Walk into the Animal and Environment Association (AEA) shelter in Bethlehem in the West Bank, and you’ll see just how much this small team does for the dogs in its care, despite limited space and resources.
This modest shelter is home to more dogs than it was designed for, while an ancient air conditioner works hard to keep the animals cool in 86°F (30°C) heat.
AEA is a humble shelter, but for the 250 dogs who live here, it is paradise compared to their previous lives.
Many local people consider dogs vermin and frequently go on killing sprees. Every single dog was rescued from the streets where they were moving targets for roaming gunmen or callous poisoners. At this unassuming shelter, they are fed, vaccinated, exercised and loved.
A humble shelter with an ageing air conditioner that can’t beat the heat. This is daily life for the dogs at our partner’s shelter in the West Bank. They desperately need our help. Source: NFA/Dejan Radic
Now this precious refuge is struggling as never before.
Network for Animals’ partner, AEA, runs the only dog shelter in the West Bank. Without it, the dogs would be back on the streets. Even if they evaded poisoners or gunmen, they would face sickness, hunger, short lives and lonely deaths.
There is a terrifying possibility this might happen. Since the Israel-Hamas war began, donations to the shelter have fallen dramatically. Tourism on which Bethlehem depends has dried up, impoverishing the entire town. The hardship has reached right into the shelter.
Some charities AEA depended on have dramatically cut funding, leaving a gap the shelter cannot fill alone.
Network for Animals is helping fill that gap, so 250 dogs can be kept safe and fed.
The shelter is overcrowded, but it is the only safe place these dogs have. The war ended tourism in Bethlehem, and many donors withdrew support. Source: NFA/Justine Haralambous
In the last few months, the Palestinian authorities have mooted a plan to kill 80% of all dogs in the West Bank. There are 150,000 street dogs in the area – that means 120,000 potential victims. It is still a proposal, not an approved policy. But the prospect makes protecting this shelter all the more urgent.
Every day, the animals eat some 35 kgs (77 lbs) of food. Feeding them costs $1,000 (£750) a month. Finding that money has become a constant struggle.
After everything done to rescue these dogs from abuse and abandonment, their lives could be at risk again as the money to care for them runs out.
For many dogs here, this shelter means their next meal. Our partner feeds both the dogs in its care and as many street dogs as money permits. Please donate to keep the food coming. Source: AEA
The shelter is unassuming and crowded, but the love and care these animals receive make it priceless. For dogs who would otherwise be hungry, frightened or hunted down and killed, a full bowl and a safe place to sleep mean everything.
We hope one day to move the shelter to a safer area with more space, but in the meantime, your gift to Network for Animals will help provide the food and support that keep these animals safe. A regular monthly donation would help us sustain that care while adoptions and local donations remain so scarce.
Please help us protect this little oasis for animals who depend on it.
