We are a group of people living in Cuellar, a town from the Segovia province. We are joined by the same aim: animal welfare, dogs and cats in particular, since in our town there’s always been a very large number of abandonments. We have always tried to find them homes or take them someplace where someone would take care of them, always having doubts about the animal protection societies. Taking them where we thought they would be safe, not knowing that we were taking them to slaughterhouses.

At that time there was no shelter in Cuellar, nor people who took care of it, only the town council, when an animal would be stray for a long time, they would call  the “lacero”, which was a person who would take a stick with a piece of wire and a slipknot, that when the animal would put his head in it, it would almost cut his neck. That was the situation, on one side us, on the other the “lacero”, until Scooby’s arrival.

SCOOBY is the Medina del Campo animal shelter. The town council made the good choice when they signed a contract for taking in dogs, either because the owners don’t want them or because they are abandoned. We’ve been knowing each other for three years now, even though they have been doing this for many more years. We got in touch for the usual thing, an abandoned dog. We had the problem, what to do with him? You keep it, I keep it, I’ll call a friend to see if... the thing is that someone gave us SCOOBY’s phone number, I think it was the local police. We called them and next day they were here to take the dog.

Since then, the contact has been very warm with them, they’ve always been very good with us; I hope we were also warm with them. They gave us advise on plenty of things, for we have become the middlemen between them and the town council, to which SCOOBY told that not in every town council there were people willing to take charge in these matters. So now, if there is an abandoned animal, we take care of him until they come to fetch him. We give him love, food and a shelter. Before they came, looked for the animal, and sometimes they could catch him and sometimes they would leave without him because they hadn’t found him. We have engaged ourselves to make things easier for them, which maybe is not much, but it’s what we can do. We want to do everyday more, and encouraged by them we tried to get a place hand over by the town council as a shelter for the animals till SCOOBY’s arrival.

The contract between the Town Council and SCOOBY engages to the pick up of animals once a month, even when sometimes they have come until four times, for the number of abandonments in Cuellar is very high. There is no economic interest from them just the animals welfare, for the animal has another chance of having a decent life, thanks to possible adoptions both in Spain and in the rest of Europe.

Seeing the tone of this letter you might have guessed the admiration these people arise on us, the friendship that unites us, the task they do, their volunteers, for there are people coming from all around Europe. It’s a team of competent people, and professional veterinaries able to meet the challenge with each animal.

We find there dogs, cats, sheep, donkeys, pigs, all kinds of animals. The first time I went there I though I would find animals in cages or in bad shape, and it is all the contrary, for each animal has it’s shelter and it’s space, it is mind-blowing to see how they are treated with all sorts of cares and lots of love, which is what they need most.

So, if you have the time, i invite you to go meet them, you will have a good impression, and if possible, you will also take a living creature who needs your love.

I could write many more things, but I would never stop to praise the job that SCOOBY does with the environmental and animal world. The best that can happen to you, if you love animals, is meeting all these people who devote completely to them, and when you see them running and barking you will dare collaborate with SCOOBY, because they need it. That is what happened to us.