We have taken a step further when it comes to animal welfare, especially for unwanted, homeless, shelter, at-risk, and disabled dogs and some cats.
Maybe 2 or 3 steps.
Instead of leaving the responsibility to permanently fix a big issue to someone else, we created our own nonprofit NGO, EveryDogMatters.eu, with the single ambition of eliminating – forever – the leading animal welfare problem in Eastern Europe, where we are based.
What Is Every Dog Matters EU?
Every Dog Matters EU is our nonprofit NGO that was established in 2019 to massively improve the lives of vulnerable, abused, abandoned, and homeless dogs in Eastern Europe.
Every Dog Matters EU was founded by our co-founder, Terry Kyle.
Every Dog Matters EU currently supports at-risk dogs across 3 sites, including its own no-cage, open-yard sanctuary, currently housing 150 dogs in large open yards ranging from 240 m2 to 1,500 m2.
Some of these homeless dogs end up in government “shelters” for the rest of their lives, which are more like concentration camps for dogs who did nothing wrong.
A big part of the mission of Every Dog Matters EU is to permanently end this kind of tiny-cage suffering for dogs everywhere. In these types of shelters, dogs live their entire lives alone in small cages or are in hopelessly overcrowded small group cages, deprived of everything they need for a full, healthy life.
So we created a 27,000 m2 no-cage, open-yard sanctuary where our rescue dogs live and play happily until we find their loving forever homes.
One of the main purposes of the Every Dog Matters EU dog sanctuary is to prove the effectiveness of the no-cage, open-yard dog shelter model as a living, working prototype that makes rescue dogs much happier, much healthier, and much more adaptable, as ‘normal’ tiny-cage prison cell shelters usually create rescue dogs with significant behavioral issues.
What Has Every Dog Matters EU changed since it opened?
Since 2016, WPX has been supporting the feeding, castrating, and medical care of hundreds of homeless dogs living at a large, abandoned industrial estate on the outskirts of the capital city where WPX is headquartered.
Today, that work continues on a daily basis through the work of Every Dog Matters EU.
In 2019, Every Dog Matters EU was formally registered as a nonprofit NGO, and in 2020, its first sanctuary site was created, about 30 30-minute drive from WPX’s office.
Here is how we’re different:
For the past 4 years, we have drastically helped animal welfare with:
1. Dogs saved from the street:
Every Dog Matters EU has been caring for around 800 homeless dogs with daily food, castrations & medical care.
2. Adopted dogs:
At least 500 dogs have been rehomed in Bulgaria, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland, and Denmark.
3. Area growth:
Originally our site was 25,000 m2, but we expanded to 27,000 m2
over a year ago.
6. Dogs rescued from life-threatening conditions:
Almost all of the hundreds of dogs that have lived or are living in our shelter now come from life-threatening situations of abuse, abandonment, or cruelty.
5. Volunteers who volunteered:
Approx. 500 people, teambuilding events included, volunteered over the past 4 years walking the dogs, donating food, helping with construction work, etc.
6. Dogs rescued from life-threatening conditions:
Almost all of the hundreds of dogs that have lived or are living in our shelter now come from life-threatening situations of abuse, abandonment, or cruelty.
Why Did We Do It?
We did it because it needed to be done. The treatment of dogs in this part of the world is appalling, and the broken old tiny-prison-cell-for-life approach of established shelters everywhere across the world creates immense suffering for dogs. Every Dog Matters EU is driven by the mission to permanently end that model of dog shelter management.
What Is The Connection Between WPX.net & Every Dog Matters EU?
Directly and indirectly, WPX.net is the main financial sponsor of Every Dog Matters EU.
While most animal welfare organizations lack stable finances, which is highly stressful and precarious for their work, Every Dog Matters EU is different and embodies the change-seeking mission common to both WPX.net and Every Dog Matters EU.
What Are The Future Plans For Every Dog Matters EU?
Every Dog Matters EU hopes to continually expand its rescue, castration, and education work across the whole country and expand to neighboring countries in Eastern Europe. Visitors from anywhere in the world are always welcome to visit the Every Dog Matters EU dog sanctuary to learn from it and consider applying that model in their own countries.
How You Can Help
Over 1 million breed dogs are purchased in Germany every year, for the UK, Mars Corporation (owner of Purina and Pedigree pet foods) calculates that if just 7% of breed dog buyers adopted a shelter dog, all shelters would be empty.
The best way you can help animal welfare is by adopting, not buying, and spraying your dog.
Apart from rescuing an animal, we’ve gathered for you 10 other ways you can contribute to your local shelter.
Animal welfare is a great social cause that we all should focus on. This post is amazing for those who are looking for motivation in working towards this cause. I would love to have people cover this topic on our website as well.