Latest Update: May 6th 2015

A message from Fabienne,



Dear everyone, 

Your messages of support in this terrible plight are heartwarming. 

From  today we have officially been given notice to do the work, and so we start the countdown - thirty days. 

We will now do everything we possibly can to try to get more time to meet all their requirements.

Meanwhile, we have not been inactive, both here and in the other countries where we work, there is a lot happening on a global level so we are trying to put in some structure.

Please don't misunderstand me. We are so happy with your help, and are so grateful for anything, small or large. However, might we ask you to contact the following people, in the first instance :-

pr.nederland@ace-charity.org    pr-belgie@ace-charity.org    PR Belgium Netherlands

They will send you a volunteer form to fill in, and when we have that information we can contact you.

If too many people travel out at the same time, we won't all be able to work as some things will need to be done first, the walls, the tiles etc. There will also be some jobs that have to be done professionally, such as the electrics. By filling in the form we will know what everyone can offer and so make the best use of all your wonderful offers of help. One of these will be painting, but not straight away.

It will take a week before we can start properly, as we have to wait for all the orders to be processed and the materials to be delivered. We really can't do anything until they have arrived. 

It's annoying and frustrating. We feel as if we're standing on hot coals. Our nerves play tricks on us. We're going through a real nightmare.

Thank you all for everything.

Until the next update


Fabienne

URGENT MESSAGE - Save our Refugio: Update 3rd May

Please donate and help us to save more darling dogs like Tifany

Thank you to anyone who signed or was going to sign the petition on this blog, as I requested. I put it on today but have now deleted it.  It seems the petition was premature. We really have to do this 'by the book.' So for now please, if you can, we need donations. However small - it doesn't matter. Every little helps, as they say. If you know of anyone who could donate material, time or labour, that too would be so much appreciated.

We've saved over 17,000 dogs like Tifany. Please help us to save even more. Thank you.

Our bank details

Netherlands: 

ABN AMRO te Venlo

Account: NL02 ABNA 0463 518 128

T.n.v. T. v.d. Broek inzake ACE-Charity 

Belgium: 

BELFIUS 

Account: BE42 7805 9221 8254

t.n.v. Animal Care Espana Honden In Nood 

Spain: 

Solbank Banco Sabadel Calahonda 

Account: ES74 0081 0619 5800 0145 7846 

t.n.v. Animal Care Espana Honden In Nood

Thank you to everyone. We so appreciate your support and help. And so do the dogs.

Threatened Closure: Latest Update - 1st May, 2015

A message from Fabienne ...

Dear All,

To update you and keep you in the picture, here is a short account of how the inspection came about, so you can see exactly what happened, in case it wasn't clear.

It was an unexpected inspection. Unannounced. The last equivalent inspection took place at the end of 2011. 

First the inspector checked our permit and license and all other documents. These were all tiptop.

Then, the inspector spent at least 3.5 hours going around with our vet and Dirk. He felt that our dogs were very well cared for and looked after. He even paid us compliments (and even commented that some were maybe a bit overweight!). He also complimented our vet Rafael about the way he was taking care of the sick dogs. It was all positive. He also made several random checks on the dogs themselves: the chip, rabies vaccinations, medical records .... He even checked the chip of a poor dog who had sadly died and its rabies vaccination! Here everything was still all positive and we got another compliment! The number of dogs per cage was also acceptable.

The only thing he found fault with was in our old facilities, most of which are now 30 years old, especially the old cages, the old fences surrounding the refugio, the rusty bars around the cages, the old outdated systems, the old clinic  ... Daily cleaning with bleach leaves its traces. The refugio does of course have electricity but not in each cage and there he had more complaints. The plumbing, water supply and sewage systems were found to be fine ... but of course they have all recently been renovated. We have had no night watchman since the end of December 2014 but there will shortly be a new one (which was already scheduled before the inspection). But all the points above were unacceptable to him.

The inspector said that he had to apply the new European standards and within this framework the old systems were not acceptable and he would not deviate from the standard. So no wood or wooden fixtures, no rust, all floors tiled and tiled walls up to 1.5 metres high. In recent years we have worked hard and when in 2008 the killing station was finally transformed and converted into our refugio, a rescue home for our dogs, we took over the existing structure. It's all old today, worn and rusty, which is true - that is how it is. However, we make daily improvements and are currently rebuilding but we can not do everything at once. It is simply not possible either financially or in terms of manpower.

But for them to give this hard sentence - get it done in 30 days. That's inhumane! 

The fences in the killing stations are rusty,  the structures and installations, if there are any, absolutely don't work properly. There are never any night watchmen - yet that was no argument as far as he was concerned because were were not allowed to speak. It causes us enormous stress and anxiety, because we do not want anything to happen to our dogs. I will go all out to solve this, I will pull out all the stops. I just cannot contemplate closure. I need your help for our dogs to protect them, from my, from our, worst nightmare.  Let us therefore continue to join forces to alter this hopeless situation.

