Building Portugal's First Model Rescue Facility

We're the Maureen Gray Foundation, a Portuguese-English team working to transform animal welfare standards across Portugal and our international adoption network.

The Problem

Portugal needs serious help. Years working with rescues here and across Europe have shown us the same pattern everywhere: endless rescue-rehome-rescue cycles because nobody's addressing the root causes. Communities lack education and support. Standards vary wildly. The system perpetuates the problem instead of solving it.

Our Solution

We're building an abandoned animal rescue facility in Alfeizerão, Portugal, designed around proper welfare standards—capacity for 30-40 dogs and 20-30 cats, with quarantine areas, medical facilities where local vets can perform surgery in sanitary conditions, and group kennels that prioritize socialization over isolation.

This isn't just another shelter. It's a working model that proves high-welfare care is achievable and replicable. Every design decision—from emphasizing group housing to including proper medical spaces—creates a blueprint other rescues can follow.

The facility also provides emergency capacity for our international adoption network and demonstrates the standards we're pushing to become law across Portugal.

Where We Are

Land secured. Architectural plans submitted. Initial planning approval received. We're now finalizing building permissions and ready to break ground.

The Ask

We need funding for construction. This gets our approved plans off paper and into reality, creating a physical space where we can demonstrate, teach, and scale the standards Portugal's animals desperately need.

We're dreaming big but starting local. Every contribution moves us closer to a facility that doesn't just rescue animals—it changes how rescue work gets done.

Best regards

Natalya Gray - Founder/President