Homeless Animals in Rocinha

I have always had a soft heart for critters especially cats and dogs. In Rocinha there is a problem with many people who refuse to castrate or fix their animals. You can see many homeless animals here. It makes me sad because I wish I could save them all, but this is impossible as long as people don't fix their pets.

Last year I met Cristiano who lives on Rua 2 (Street 2) and read his facebook page about how he is trying to help dogs and cats in Rocinha. We have helped when we could by helping with the purchases of transport carriers that he uses to bring dogs and cats to the vet.

Its nice to receive help from other sources as well. Rachel from the Vancouver, Canada came on a tour but also was interested in the welfare of the animals in Rocinha. I set up a meeting between her and Cristiano so that she can see his project in action. So Rachel, Cristiano and Carlos went off to see the place where Cristiano lives.

 Cristiano lives in this house. He, his mother and father live on the first floor.

 This is the entrance to their home. Around the corner from the front door is an entryway to access the second floor where the animals reside.

 This is the entry way to access where the animals live.

 This is the first floor hallway that Cristiano uses to store supplies for animals.

Animal transport carriers.

 This area is fenced off. Its where he keeps the cats. He said that the fence broke. And some of the cats escaped, but as you see below, one kitty decided to stay.

This photo below is the door that enters the second floor where aproximately 35 dogs are kept in 4 rooms that are about 9X9 feet squared. Cristiano does what he can with the resources he has access to but he still want to improve the living conditions for these animals.

As you can see the conditions are not very good for these animals. Cristiano has access to donations of food for the animals, free castration provided by a local vet and a connection outside to a lady that can help to find people to adopt these animals. What Cristiano needs is money to reconstruct and upgrade the space. He wants to put tiling down on the floor and a drainage system so he can easily keep his spaces clean and this will improve the over all health of the dogs and cats.

Rachel was kind enough to donate 300 reais to Cristiano's project. He is also part of a political group organizing on behalf of rights for animals. Cristiano has no job but this is his life calling as he says. His parents support his work.

If you are interested in contributing in some way, we are going to set up a PayPal account for Cristiano's Project.

If you need other information please contact us at: visitrocinha@gmail.com