Running a charity is no easy feat, with many organisations relying heavily on external donations to keep the day-to-day operations functioning. This is one key reason why Doggo Casino has committed to supporting local charities.

In the final interview of a four piece ‘dog-useries’, Doggo Casino takes us on a tour of the dog sanctuary run by Association for Abandoned Animals.

The video draws upon the insight of Rosalind Aguis, Sanctuary Manager, as she discusses the reasons why animals may end up at the shelter. She began: “One thing that these animals have in common is that they have all been abandoned. Most of these animals come to us either directly as pets that are no longer wanted – we have seen every reason that you can imagine. Some of these animals have been confiscated.

“Those animals are usually the worst cases where we see lots of instances of abuse against the animal. They have been forcefully confiscated by the police and by animal welfare.

“Some also come to us directly from the streets, and have not usually been chipped. Microchipping animals is the law, but some people don’t chip their pets purposefully so they can throw them out on the streets.”

When it comes to running the dog shelter on a day-to-day basis, one of the biggest challenges that the charity faces is ensuring that it has sufficient resources to support the animals in its care.

The shelter receives the vast majority of the food and medication it uses for its animals via donations. By raising awareness of the shelter, Doggo Casino is confident that it can help create a new fundraising drive for the charity.

Aguis continued: “We do have lots of challenges at the sanctuary. I think the biggest challenge, one that makes us really angry, is that the mentality is not really changing. People are still abandoning dogs as if they are nothing.

“Then, as a sanctuary itself, one of the biggest challenges lies in how we are going to afford to pay the rising veterinary bills and to also be able to feed these dogs.It is quite a heartbreaking job to do.

“We accept all kinds of donations. We accept voluntary donations, vouchers for pet shops or pet pharmacies. Everything is very welcome! When you have 80 dogs, you need everything you can get, so we accept donations from everywhere.

“Most of the donations do come here to the sanctuary like food or donations. We do offer tours around the sanctuary. However, if you have no way to come here, we can send volunteers to collect donations.”