My first trip with Animal Care Austria, Serbia 2015, part 2 | photographic stories as a volunteer | reportage

Warning, this post might include some disturbing images & text.
All photos were taken by me, Shlomit Schatzmayr and are shown as-taken, no retouch or any other manipulations were done.
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Our second day in Serbia started early morning in the Svilos shelter. We strated the day by taking promotional shots of Carol Byers with the local dogs, as these are so important for bringing Animal Care Austria's work to the media.

We continued the day getting to know the dogs, their physical problems and the shelter itself- how it operates and what does it need.

This little pro-model really enjoyed my reflector :D

Many things were desperately required in the shelter. Basic things, like running water and electricity, ramps for the dogs and much needed shaded areas for every cage. Wilfried Fuchs, the Animal Care Austria volunteer who joined on the trip, Already jumped into fixing up, building overheads for shading and started working on the water plans.

From there, on our way back to the airport, we had a little stop in what I call "animal paradise".

We were brought to a very special piece of heaven, a shelter for senior and handicapped animals of all kinds, they had a giant pig, a wolf and there was even this adorable fox:

Together with his best friend, the deer!

The place was huge and had seperate areas for different animals, each area fitting for their specific needs.

And in between were the dogs, so many dogs!

This happy special girl had all of her 4 limbs amputated, she loves laying on the grass, basking in the sun.

I totally fell in love with this little girl. She is paralised from her waist down and in her quiet way, she was following me around, almost without me noticing :D

The owner of the place said that she doesn't need any financial help. The only thing that she needs urgently, is a successor, as she is already in her 80's and there is no one to take care of the place once she's gone.
This place is my dream, really. This is even bigger than any of my dreams, to be honest. When she asked if I would be interested in taking over, I was speechless! But I still have so much to learn and experience before I could do that, that unfortunatelly I had to decline her extremely generous offer.

With that we said good bye and made our way back to Austria.

Since then, Animal Care Austria completely took over the shelter in Svilos, under the amazing dedicated work of Wilfried Fuchs and Tessa Keglevic.
They have built up water and electricity systems, renovated, built ramps, new dog houses, shades... They turned it into a magnificent place for these dogs to live in as they wait for their adoptions.
All of the dogs in the Svilos shelter, are available for adoption through Animal Care Austria, who take care of the process of bringing them into the EU.
They also take care of their medical needs, vaccinations and castrations.
I will go there again in March, together with a big group of volunteers, stay tuned to see all of the amazing things done in the place!

Previously on my Animal Care Austria posts:

• Part 1 of my first trip with Animal Care Austria, Serbia 2015
• The story of Aida

Links:

• Animal Shelter Svilos, Serbia, on Facebook
• Animal Care Austria's projects in Serbia
• Donate directly to Animal Care Austria
  
  
  Thank you for reading!

http://www.animalcare-austria.at