. The volunteers work five hours a day, over two separate, two-and-a-half hour shifts; the work revolving around maintenance, dog-walking, dog-socialisation, and overall animal care.
Consequently, a large clubhouse and three mobile homes are an integral part of ARA’s facilities, which can accommodate up to twenty volunteers. According to Sid, this boosts available staff, which at the moment sits at a ratio of about eighteen people to ninety five dogs. This allows workers the time to really get to know the animals in order to pair them with counterparts of similar personalities and tempers.
ARA also has a very clear vision for what animal adoptions should be like. The association has a strict (but not restrictive) approach to whom, why, and in what conditions, gets to take a dog home. Animals are only adopted after being sterilised, and in the case of puppies, their registration is only passed onto the new owners once the procedure has been followed through – even after they have been taken home. Adopting a pet from the charity for breeding purposes is, therefore, not a possibility. Sid adds that ‘you could not get a working dog from us either. We only provide them as pets, as household pets’.
As I was ready to make my way back to the car, Márcia offered to take me on a grand tour of the facilities. Although, before stepping outside, she insisted on introducing me to one of their special guests, a dog that was in the next room. As I stepped through the door I see the animal lying sideways on a couch, with some patches of hair furnishing her body like disparate islands. The bandages, and the freshly healed pink flesh, painted a portrait of a dog who was only now recovering from unspeakable neglect and abuse done by its former owner. After Márcia showed me some ‘before’ photos, I was shocked into the reality that there are people capable of such barbarian actions - Actions which reinforce the necessity and urgency of ARA’s existence.
Outside, we walked through an iron gate, and as we descended the steps, I start to gradually see an immensity of small roofs, as if I was approaching a miniature city. Once close enough, the dogs start surfacing from their little homes, coming to greet us. In pairs, the four-pawed inhabitants stepped into the front yards of their living spaces, which consisted of a roofed and walled division in the back and a long patio in the front, which ended at the entry gate of every individual living space. (If I sound hesitant in using words like ‘doghouse’ or ‘kennel’, it is because I know such words to be unfit of what I witnessed. I have lived in smaller spaces during my university years.)
As we moved away from the first dog compound we passed another set of small buildings, of which are worth mentioning a fully-equipped quasi-industrial laundry, a purpose-built dog bathhouse, and a clinic which was currently under construction.
Closer to the exit, we approached the puppy residence, where its tiny tenants clumsily, and adorably, stepped over one another in a race for our attention. Lastly, we arrived at a small reception cottage, with some extra puppies running about. This space was filled with bright colours, playful furniture, paperwork, and lots of natural light. It is in this room that people first get acquainted with their prospective adoptees, while being assessed on their interactions with the animals by ARA’s staff.
As I was stepping away from the gates and into my car, with muddy shoes and dog drool on my shirt, I stopped to appreciate the magnitude of what I had witnessed. On such a rainy day, ARA was the ray of light that brightened my day and rekindled some of my hope in humanity, and pride of being an ‘Algarvian’. I can only hope that the powers that be, either Local of Central, can have the foresight, intelligence, and vision to support this work further. ARA might well be the answer to the animal welfare question presently posed to Portugal.
We hope you will join all the other shelters and individual rescuers in the Algarve in our march on the 6th September. Our main focus is on sterilisation and working with camaras in the Algarve. For all details and what we are trying to all achieve please visit our Facebook group Animal welfare and rescue rights protest https://www.facebook.com/groups/216769532529688/
By Louise from Algarve on 13 Jul 2019, 20:50
I read your article about your visit to ARA with interest. I am aware of this shelter having followed them on Facebook as well as most of the other shelters & various charitable animal organisations.
ARA of course are the 'gold standard' of what dog shelters should be like. However they have only been able to build such luxury kennels ( more room than most of the boarding kennels or dog hotels as they are known here) because one man decided to spend his considerable savings on the project. Most of the other private shelters have make shift kennels as they have no wealthy benefacturer other than the piece of land that the owner allows to be used for sheltering these poor animals, which often include donkeys,horses, cats & the odd pig, sheep & goat. But despite the lack of nice buildings, vetinerary area & live in volunteers, the animals are cared for by hard working volunteers, many of whom have to work & also have their own dogs at home to take care of. Many of them also foster the puppies & the dogs not suited to kennel life or the ones that are sick or injured.
I don't think the dogs mind the look of their surroundings as long as they have shelter from the rain & sun & enough to eat & drink.
I know that ARA said it is not the fault of the shelters but the inference was that they should not be accepting so many dogs. But it is all very well that ARA refuse to have more than 2 or 3 dogs to a kennel so there is a long waiting list, but they (the directors/management) do not get their 'hands dirty' having to face almost on a daily basis the horrors of badly treated, starving dogs & going in to the gypsy camps where even the GNR are too scared to go, to try to reason with them & rescue the most sick & injured.
Speak with Isabel Searle at the Tiny Shelter Albufeira. I wondered if ARA stepped up & offered to help when an SOS call was made to all a few months ago when they could no longer stand by & do nothing about the dogs at a notorious camp in Patacao near Faro. Not even in their area, closer to ARA.
It would be good if you could visit other shelters including municipal canils. Alzejur is a good start & possibly the gold standard of canils, as the charity AEZA run the Canil with funding from the Camara as well as their own fund raising. The buildings are not pretty as they belong to the Camara but the dogs are well looked after, walked 3 times a week, & all veterinary needs met & sterilised. They also have a cattery next door.
