El Arca de Armantes
Asociación Protectora de Animales Armantes (APAA)
Calatayud/Zaragoza - Spain

Our animal welfare association was founded in 2008 by only a few animal lovers on a private basis, who made it their business to give a voice to abandoned and abused animals, no matter which breed. They should never again be thrown stones at them because they are emaciated, ugly and marked by diseases like Sarna.
For many years we have tried to give form and life to our project, had to overcome bureaucratic hurdles and often met with incomprehension and even contempt.

It was not as easy as we had imagined. Where should the animals go? Where will the money come from? The captured animals had to be vaccinated, chipped and castrated at the vet. Fortunately, a member of the association provided us with a piece of land free of charge. For the fencing and everything that belongs to a refugio a credit was applied for and a large amount of unpaid bills from the vets had to wait for payment. Government subsidies were a utopia at that time.

Thanks to the great support of TSV-Europe, at that time still under the direction of Mrs. Ute Hübner, today Tierfreunde-Europa, and also from the own members of our association, we were able to pay our debts over time.

The sad thing about our story is that we had to close our Refugio because we could not find suitable staff to take care of the dogs responsibly. The young people are working, mostly outside the city, older people don't dare. In the end there were only 3 responsible people left to take care of abandoned dogs, but with the restriction that these dogs then go to a foster home or a kennel. There are almost no foster homes and a kennel costs a lot of money.
Our Refugio remains open for anyone who finds a dog, leaves it there and takes care of it. We will continue to pay for neutering, medication etc. and hope that our members will continue to support us, some of them have unfortunately already left.

Our team from Armantes has now contacted the Town Hall to give some time off for the dogs there who have to sit in cramped kennels day in, day out.
So there are always two volunteers walking the dogs every day and getting to know the dogs personally.
The volunteers can also take photos and videos, which we can then publish on our European Pet Lovers website.

The dogs are very happy about the variety and the treats they bring with them, and these become a secondary consideration when they go for a walk - so they enjoy the exercise.

If it turns out and we find people interested in the dogs, the dogs can leave the perrera and can start their journey to Germany.

We continue to hope for the support of Tierfreunde-Europa and look forward to working with them and they can also count on our support here in Spain.

Calatayud, 23.2.2020