The Society for the Protection of Animals and Plants of Lugo was registered in the Provincial Registry of Associations, on February 5, 1982, at which time it began its activity under the direction of Mr. Juan José Fernández Medina , president of the Management Board of the society.

Weeks after its constitution, on March 15, it held its first Ordinary General Meeting from which the first Board of Directors of the Company was elected, which will be chaired by Mr. Jesús Benito Rego Cobo, who addressed the Provincial Council requesting transfer. of land on which to locate their first reception facilities.

Those efforts resulted in the transfer of a plot of about 3,000 square meters, located on the property called Codeside or Codesido, near As Gándaras (Muxa), about 7 kilometers from the center of Lugo, a place where they still remain. your instalations. Since its beginnings, the different boards of directors have been building the kennels (or kennels), which today make up the current facilities, with a maximum reception capacity of 120 animals, a number always exceeded by the circumstances of each moment.

The activities carried out, from its beginnings until today, have been linked to the life of animals -mainly abandoned dogs and cats-, and, on a secondary level, to plants, although in the beginning many of its efforts were directed at defense of the holly, a species today protected thanks to the voices of those who, then, governed the destinies of our Society who, together with other Nature Defense organizations, achieved its protection.

We estimate that, in the twenty-nine years of the Society's life, our facilities have sheltered more than 25,000 dogs, a large number of cats, horses, sheep, goats and donkeys; abandoned rabbits, ferrets or lizards, and has been collaborating in the recovery of countless birds of different species, birds that today are diverted to the “O Veral” Wildlife Recovery Center , dependent on the Xunta de Galicia.

All of this has been possible thanks to the selfless work of dozens of partners, members of the different boards of directors, supporters or volunteers, carried out in our Society , which will soon celebrate its 30 years of existence.

The Society for the Protection of Animals and Plants of Lugo , as a non-profit Association , supports its economy on the annual fees of its members, on donations from individuals and from various city councils in the Province -among which we will highlight that of the City of Lugo-, in which it carries out the collection and custody of abandoned dogs, as well as the fees it applies for other tasks, both to individuals and local entities.

Animal collections are carried out with an ambulance vehicle, equipped with first aid - recently acquired by the Society - , while primary and routine health care is carried out by the Protectora 's veterinarian, while care that requires more specialization and means are carried out by staff of the Veterinary University Hospital dependent on the “Rof Codina Foundation” , who receives an annual financial contribution from the Lugo City Council for this purpose.

Since the end of 2000, the Society 's veterinary services have carried out chip identification of all animals put up for adoption and the majority of them - both males and females - are put up for adoption sterilized or neutered, to their new owners, to avoid unwanted births.

The recruitment of new members, the maintenance of collaboration agreements with the USC for the training of students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine , together with the periodic adoption, awareness and responsibility campaigns in the ownership of pets, make up a large part of their daily activity.

But the most important challenge for the current Board of Directors - as in the previous ones - is to achieve new facilities for the reception of abandoned animals, given that the current ones - built with their own resources and great effort from the different people responsible -, They are completely obsolete and overcrowded, given the average number of animals that find refuge there.

The economic moments that we have had to suffer, together with the lack of sensitivity - or the total ignorance of the problem ? - of the majority of those who have in their possession the tools - and the obligation - to provide adequate responses to the serious problem of abandonment of pets and their support frustrate this fight. Despite everything, the Board of Directors will continue working to achieve these facilities, an unavoidable objective according to those responsible.