About us

History of the Sanctuary El Hogar de Luci

The need for a change
For years we have been rescuing animals in need. We don’t choose one particular species to be rescued, we try to help and take care of any animal in need.

However, when we began almost all of our animals were dogs and cats. As they are domestic animals we could accommodate them in our homes on a temporary basis, until we found a new family and permanent home for them. When our houses were full, we could rely on the collaboration of our volunteers who provided their homes as foster homes. Thanks to those kind-hearted people, El Hogar De Luci has been growing and rescuing more abandoned animals every day.

Yet there came a time when there were more animals in need than space in our homes, so we started to pay animal shelters to keep them. We soon understood that this was no solution. Our animals were in prisons, large prisons, albeit still prisons. They didn’t receive any affection, they had little food, they were cold and they were waiting all alone, by themselves. This was contrary to the philosophy of EHL.
Our friends could not live like that and our conscience did not cease in forcing us to look for an alternative.

Despite the lack of funds, we decided to search for a piece of land to where we could relocate our animals. A place where they could live according to their needs, far away from the suffering they have experienced. A home where they could wait to be adopted by a new, responsible family, who knew how to treat them with affection and respect. If this special family is never found, they would live under our care, protected and loved, for the rest of their days. We are in no hurry to find a new home for them, there is no limit of time that they can stay under our roof.
We got involved in a challenging project without any funds, but we were very enthusiastic and had many ideas of how we could change THEIR FUTURE.

We looked for “that special place” in several Spanish provinces. We looked in abandoned farms, we looked in houses with large gardens. We looked at undeveloped plots, village houses with small plots of land, mills, country houses, factory premises on the outskirts of the city. We even looked at old intensive piggeries ….

And, precisely on that trip, Benito came into our lives. He was an old and sick pig that was going to be slaughtered. He was an example of one of so many surplus “goods”, that, due to an infection, no longer have any value in the meat industry. We begged the slaughterhouse workers not to kill the pig; we would take care of the animal.
And on that Sunday we found ourselves in the province of Toledo, with the pig and without any idea of where to house him. We couldn’t possibly keep him in our flats, and the animal shelter would not accept the pig either. We had no idea what to do…
So we thought: What do other people do when they find an animal other than a dog or a cat in need? Those animals have the same rights to live, and to be rescued. We wanted to help them.
And on that evening we felt the shift.

Our project to create a shelter for abandoned and/or mistreated companion animals had turned into something more necessary. The idea of a multi-species sanctuary was born.

A MULTI-SPECIES SANCTUARY

The beginnings
Our history begins on that very Sunday in spring 2008. We found a beautiful place near Madrid where we could stay with our animals. The rent of the land is much higher than we initially intended to pay, but we promised to work twice as hard to cover the monthly expenditures.
At the moment we are not working twice as hard, but a lot more than that. Since the beginning we have barely rested, we have worked day and night, over weekends and on holidays.

And although we are exhausted from so much physical and mental work we are continuing. There is still a lot to do; we have to organise fund raising campaigns, rehabilitate our facilities, select volunteers, recruit new members, get permissions and, above all, we have to continue rescuing animals in need…and we are getting there. We are now realising what some time ago was just a faraway dream.