Bianca.pt is one of the best known charities in Portugal and it does an absolutely brilliant job of looking after stray cats and dogs and ultimately finding homes for them. They are passionate about finding homes for the animals in their care and if it was not for this brilliant charity there would be far more cats and dogs roaming the streets of the Algarve.
Bianca was started in 2002 and to start with any stray animals that were handed in were looked after in private houses and hotels. The first actual kennel was opened in 2006 and had the capacity to hold 50 animals in total, the charity has grown to a size today which enables it to look after around 200 animals and there are plans in place to increase that capacity even further.
The charity is however adamant that it doesn’t want to be recognised as a place that is known for just looking after animals, it makes every effort that you could possibly imagine to re house the animals in its care but sometimes they feel that they just can’t keep up with the demand as animals are left abandoned on their door step on an almost daily basis.
Bianca are constantly having to look for help to keep the organisation afloat and it is only from the kindness of volunteers and the many donations that are made to the charity that keep it going. There is a full list of all of the help that they require on the website, Bianca.pt, from medicines to volunteer help and from a papal button to make donations to help required from vets.
It is possible to visit the kennels every Saturday between the hours of 12pm to 5pm to take a look at the animals that are up for adoption. They have all been health checked and are up to date with vaccinations etc and many, many people have gone to one of these Saturday afternoon sessions and walked away with a friend for life. To give you an idea of the lengths that Bianca will go to in their quest to rehouse some of the dogs they have in their care, they are advertising on their website for anyone who is flying to Germany to get in touch if they would be prepared to take charge of the transport of a dog to be rehoused over in Germany. All I can say is that it is a good job that there are people like this in the world today, it really does make it a better place to live.
Thanks for reading my blog post and I hope you enjoy our expat tips. I love living in the Algarve and sharing my stories with you.
Thanks for reading
Samantha
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