Facility “crucial for animal welfare in the municipality”
Olhão Council is planning to open its new animal shelter (Centro de Recolha Oficial de Animais) by the end of the year.
The announcement came after local councillor Ricardo Calé visited the site where the centre is being built at Sítio da Alecrineira in Quelfes.
“The difficulties we faced in accessing building materials, due to the constraints imposed by the international situation, have been overcome. The construction works are now progressing at full speed, and we expect to inaugurate this space by the end of the year,” he said.
The facility is described as “crucial for animal welfare in the municipality”, with council officials confident that it will be an example on a national level.
The centre is located on a 7,986sqm plot and has a planned construction area of over 2,000sqm.
The main building includes administrative offices, a veterinary medical office, an infirmary, a pharmacy, a surgery room, and a recovery room.
Two additional buildings are being built – one will be used for storage, while the other will house separate areas for cat and dog adoptions, as well as a bathing and grooming room.
The facility also features three buildings with a capacity for housing 150 dogs, and another with a capacity for 32 cats.
The centre will also have a separate area for housing livestock species.
Alexandre Pereira, a member of the municipal assembly for People, Animals and Nature (PAN), also visited the future shelter with PAN Olhão member Brígida Bizarro, having praised the strides that have been taken in Olhão throughout the last three years in terms of the issue of animal abandonment.
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