PAWS Charity | Animal Welfare | Health & Veterinary | Recommended Reading | FAQ PAWS Frequently Asked Questions: PAWS Charity Work If You Have A Question Not Answered On This Page You Wish To Submit Please Mail It To enquiries@paws-patas.com 1. Is new animal shelter open? Yes. The new centre is open near Los Gallardos and is running well. 2. Can PAWS take in all the strays roaming the area? Unfortunately not. PAWS is only able to fill the animal shelter just with the animals currently in care homes awaiting re-homing. But PAWS will be working hard to accept as many animals as possible. 3. Where has all the money raised during the last year been spent? The Budget for Phase One of the Animal Shelter was €70000, and the actual cost was more in the region of €80000. Every Euro raised locally (with the exception of money spent on animals) together with generous donations received from Holland have all been used to achieve Phase One. Apr. one-third of the money has been raised from small and large donations received from Holland. For further information see our Financial page. 4. Where does the money go? PAWS are still paying high Veterinary Bills. At any one time PAWS has close to 40 animals in various care homes awaiting re-homing. PAWS have asked people who find animals to contribute to the cost of vaccinations etc. allowing PAWS to spend all of their funds on the New Shelter. This is not always possible, and once PAWS have accepted an animal there are costs incurred, sometimes Veterinary costs, sometimes kenneling (the local canine residencies have allowed PAWS to use limited kenneling facilities - all of which add to the costs, although these kennels are offered at discounted prices) and the cost of re-homing the animals. 5. Why do PAWS send so many dogs to Holland? PAWS work with a sister group in Holland, called PAWS nl, a splinter group of Action Animals International. A small group of dedicated people, much like PAWS Almeria, works tirelessly to find homes for Spain's abandoned dogs. We make use of the Dutch web site to help achieve this. Animal's photos, behaviour and socialisation skills etc. form part of the dog's profile. From many enquiries a suitable owner is chosen by PAWS Holland. They then refer back to us to ascertain all details and aspects of the dog's character and suitability, and this is then considered a "homing". PAWS Almeria dogs always have an excited owner waiting to greet them on arrival in Holland. The strict regulations of this society require new owners to have the animal spayed / neutered (if not already done) and micro-chipped within 4 weeks of arrival. Regular home checks are carried out, and if there is any problem with the animal, it is taken back by the Society, into a foster home, and re-homed with all relevant details passed to our Society for database update. Dutch spaying programmes mean that they have far less strays to re-home, and their own shelters are normally full of "difficult to home", Large or aggressive dogs. The new owners of PAWS dogs love the gentle characters of the average Spanish street dog. 6. Do PAWS spay and castrate all the animals that pass through the shelter? No. It would certainly be PAWS dream to be able to but finances do not allow this. Many bitches have to be spayed as they arrive on PAWS doorstep about to give birth, or just after a season when pregnancy is almost a certainty. 7. Do PAWS only help dogs? What about other animals? PAWS spay and castrate several feral and street cats each month and with the opening of the second phase of the animal shelter PAWS will be able to house cats after veterinary treatment and mothers with litters awaiting re-homing. PAWS do not only deal with dogs and cats. In the past we have helped find homes for a donkey, 100 gold fish, tortoises, terrapins and even checked out that a Parrot was not being neglected. We also have a special volunteer who checks on any horses and ponies that are being ill treated. HORSES This is an update of the case of the horses which are tethered right by the main road next to Commercial Vera. Several visits were made, but no improvements had been made and their condition had deteriorated to where they were technically emaciated (as per the RSPCA guidelines) for equines. Therefore this situation was denounced by the Guardia Civil who were every concerned. Hopefully now something positive will come of this with police help. 8. How can you help PAWS? In many many ways! Help doesn't always mean hands-on with the animals. There is the administration, the shop, fund-raising and if you have skills, a trade or just enthusiasm - or are just looking for something to fill your time. For more information see the menus above or CONTACT us today! Return To Top 9. When may PAWS not be able to help? PAWS have received some complaints about our not receiving abandoned dogs into our Sanctuary. The reasons why we cannot always do this is that we do have a limited capacity and the kennels are full. Even if we do have an empty kennel - which so far hasn't happened we may not have a quarantine kennel free. Previously we had only three of this type of kennel. But during the last month we began to extend the quarantine and this is nearly completed. We have very strict rules in that any dog found must spend a minimum of 10 days in quarantine to avoid spreading disease. Even dogs that have been in a foster home and have received the required vaccinations and blood test have to stay in quarantine for two days while their faeces are being tested. Coxilia and Guardiasis are rampant in this area and a dog only has to sniff the faeces of another dog and can be infected. We really do want to help but we need your understanding and patience. We do have a waiting list for dogs to come to the Sanctuary, however, selfish, irresponsible people dump dogs of all shapes and sizes outside our gates and these then take priority. This as you can imagine causes, at times, tremendous problems. There is also a serious lack of volunteers, who are needed every day of the year to clean, feed and water the dogs, due to this shortage we cannot at the present time expand our kennels to take more dogs. Miracles we can't do, but give us a chance and a little time and we can help. Return to Top Copyright © 2006 P.A.W.S.-Patas, Mojacar, Almeria, Spain P.A.W.S.-Patas is a registered charity in Spain - No. 1928 Box 627 | Mojacar Costa Almeria | Spain, 04638 phone: 678 490 217 | email: enquiries@paws-patas.org