Help Fund Dogs and Cats of Antigua's New Sanctuary

A dog with desperate mange was found  by Darren Palache and rescued by Dogs and Cats of Antigua.  


The new sanctuary in the first stages of building on a large plot in Lightfoot.  


My two Antiguan dogs, now healthy and happy in the UK, were rescued by Dogs and Cats of Antigua.  I am forever grateful.

I have been involved with Dogs and Cats of Antigua since its inception and I know what a valuable job they do on an island where stray dogs are sadly all too common.  Starvation, disease and  injury  are often found amongst the stray population and most live in abject misery.  Many owned dogs also suffer and very often are dumped or their puppies dumped.  This caring charity, registered as a non profit in Antigua, rescues and rehomes hundreds of dogs and puppies every year.  Now there is finally a clinic being built on a large piece of land where these dogs can be held while they recover.  Some older dogs who are not able to travel overseas will also be given a home for life here.  

Joy Farrell, the founder of Dogs and Cats of Antigua, explains below how the new facility is coming to fruition.  We need your help to finance  the final touches.

Dogs and Cats of Antigua was set up on Facebook in January 2015. We wanted to create an international online community and a local network of animal lovers who would help to monitor the overwhelming stray population of dogs and cats. We wanted to stop animal abuse and pick up stray dogs and pups, vet,  foster and rehome overseas. Since 2015 we have rehomed over 2000 animals, many of them in the US and Canada.

Plans for the Dogs and Cats of Antigua Rescue and Wellness Sanctuary have been in the works for some time. In 2017 we first got approval from Cabinet for 2 acres of land to put up a holding facility so we would have somewhere to house our dogs and pups (other than through our foster network) before they head overseas to their forever homes. When flights stopped suddenly  this year, because of the Covid 19 pandemic, we had over 65 dogs that did not fly out.  About 40 of them were  very active puppies growing fast and furiously and needing a place to be housed. We knew we had to accelerate our efforts to erect our facility in order to accommodate this Covid overflow.

We were still waiting on various permissions to start building. The two acres of land identified for us was located near the donkey sanctuary (a 45 minute drive to the airport). That option was totally impractical. We needed a location in close proximity to the airport.  Anyone who has traveled any distance with pups or strange dogs know that they are prone to sickness, etc. when traveling by car.

Craig Fernandez was tasked with finding a suitable location for the facility. He identified at least a dozen plots of available crown land. We met with the land registrar and the Minister of Land Maria Brown but nothing happened.

Glenroy Davis entered our lives in 2018 when he assisted us in several rescues. I was impressed with his dexterity and skill in dealing with dogs. It also turned out that he was leasing 9 acres of crown land in Lightfoot and he had applied for permission to build a boarding kennel for dogs. That project had never got off the ground but we figured if we combined our interests, we may be able to make it happen.

In 2018 we also approached architect Liz Fedesna and explained what we wanted and she put our vision on paper. In 2019 Danielle Jacobsen also approached Architect Kerry Werth who gave us a master plan for the entire project. In 2019 we were fortunate enough to  raise the seed money to at least start the project, thanks to Susanna Salvia at the Inn at English Harbour, Sandals Foundation and a private individual Alston Phillips.

In a world hit by the tragedy and craziness of the Cov19 Pandemic, our timing may be more than a little off, but we are inspired by that famous line immortalized by Kevin Costner "If you build it they will come."  We have moved forward with building this project  because it is desperately needed. The clinic part of phase 1 should be completed by June.

We have had much interest in this project and we are hoping to raise the funds for Phase 2, The Isolation Unit. More immediately, we are trying to finish Phase 1 and raise the $35,000EC needed to finish it.

PLEASE NOTE - If you would prefer to make your donation directly to the charity using Paypal then this is perfectly possible.  Please follow this link to our website

https://www.dogsandcatsofantigua.com


It is also possible to donate by direct bank transfer to our Antiguan bank account.  Please see the website and contact Joy.