By Johannes Malinowski
No small individual kennels, but animal community and a large amount of space: The paradise for maltreated animals is in Brandenburg!
In Markgrafpieske (Oder-Spree) the international animal protection association Pro Animale opened its hostel “Rendez-vous with animals” in 2001. The BZ recently reported on the puppy from Poland, who lives here and is looking for a permanent home. But around 220 other animals also live here.
Veterinarian Hasan Tatari (56) is the head of the facility. Here with the blind female llama Jamyang Photo: Olaf Selchow
In addition to around 70 dogs, there are 40 cats, 14 horses and even two llamas. One of them is the female Jamyang (2). The animal was born in a circus and is completely blind. “For the large animals, our facility has the character of a sanctuary,” says director Hasan Tatari (56). Donkeys, goats, horses and ponies also live in the outdoor area, and there is also enough space for the dairy cow Edelgart and her son Engelbert.
Instead of being in a cramped stable, they stand on a spacious pasture under trees. Animal rights activists once bought them from a farmer. And a flock of sheep lives on the farm. Tatari: “Many people want to keep sheep to mow the pasture. But very few people know how much work they do.”
Here is a new home for the 40 cats Photo: Olaf Selchow
The latest additions are dogs from the flood areas around the blasted Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine. Via Poland they got a place in Markgrafpieske, which belongs to the municipality of Spreenhagen.
Dairy cow Edelgart (left) with son Engelbert (2nd from left) Photo: Olaf Selchow
Hasan Tatari himself is a qualified veterinarian and has been working on the farm for more than ten years. Before that, he worked in a Berlin practice. What excites him about working out here? “I am solely responsible for the animals, in practice it is first of all the owners of the animals.”
The facility is completely funded by donations, there are no public funds. 14 animal keepers work here seven days a week. The beautiful four-sided courtyard from the 1930s is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Information about the farm and the animal agency is available at www.pro-animale.de