For the first time ever, Torrevieja’s animal shelter is set to open 365 days per year. Councillor for Animal Protection, Concha Sala, made the announcement this week adding that the facility will now be open in both mornings and afternoons. The new extended timetable is thanks to a new staffing arrangement. The team is made up of the lead coordinator, a secondary coordinator, three general operatives and two additional workers from the ‘Labora’ employment programme of the Valencian Government.
The new winter schedule sees the shelter open Monday to Sunday from 9am to 1pm and from 4pm to 6pm.
Councillor Sala remarked that the schedule change represents the willingness of all the staff “to keep the shelter open throughout the year, something that had never happened before.” The councillor for Animal Protection thanked the staff for making this possible so that people hoping to adopt an animal have more scope to visit the facility. She also remarked that the animals themselves will benefit, given that there will be more opportunities for the volunteer team to visit and walk the dogs and provide all the animals with essential human contact.
Plans are in the pipeline for a new animal shelter with the project in the final stages of the administrative phase. The next step would be putting the works out to tender. Councillor Sala said that the extended opening hours “ represents a turning point in the history of animal care in the city of Torrevieja.”
Pet adoption
International residents make up many of the volunteers that walk the dogs and care for the animals in general at the shelter. Indeed, many foreign residents have adopted dogs and cats from the facility with great success. Those who have bought a holiday home in Torrevieja or surrounding areas on the Southern Costa Blanca often adopt a pet when they settle in and the shelter, and great number of animal welfare charities across the Costa Blanca, report a huge number of British, Irish, German and Scandinavian residents adopting pets here. The animal shelter often advertises dogs and cats for adoption on its Facebook page.
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Lost dogs
If a pet is lost, the animal shelter is usually the first port of call for worried owners. The dog warden would bring a lost dog to the municipal pound where staff read its microchip and try to get in touch with the owners. Often, an owner might have changed their number so the details on the microchip aren’t always up to date. The advice is to always keep your pet’s microchip up to date. You can access the database for the Valencian Community here by entering your NIE number and your dog’s pet passport number: https://intranet.rivia.org/propietarios/ This way you can check if your details are up to date should your dog become lost.
Our advice is to follow the municipal animal shelter on Facebook as they often advertise lost dogs in their possession in an attempt to locate the owners.