THE BEGINNING

We started our way in animal protection as volunteers of other organizations from which we learned a lot, dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of dogs and cats and very directly linked to dogs considered potentially dangerous, due to the little help they received and the few options they had when entering the kennel of SEVILLE.

In 2010 we founded the Candela Shelter, dedicated mainly to cases of dogs considered potentially dangerous. During the first years we have had the shelter located in different parts of the province of Seville (from the Sierra Norte to Los Alcores) in farms that we have been adapting to the needs that the animals we took in had.

Since 2015 we began to take in animals of different species to dogs and cats and our organization also decided to spread veganism. In order to expand the number of species we spent several years in the ¨Small Sanctuary of Extremadura¨where in just 5 hectares of land we were able to save hundreds of animals from the industry, in addition to continuing our work as a shelter for dogs and cats.

In 2017 due to the large number of animals we already had and that the farm we inhabited was no longer enough for them we began our return to Andalucia, more specifically to La Puebla del Rio, in an area considered part of the Doñana National Park.

Since then we have been inhabiting this land and fixing it up, giving home to more than 300 animals of all species.

A HARD BLOW

In October 2018 we received one of the most difficult blows to overcome for all of us: due to the lack of support from the administration and the pressures we were suffering by the owner of one of the farms we used, we had to abandon them and completely redo all the facilities for the animals and the volunteers in less than two months.

It was also during 2018 when after the death accident of our colleague Nacho Ahumada, co-founder of Santuario la Pepa, in Cádiz that the precarious and unhealthy situation in which the animals rescued by the old La Pepa Association were left were received by the Santuario la Candela in a totally supportive manner.

THE PRESENT OF THE SANCTUARY

Today all the inhabitants of La Candela and those who arrived in 2018 from La Pepa (250) live in these lands and are cared for and supervised by La Candela in both legal and clinical aspects.

HOW WE FINANCE OURSELVES

During all these years we have achieved a precious chain of collaboration based on partners, sponsors and teamers or occasional donors that make it possible for us to pay veterinary bills, attend to emergencies and new rescues, in addition to the maintenance of the more than 500 animals that live here.

That is why it is so important that we be more: because the animals need us.