Supporting the "Quinto Mondo Animalisti Volontari" Association

Project location: Italy, Lazio Region
Project start date: January 2006 - Project end date: This project covers various years
Project number: 2006-001
Beneficiary: Quinto Mondo Animalisti Volontari – Onlus

In 2006 the Nando Peretti Foundation awarded a grant to the "Quinto Mondo Animalisti Volontari" Association, to support a free-roaming animal kennel in the area of Rome, called "La Nuova Cuccia".

The structure was seized temporarily by the Tivoli District Attorney's office in May 2002, following a judicial proceeding for animal abuse, and entrusted to the Mayor of Montelibretti since September 2003. At that time, it hosted 700 dogs and 70 cats; at the time this project was presented it hosted 360 dogs and 30 cats as a result of adoptions and natural deaths, and was fully managed by the volunteers of the Association.

Quinto Mondo takes care of the animals, by providing feeding, deworming, vaccination, and medical attention. The organization is also active in the structure's maintenance. The Montelibretti town Council provided some financial support, yet the rest is completely up to the volunteers of the Association.

The Nando Peretti Foundation financed "Quinto Mondo"'s Association projects in 2006 and in 2009 to support a programme of disease prevention and medical care for the hosts of its shelter, and in particular:

- vaccination;

- deworming (twice a year);

- pest control;

- deratization of the structure;

-purchase of special food for ill dogs

The aim of the organization is to progressively reduce the number of animals hosted, and eventually promote adoption of all the animals. In recent years Quinto Mondo has been able to ensure the daily cleaning of the space inhabited by the animals, their nutrition, prevention and basic medical care, also giving the dogs the chance to go out every day to turn the box and socialize among themselves by taking care of the psychological aspect of the recluse.

The association has also provided to sterilize all the females. It also provided restoration works of the asylum, with maintenance of groundwater and water system supply, maintenance of boxes, nets and gates and of the viability of the land. The association has promoted over the years about 300 adoptions in Italy. The funds required for the management of dogs originates from self-activity (organization of fund-raising dinners, small markets, production of various materials to raise public awareness of animal rights issues, such as calendars, notebooks, shirts, etc.). Funds are raised mostly on the territory of the Municipality of Rome and only in small part by grants from public bodies (Lazio Region and Rome province). The association's activities on the problem of stray dogs has been recognized and appreciated by public institutions and by wildlife organizations. The association has worked on projects aimed to solve the problem of stray dogs in the province of Rome and is supported by the Animal Rights Office of the City of Rome. It also receives the active support of LAV (Lega Anti Vivisezione), the Public Kennels of Lazio Regione and volunteers of the Association of Porta Portese. Quinto Mondo is also known and estimated by hundreds of animal lovers who take part in various initiatives. The Association organizes two festivals a year (one in June, the other in October), in public parks within the City of Rome, to promote and disseminate animal welfare issues.