Animal Rescue Albania

About us

Welcome animal lovers! The goal of this page is to help all volunteers and animal rights supporters to rescue, defend and protect stray animals in Albania through rescue missions, fostering, feeding, donations, denunciation and lobbying! The ultimate goal for us is to be able to open one or more no-kill shelters in the Tirana region and to push for a fair law for animal welfare and protection in Albania.

The main objectives of ARsA are:

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-Raise awareness of and promote sensibilization toward stray animals and animals in captivity throughout Albania
-Raise funds for vaccination, spay/neuter and other medical treatments necessary for stray animals.
-finding temporary/foster homes for the animals we rescue until they are found permanent housing.
-Find reliable adopters for the animals we rescue.
-ARsA is in the process of negotiating with the Municipality of Tirana for a land grant on which to construct a shelter.
-Build a shelter for the homeless and stray animals (dogs and cats) in Albania.
-Encourage the government to adopt a law for animal welfare in Albania. So far, we are collecting the signatures necessary for a petition in order to present a draft-law to the parliament.

In the long run the organization aims to:

• Reduce and further stop wild animal captivity and dog fighting and the using of animals (such as bears) for entertainment;
• Stop experimentation with animals in Albania.
• Improve the conditions of farm animals in accordance with EU standards and requirements
• Supervise and monitor the implementation of animal protections law once they are approved.

The main activities of the volunteer organization, starting well before its formalization, have included:

•Promoting the organization and its work throughout the country through campaigns, TV appearances, interviews, and online. The Facebook account of the organization is very active and counts more than 25.000 friends and dozens of volunteers.
• Awareness-raising through campaigns and TV appearance, interviews and journal articles, in order to fight the mentality of people concerning animals. For 3 consecutive years, the organization has organized open-air activities for the animals' international day. Exhibitions and video demonstrations in public places demonstrating the suffering of animals have been put out during ARsA’s existence. Marching events have also been organized.
• Events called ‘Adopt me’ aimed at real-time adoption of stray and abandoned cats and dogs by friends of animals, besides the everyday work of the organization.
• Fund-raising activities, such as selling of clothes, jewelery, artwork, etc., in the Christmas Bazaar or during open-air activities. Several successful fundraisers have been held during the summer of 2013, including one in NYC in October 2013.
• Investigating the conditions of pet shop animals, most of whom are held in miserable conditions and against whom we have no authority.