Today we have certainly not been idle. Everything was quiet all around us, the inspection report is not available yet, everywhere is closed because today is the 1st May. We continue to receive a lot of support ... and that helps us more than we will ever be able to tell you ... we need you all so desperately. All of you, so thank you so much.

Tomorrow we will begin to make purchases in order to put up the provisional cages where we can place our dogs and start the work.

Warm greetings,

Fabienne

Fabienne

Harley & Davidson

Harley and Davidson were found in a sewer pipe! Harley on the left, Davidson on the right!

Just two of many; we do not know how many others there were.  We only managed to rescue these two. They were found in a sewer, no sign of their mother or other family members. 

They have both been lucky. They were covered with dirt and vermin. But they are currently heatlthy, are eating well and getting the best care and becoming socialised.

Harley and Davidson ... two more tiny ones. More photos and a video here

Harley, such a sweetheart. 

Little Davidson. A big name fo a tiny chap.

Lucky Harley - a quality pup, like his namesake!

Still a bit fearful, and no wonder.

The 'invisible' ones

Young. Invisible. Forgotten.

Some dogs are just not seen. Why, we do not know. You often hear people who come to visit say, "Wow, what a lovely dog, I've never noticed him before!" or "God, is that ...? What a sweetheart! I didn't know he was so nice. I think he is great."

Often we don't see the very good dogs. There are others who quickly jump into your arms, jump up at you and demand your attention, others stay in the background. They are there too and they also want to be noticed, but it is not in their character to demand it.

Our Canijo, Huna, Prancer, Rico and Lindo are a few such dogs.  Quiet dogs who stay in the background but with such great characters, super companions. I believe these dogs too should have equal attention. They want so badly to belong to a family. None of them are attention seekers. They are peaceful by nature, unassuming and not leaders. Not clamouring for attention, but we know for sure that they are all good dogs.

They don't make a big fuss, but are equally worthy of attention. Don't let the quiet ones be overlooked

  

 

Click here for more information about Canijo.

     

Click here for more information about Huna.

Click here for more information about Prancer.

Click here for more information about Rico.

Click here for more information about Lindo.

Pelusa: From untouchable fury to the epitome of calm.

In the killing station, they couldn't get her out of her cage. She was crazy with fear, biting and urinating on herself. Terrified of the brutal man who wanted to take her forcibly out of there. It was a difficult situation until I went in and sat down with the dog, who gradually calmed down and after a little time, she went quietly with us, without any problem. 

We will never know what this little dog went through, but one thing is certain. She must have had a beloved boss once, because she jumps up into your arms, follows you without a lead and is housebroken. She is calmness itself and loyal. A dog that someone is going to love completely, like no other. 

When we first took her to the refugio, she took her fear out on everyone. She sat in a corner and was frightened, really scared and afraid. But if she saw me, she rememebed that I had saved her from the killing station and cried when I passed her cage.

I tried to ignore her .. we already have so many dogs in our house. But Pelusa persisted, and the next day when she was loose in the refugio voila!!! She jumped in my car and she would not get out, you can say no, you can resist it, but it .. then .. she took it out of my hands. It just happened that immediately after than I had to walk ten other dogs and Pelusa just walked with us , loose and without a lead , closely following, .. incredible ...

She is housebroken and quiet and a faithful dog. She has never tried to bite us, not even to the visitors. We are looking for a loving home for this small intelligent lady, who has definately some Snauzer in her make up. Please consider this. For no matter  how much we want them to stay, we have to keep making space for other dogs and unfortunatly we can't adopt them all. If only I was rich and handsome ...

So this is the story of a small dog in the killing station, who's days were numbered, who now needs a sofa with lots of goodie and, above all, a dear and good boss ...

UPDATE: A Message from Fabienne about the threatened closure

UPDATE !!!!!
Fabienne writes ...

First and foremost we want to thank all of you for the many heartwarming expressions of support in this nightmare that is happening to us.

In the 15 years we have endured a great deal, accepted, resisted, overcome .. but this! I could never have imagined something like this. Never let myself think that such a thing could happen .. none of us could. 

The wave of heartwarming reactions, the help that has been offered, the amount of people who want to help, it is wonderful and that gives us courage.

People, thank you for this !!!

The way the situation is at the moment we need to co-ordinate all the offers of help and then proceed with a plan and get going. 

Until today we have not yet received the official mandate, the only thing we have is the countdown. Thirty days.

We have now to make all the preparations to make sure we get everything done the right way. What we need to do is :-

We will put up 20 temporary cages at the entrance and at the first part of the Refugio, to house 40 or 50 dogs leaving a complete section empty where the work can begin. 

We're going to work in teams; once we have all the tools, tiles, materials, we'll go straight to work. It just needs some time to prepare.

We have volunteers who will co-ordinate all the different offers of help etc. Please contact them if you can do so, in any way.

Warm greetings

Fabienne

The co-ordinators are :-

Manon Goldenbeld for the Netherlands,

mail: pr.nederland@ace-charity.org,

and 

Marc Meeussen for Belgium,

mail: pr-belgie@ace-charity.org,

www.ace-charity.org