In July we started building a new shelter for abandoned animals (Gmajnice).

The facilities of a former cattle farm owned by Ljubljanske mlekarne, which were in 2002 remade into a shelter providing systematic care of abandoned dogs and cats in Slovenia, will be replaced by the biggest and most advanced facilities in Slovenia. Besides their basic mission the new shelter will enable also the development of a centre which will deal with the wider issue of a responsible animal ownership and welfare of pets and provide education and training of young specialized staff as well as other people interested in participating.

Shelter friendlier to visitors, volunteers and other users

The initial concept encompasses a demolition of two existing buildings - the animal shelter and the administration building and a construction of the following facilities: a reception area and a veterinary clinic, a shelter for dogs, a shelter for cats, an administration building, a warehouse, a service facility with cleaning equipment, a power facility and a refuse room.

Facilities for tending dogs will be reduced regarding the number of living spaces, however, they will be upgraded and will provide accommodation for several dogs in one space.

Facilities for cats will increase significantly, since 46 substandard living spaces will be replaced with 64 double living spaces in accordance with standards. New facilities will provide accommodation to more than 200 abandoned cats, much needed for the last few years. Enhanced service facilities and facilities with a quarantine and a veterinary clinic will allow a better care of animals, a more efficient prevention of spreading of contagious diseases, safer working conditions for the staff and safer environment for visitors.

All this will provide a better organization of work and even better services for the local community, which is the reason why the shelter was established in the first place.

Two stages of construction

The construction will be carried out in two stages First stage which comprises of the construction of the shelter for dogs, the administration building, the warehouse and the service facility, is expected to be finished by mid-2019.

Second stage involves the construction of the shelter for cats and the facility with the reception area and the veterinary clinic and is expected to be completed by 2020. The public procurement procedure for the supply and the installation of furniture and medical (veterinary) equipment is still in progress.

Contract value is 6.7 million EUR excluding VAT and the contractor is the company ANDE d.o.o.

In the Shelter they say that the start of the construction represented to them a huge and long-awaited moment. Project authors: Projekt d.d., Nova Gorica, vir: arhiv MOL

About the Ljubljana shelter for abandoned animals

Ljubljana animal shelter is the biggest shelter in Slovenia, established as one of the first ones and provides safe shelter to more than a quarter of Slovenian abandoned animals.

We pride ourselves with enormous professional development: we tend the animals in accordance with the highest professional standards for shelters in Slovenia and are amongst the most advanced in the world. We don’t perform euthanasia when longer accommodation of animals is necessary.

The highest advancement in the last few years has been the start of professional socialisation and re-education of dogs with unwanted behaviour and professional training of volunteers - the shelter’s dog walkers, which enables dogs above else to get adopted and in addition encourages a general trend of training dogs and enhances the responsibility of the owners.

How can I help the Shelter even if I can’t adopt an animal?

• The shelter appreciates and welcomes anybody willing to walk the dogs. On the shelter’s webpage you can find a detailed presentation of the procedure and the programme of the training. Only trained adult dog walkers can walk the dogs since walking the dogs in the shelter means much more than just a walk in the nature.
• By providing temporary care for orphaned kittens you can help numerous abandoned kittens.
• Citizens can help tend the free-living cats by catching them for purposes of sterilization/castration and thus preventing the birth of unwanted kittens and consequently more street cats. For more information you can contact the Shelter.
• The citizens can like the Facebook page of the Shelter where you can see photos of animals for adoption.
• They can write stories about how they found an animal and helped it and in this way encourage others to do the same.
• They can share their experience with the adopted animals from a shelter with as many people as possible and thus encourage adoption from a shelter.
• They can raise awareness among their close ones, their friends and neighbours about a responsible attitude towards animals and thus help to increase the sense of responsibility of the whole society.
• They can help with financial contributions.
• They can help with material donations.
• Citizens can contribute a part of their income to the care of abandoned dogs at Ljubljana animal shelter.