There are Canils that are hell holes with I believe, Loule, Albufeira & Silves being the worst, although I have not been, & you would only get in by pretending you wanted to look at the dogs to possibly adopt. You should be able to visit Portimao Canil as there have been improvements made by The Friends of Portimao Canil run by Patricia. The dogs are walked once a week & she organises fund raising to get flea treatments, worming etc. They have a full time municipal vet, but despite this they have to use private vets for injured or sick dogs, & the Camara will not pay this cost. So Patricia has to ask for donations via Facebook.
This is one of the main problems with the canils as the Camaras will only provide food for the dogs in there care. They claim the government does not provide enough funding, although since the new law last year they are supposed to get additional funding to cover sterilisation, which again apparently is not enough.
A lot of the differences in the municipal canils is down to the municipal vet & how much they make their case for funding & improvements & the acceptance of the Camara that they need help from an association & the ex-pat community to rehome the dogs. They do not even bother to put details of the dogs needing homes on Facebook so how do they think they will be adopted.
Sorry this is so long but your statement that ARA may well be the answer to the animal welfare question is not correct in my opinion. There are many factors. Even if all the shelters were like ARA it would not solve the problem. There would still be far too many abandoned dogs & puppies & too many unsterilised dogs breeding with each other. Until the GNR & PSP do their job & actively implement the law as it stands so that people are prosecuted including the gypsies, until animal welfare education is mandatory in schools to change the current culture & attitudes towards animals, & until the Camaras spend sufficient money on their canils, the animals in their care & sterilisation programs for all areas, not just in their towns or cities, nothing will change.
By Nuala Harris from Algarve on 14 Jul 2019, 18:49
Dear Nuala,
Thank you so much for your passionate and insightful intervention. The animal welfare cause needs people like you.
I am afraid that the main point of the article might have been lost in your assessment though, and that is that in spite of the best efforts of all who are involved in the honourable mission of rescuing animals and furthering animal welfare, there is a deep-rooted deficiency in how official governmental (local and central) entities support and supervise such activities.
We are humbled and flattered by your labelling of ARA as ‘gold standard’, but that label should be attributed based on much more than our infrastructure. The main purpose of our work extends well beyond making sure these animals have a roof over their heads, but also we try to constantly improve their very existence on this Earth. At ARA we have been blessed with a very unique mixture of knowable people in various areas of expertise for whom animal welfare and dignity is paramount.
We value those who get their hands dirty on a daily basis for the good of the animals, as much as we cherish those who help us in any way they can. Whether we are talking about a lawyer, a dog trainer, a volunteer or a politician, the strength and excellence of our work has its pillars on an approach that welcomes and respects anyone who is willing to work for animal welfare.
That being said, we have an unending amount of respect and admiration for anyone involved in trying to make the world a better one for the animals that share it with us. Animal welfare defines our very existence, and in this universe of ours we do not have a competitive stance, since anyone who changes a single life for the better is definitely rowing alongside us in the same direction.
We do not judge any other charities based on their material possessions, and we are very well aware of how privileged we are. But it is a fact that certain establishments are pushed into precarious situations because the powers that be (local or central) often take advantage of the kind hearts of those who want to help, while doing little to nothing in ways of supporting them. It is also a fact that there is no dignity in having overcrowded, underfunded and understaffed kennels, where animals have a roof over their heads but in many cases are deprived of their other essential needs. This is not about pointing fingers at other places, but rather a call for those who are truly responsible for these animals to start living up to that responsibility. The more shelters allow for the continued stockpiling of animals at the Council’s requests or complacency, while that same Council gives what are de facto insignificant tokens of support, then we are allowing them to dodge their responsibility at the expense of the hard work of those devoted to animal welfare.
More than ever we need to stand together, because this is not an issue of who has the better tools to do what, this is about demanding those tools from those who we are obliged to provide them. Shelters should complement Council’s/Government’s efforts, and not do their work for them - especially when that means that those same shelters are pushed to the brink of implosion without any support for their work. This lobbying of government both local and central is one of our prime objectives.
ARA has its doors open to anyone who would like to visit our shelter in order to better understand us and what we are about. We very much extend that invitation onto you Nuala as you really appear to be quite knowledgeable in this subject, and I am certain we would all benefit from such a meeting not least you also seeing the animals currently under our care..
I can always be reached at info@animalrescuealgarve.com.
Best wishes,
Sid Richardson (ARA Founder)
By Sid Richardson from Algarve on 25 Jul 2019, 14:34
Bonjour,
Sid Richardson a été une providence dans la protection animale en Algarve.
Certaines autres structures se sont heureusement développées grâce encore aux Anglais.
Il n'y a pas autant de problèmes en France et en Allemagne, bien que les pouvoirs publics n'octroient guère de subventions aux associations de défense des animaux.
J'ai eu connaissance de votre association en recherchant sur Internet une association animale.
Quelques errants attentent aux portes du supermarché "Continente" de Silves. Impossible de les emmener, ils sont trop peureux. Personne n'est en mesure de me dire comment les secourir.
La période présente est une vilaine fatalité. J'ose espérer que, dans quelques semaines, nous pourrons reprendre une vie à peu près normale.
J'ai fais un petit don aujourd'hui, mais peux faire plus.
Je dis BRAVO à tous ceux qui viennent en aide à ces pauvres laissés pour compte qui ont la chance d'être secourus.
Avec toute ma sympathie.
Janine Andresen
By Janine Andresen from Algarve on 02 Apr 2020, 14:52