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 .

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. 

  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.

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.