Sanctuaries We Support

 Cadela Carlota has been caring for abandoned dogs and cats in the area of Lagos in the Algarve, Portugal, since 2008. They are concerned with the animals’ welfare, health, safety and quality of life. They try to rehome dogs and cats however, the shelter will be, for some, their forever home, as they cannot be adopted due to a number of particular circumstances such as age or chronic health issues .

Sterilise Our Strays is the operating name of ANIMAL AID – ASSOCIACAO PROTETORA DOS ANIMAIS, a registered non-profit organisation whose purpose is the sterilisation of cats & dogs belonging to the street or cats & dogs belonging to low-income families who otherwise have no means to pay for this operation. They rely entirely on donations to continue their work. Money donations and ‘spread the love’ donations from Nandi ensure that they can continue their valuable and much needed work.

Their focus is upon the education of responsible pet ownership as well as the publication of the plight of dogs and cats in the Algarve. They seek to provide financial assistance with "catch & spay and release" programmes for mostly female cats & dogs.

Since 2010, sheltering up to 120 dogs at any one time, in private woodland near Vila do Bispo is a small charity called Mayday. Karen Breen and her husband created the shelter and started taking in dogs from the streets, fields and a local municipal kennel to keep them safe. They also help get dogs and cats neutered and sometimes sick cats are temporarily sheltered and cared for until they can be reintroduced to their colony or rehomed. 

Gatos de Lagos is an association that implement TNR (trap, neuter and release) programmes to control colonies of street and farm cats in Lagos and surrounding areas. They do not remove cats from the location. All the cats that are sterilised are released back to the location where they were captured. Nandi helps with the vet fees for sterilisation of the cats and has assisted with one-off donations for special purchases. 

Mr No Ears Cat Haven, is a sanctuary named after a well-known cat in Carvoeiro.  It is where 133 fully sponsored old, diseased, disabled and traumatized cats from all over Algarve (and Albufeira beachfront) live in beautiful garden surroundings which include indoor and outdoor catteries and areas for free roaming wilder cats. The charity also run a busy adoption program and 3 external colony projects, all made possible by the generosity of the friends of Mr No Ears.

“Associação Tiny Shelter” is the small, donation-based animal shelter run by Isabel Searle near Albufeira in the Portuguese Algarve. Isabel has stood for sustainable animal welfare with her volunteers for decades and fights tirelessly to improve the situation of as many animals as possible in Portugal. The shelter is financed purely by donations. 

  Associaçao Bamboo is a small, privately funded sanctuary for donkeys and unwanted dogs located in the Western Algarve. Over the years they have rehomed over 300 dogs. The dogs and donkeys have access to regular human contact, which includes daily energetic exercise over private farmlands. Food, water, cleaning and necessary veterinary services are provided by volunteers and subsidised by local charities, including Nandi. 

AEZA (Association for Environment and Animal Protection of Aljezur) is a non-profit association, based in Aljezur, whose main objective is to provide abandoned animals decent conditions to live in, with shelter, food, care and health care.

The aim of the association is to medicate, spay and castrate; to treat for worms, fleas and ticks and to re-home as many as possible.

CCCA - Carvoeiro Cat Charity‘s main purpose is to rescue cats at risk and to find them loving homes. Their shelter, registered by ICNF, is home to 200 cats. About 40 volunteers from 12 nations take care of these animals. CCCA works together with the Community of Lagoa, the BSA (blood bank for animals) and The Royal Veterinary College in England for vet student practical times.

CCCA is also active in TNR (trap, neuter, release) and has a licence to use traps for this purpose.

Sara Lang, the founder, writes: We are a charitable organisation founded in 2006. We moved to Monchique a few years ago and we have now been operational for 5 years.

Our main core values are protecting all animals that cannot protect themselves. We do this by taking in sick, disabled, old, and mistreated animals, from goats, sheep, chickens, horses, ducks, dogs, and cats.

Alongside our sanctuary animals, we also help other animals through various protocols, one of these being with the local municipality and the street cat sterilizations. We also take cases that the municipal kennel cannot deal with such as sick animals and kittens/puppies that are found as tiny babies in bins and need bottle feeding.