I've raised £4000 to help a small charity in Mauritius build a dog sanctuary to rescue stray, injured dogs.
Organised by Sophie Delarny
Story
On our recent holiday in Mauritius myself and my husband came across an amazing charity that are doing everything they can to help as many injured stray dogs and cats as possible. Run by a wonderful couple, Marley's Animal Sanctuary helped us when we found a tiny stray puppy, covered in Mange and Fleas and desperate for help that no one else would help. Luckily the hotel we were staying in put us in touch with Sindy and Adrian who are now fostering the puppy Maurice until he is well enough to make the journey to England to come and live with us!
We couldn't have found better people to look after Mo, we visited him in the sanctuary before coming home and couldn't believe the difference in him in just 3 days of love and care from MARC. He had gone from a starving puppy with a horrendous skin condition to a happy little puppy wagging his tail who just wanted to play.
You can follow them on Facebook here to see the incredible work they are doing: https://www.facebook.com/Marleys-animals-rescue-community-106207005110357
When we were at the sanctuary we learnt more about Sindy and Adrian and everything they do at MARC. This is a statement from Adrian:
Although we take in a lot of puppies as there are literally thousands born strays or abandoned every month, this is not our passion. Our big love is saving the dogs no one will ever want, strangely these are the dogs which return the most love, like Tommy that you met yesterday. We have no problem cuddling up to dogs infested with severe mange and open wounds. In fact we get infected also but it is easy to treat for us. Old defeated dogs come back to life when we get them. So many times we pick up sick dogs late at night and even with all our experience we cannot get them through the night to see a vet in the morning but we would never leave a stray dying dog to pass alone.
The problems in Mauritius are too numerous to mention all but I will cover some. Strays are out of control but strays are not a problem to all people as generally they are not aggressive. At the same time those who see them as the problem can be extremely aggressive to the dogs and also lay poison for them. Estimates are between 300000 and 500000 strays. The strays have not created themselves, they are created by families not sterilising their dogs yet letting them wander around freely. When they get pregnant the dump the pups and sometimes the mother also. Some will keep the male puppies and abandon the females. The majority of the population hold dogs in very low esteem. There are rays of hope as more and more people are joining groups that campaign and help dogs in distress and also we are involved with a successful sterilisation campaign which is spreading around the island. Sindy and I met through our love of dogs and our need to help as many as possible.
MARC brings many dogs back to health and then works tirelessly to re-home as many as possible, sometimes in Mauritius or working with another group that ships them to western countries to be re-homed there.
Sindy and Adrian are trying to raise money to build a proper sanctuary on some land, which they have the planning permission to do so. They desperately need help to raise funds to build a wall, flooring and proper kennels to rescue more animals in need of medical attention and care. This is difficult for them do to themselves from Mauritius as the main fund-raising sites won't accommodate organisations based there even though they are a registered charity. The main purpose of this sanctuary will to house the dogs that are not rehomed so they are still able to live out a long happy life.
When I heard this I was immediately driven to try and raise funds for them here in the UK to help them as much as possible. You can see the photos of the dogs they rescue, they terrible health they are in when they are found and then the improvement made in them after MARC rescue them.
Any amount of money you can donate will make a difference to help these dogs, just £4000 is needed to able them to build their sanctuary. Please give as generously as you can, as little as £10 will help them reach their goal!
This is the amazing couple Sindy and Adrian holding our little pup Mo. you can see a photo pf him when we found him and then one just 3 days later, the difference was incredible.
This is the land where they now have planning permission to build the sanctuary.
This terribly sad photograph is an example of the kind of dogs they are saving. This lovely dog is now on the mend (you can see in the second photograph the difference already from just 2 weeks).
And here is another lovely they dog they recently rescued, before and after just a few weeks of care.
And this is their charity certification:
