About Us
We (AFO) are a non profit organization that shelters, rehabilitates, and adopts out neglected, abandoned, and injured animals in Colombia using an environmentally conscious
approach.
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AFO aims to rehabilitate and shelter abused, neglected, and/or injured animals and integrate them back into an agricultural ecosystem to create a sustainable non industrial model for agriculture. Our goal is to make a shift into creating a fully sustainable agricultural operation that will benefit animals in need, the environment, and people.
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What is AFO Organizacion Animales Felices Working On?
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First and foremost rescue and rehabilitating domesticated species and wildlife.
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Using animal waste for compost and fertilizer
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Using animals to graze and maintain land
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Providing an ecosystem bridge with protected land and agricultural land so native species may move throughout the property and maintain the natural ecosystem
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Creating self maintaining food forests
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Providing sustainable food for local communities and for export
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Providing jobs in low income rural communities
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AFO aims to make an impact through eco tourism and agricultural tourism as an education tool
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There is a stray animal crisis in Colombia. Hundreds of thousands of animals on the streets are in most cases seen as pests. Unfortunately this makes it common for animals mainly dogs, cats, farm animals, pets and even wildlife to be beaten and abused. Hundreds of animals are poisoned, killed or starved every year because of this over population problem. The animals pose a threat to human health through zoonotic diseases and often are problems for farmers when cats dogs and wildlife kill chickens/ other farmed animals, or eat the crops that farmers grow.
Our mission is to take the most vulnerable and neglected animals and provide them with immediate veterinary care, and re-nourish their bodies and minds. Once our animals are rehabilitated they are spayed/neutered (domesticated dogs, cats, to aid in population control) and put up for adoption, are reintroduced to the wild (wildlife), or live out their life on our sustainable agricultural farm. We cannot keep all the animals that come our way which is why we need your help by adopting or raising funds to keep the mission going.​
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We are based in Armenia, Quindio, Colombia, but we rescue animals from all over the region of Quindio and Colombia who need us , in cities spanning from Calarca, Santa Marta, and smaller towns as well like Salento, and Filandia.
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Current Stray Animal Population Problem
A Public Health Problem
Our Response
There are currently over 1 million stray animals in Colombia, to put this into perspective for roughly every 15 people living in Colombia there is one animal living on the streets of Colombia. In Bogota (capital of Colombia) alone there are about 350,000 street dogs and cats at any one time and in Armenia (3 times smaller than Bogota) there are an estimated 34,000 strays. The magnitude of overpopulation means that unfortunately many animals in this developing nation starve to death. Due to being on the street dogs and cats are more susceptible to certain conditions and illnesses such as scabies, infected cuts, broken bones, heart worm, or infected teeth. These conditions if not treated can be fatal for many animals, the only thing that makes this sadder is that these conditions and illnesses when treated at the right time can be easily managed and/or reversed through proper medical attention.
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Unfortunately a large stray population poses a health threat to humans due to illness and/or infections that are naturally transmitted from vertebrates namely dogs and cats to humans, the term for this is known as zoonosis. In 2016 there was a zoonosis outbreak. In response to the problem, and to put a dent in the overwhelming population of strays, the Colombian government gave orders to kill a minimum of 400 cats and dogs per week or in other words 25,000 a year. Most of the animals were killed through electrical shock rather than humane euthanasia. It is impending that the stray animal population be lowered in more human ways so that something like this does not need to even be considered again. Fortunately, animal rights activists fought against this form of animal cruelty. Today it is illegal for any shelter to euthanize an animal via electric shock. However the problem remains and many animals who are picked up by government funded shelters are still euthanized everyday.
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ANIMAL RESCUE
We are committed to bettering the lives of all animals. We take in animals who need us most, provide them with proper medical care, food, shelter, and most importantly a safe and loving environment for them to heal both physically and emotionally . Some animals may come in with existing emotional trauma, which we work on through emotional and behavioral rehabilitation backed by animal psychology. We are a no kill shelter who believes in the value of each animals life, we do not turn away any animal no matter the vet costs, which is why we rely so much on the support of generous donations.
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ADOPTION AND PLACEMENT
Our goal is to place as many previously abused and neglected animals into responsible and loving homes.
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SPAY AND NEUTER
The number of stray abandoned and abused animals in the streets of Colombia increases every year which is why Organizacion Animales Felices believes that in addition to saving animals off of the streets we must also get to the root of the problem. On average a dog can have 2 litters of 1-12 or more puppies a year and cats can have 3-5 litters of 1 or more than 10 kittens. Trough spay and neuter we can prevent the introduction of new puppies and kittens that appear on the streets and are most vulnerable to being abused, neglected, euthanized, and starved. By spaying and neutering we can reduce the population of strays and provide better care for the already existing animals that still need our help.
Contact Information:
Contacting through e mail or What's App is preferred
(if you do not reach us via call please leave a text message)
please scan the following code to contact via What's App:
Or
e mail us at Organizacionanimalesfelices@gmail.com
