Dutch organisation Angel’s Choice has been active for almost ten years by the end of 2023, nine years and eight months to be precise. In 2024 Angel’s Choice has been supporting rescuers of cats and dogs mainly in North-Macedonia and was involved in two projects in Argentina. The main focus has been neutering as many dogs and cats as possible, because this is the only way to prevent animals suffering. The activities in 2024 involved fundraising, collecting donations, collecting necessities and sending them to the rescuers, giving medical advice and networking.
Needless to say that this year has been an emotional roller coaster as usual for all involved because our job has not been done yet as long as animals suffer due to mankind.

Organisations supported
In 2024 the following rescuers and rescue organisations received support:
– Angelcats Sanctuary, Skopje, North-Macedonia, run by Maja Popovska, mainly cats, supported since the beginning of 2015
– Dog Rescue Gastarovska, Skopje, North-Macedonia, run by Silvija Gastarovska, mainly handicapped dogs, supported since the beginning of 2015
–  Masha’s friends, Skopje, North-Macedonia, run by Tatjana Atanasova, cats and dogs, supported since 2018
– Save the Stray Angels, Krushevo, North-Macedonia, run by Ruzhica Parsons, supported since 2018
– Friend of Animals, Prilep area, North-Macedonia, dogs and cats, run by Vlatko Zatkoski, supported since 2019
– Anima Mundi, Skopje, North-Macedonia, project to prevent blindness in kittens, run by Melita Ivanova, supported since 2019
– LuBA Salta, Salta, Argentina, run by Kike Rosales Luarte, 2 projects in 2024, but the cooperation started many years ago with the rescue of handicapped dog Lunita, that was adopted in USA
– and some individual rescuers, mainly with medical advice or specific medication and sometimes fundraising for individual dogs or cats.

Neuterings
The official neutering project run by Angelcats Sanctuary started in 2019. In 2024 the amazing number of 1145 cats have been neutered. In total 3788 cats have been neutered since the start of the project.
Angel’s Choice sent money for the neutering of 2 dogs to Animal’s Voice run by Leonardo Sokolov.
Friend of Animals neutered 12 cats and 34 dogs.
All neuterings were paid for by donations and fundraising activities.
In the first half of 2024 Angel’s Choice helped raising funds for the first neutering station in Salta Argentina. An intiative of animal rescue organisation LubA Salta and the municipality. In the first 5 months they performed 1436 neuterings, 1328 vaccinations, 617 medical services (minor surgery, first aid care) and 8 pyometra surgeries. The dogs and cats were brought in by their owners who do not have to pay anything and activists brought in stray cats and dogs, that were released afterwards.
Because of the huge success of the first neutering station the municipality was willing to open a second station. The building and renovation were provided by the municipality on condition that LuBA Salta would provide the necessities (surgery tables, furniture, equipment and more). Enough money was raised in November 2024 and at the end of 2024 work is still in progress. The opening will be in 2025.

Leishmania
Since February 2019 Adrie Beyen (founder of Angel’s Choice) has been admin of the Dutch Facebook group ‘Mijn hond heeft leishmania’ (my dog has leishmania). In this capacity she helps and supports owners of leish+ dogs and rescue organisations by providing information, interpretating lab reports and giving advice for therapy. She is also content manager of the website http://www.leishmania.nl (launched in 2023).  Because there is often a co-infection with diseases like ehrlichia, anaplasma, babesia and dirofilaria these diseases are also taken into account.

Finances
All rescuers depend on donations to do what they do: taking care of animals in their neighbourhood, taking in the ones that need medical and other care because they will not survive on their own on the streets, and preparing them for adoption. Because North-Macedonia is non-EU and PayPal does not provide services to receive money for people in Nort-Macedonia Angel’s Choice facilitates the fundraising by the rescuers and also does its own fundraising for food, medical care, neuterings and more. To be clear: the rescuers themselves remain responsible for everything.
There are some loyal supporters who donate every month a fixed amount for one of the rescue organisations or for a specific animal.
The fundraising activities vary from sponsorkliks (% from sales in various webshops) to monthly auctions and sale of donated items on Market Place and other commercial websites. In 2024 12 auctions were organised with the help of Hans Toorneman and Monique Stavast. In total the 12 auctions raised 10,915.57 euro and this money was used to pay vet bills, medication, supplements, special diet food and neuterings. Also four lotteries were organised, two in cooperation with Stichting Dierennood.
Postage of sold items were sponsored once again by Dutch publishing company A3 boeken.

Donated necessities
Various people in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany donated necessities. From deworming tablets and spot on pipets to diapers, wet wipes, supplements, food, blankets and more. In total 15 parcels of 20 kilo each were sent to rescuers in North-Macedonia by mail (plane). Fortunately 8 bags of more than 20 kilo each could be sent with Slagor Pet Transport.
Necessities that could not be sent to North-Macedonia because they were too big, too heavy or forbidden to be imported were donated to various private sanctuaries in the Netherlands and Belgium. In total 29 parcel of 23 kilo each.
Once again publishing company A3 boeken paid postage for all parcels.
A car load of necessities (mainly benches, big dog beds and food containers) was donated to a colleague organisation that supports rescuers in Romania.
In total 360 tubes of Terramycin were sent to Melita Ivanova for the kitten project.

Thank you
Once again it was a tough year. The resilience of the animals is amazing and inspires many. Sadly not all of them make it. Some names will be etched forever in our hearts.
Many lives were changed for the better thanks to rescuers, sponsors, adopters and others. Thanks from the heart to all involved!

Adrie Beyen, founder of Angel’s Choice

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