Demolition in progress.
El Refugio is undergoing a great renovation in order to meet the new European standards. It's taken years to get all the necessary permissions, long battles with paperwork and bureaucracy. The septic wells and sewers have to be replaced. The back section - section 4 where the dogs go into quarantine when they first arrive - has been entirely demolished. The foundations are being dug and the ground prepared for the shiny new structure that will replace the old one and will include a state of the art clinic.
All this has meant a great upheaval. For it's not just at the back that the work is taking place. Great channels are having to be dug from outside the gates all the way up to the old section 4, to accommodate the pipwork and electrics that will bring water and electricity. So every part of the site is disrupted and noisy and dusty. Add to this the fact that only about half the number of dogs can be accepted - although as usual they continue to turn up at the gates, one way or the other. And somehow they are squeezed in.
Nevertheless, it will all be so worthwhile when it's finished. The old section four was the area which used to be a killing station. The killing station that Fabienne took over and turned into a refuge instead of a charnel house. However, the dogs that were killed - so many and for so many years - are buried in that area. This cast a shadow - possibly physical, certainly spiritual. Among the dogs taken into the shelter and quarantined there were over the years many unexplained deaths. Particularly among those whose were already low, weak and depressed.
There are difficult days ahead. But it will all be so worthwhile once it's finished. Slowly but surely El Refugio will become what we always wanted, a rescue centre where the dogs have the environment they deserve and where they can be healthy and happy.
Fabienne, Sharon and her friend inspecting the work.
Walking the site.
Digging deep ...
... heavy excavations.
Surveying the work.
Julian, Fabienne and Diane with the foreman.
Digging the channel in Section One, outside the clinic.
The dogs from this section need to be housed in another section while the work goes on.
From another angle and showing the work on the channel.
The new pipes.
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