Cattail

Hi, All. though my trip isn't slated until next February, I have been looking into accommodations. I came upon an ideal spot, and I'm excited to share this information with my fellow animal lovers! It's an animal sanctuary (mainly cats) on Caye Caulker, run pretty much single-handedly by a Belizean woman named Madi Collins. She rents out 3 rooms, right on the beach, with a dock and hammocks. The place looks spotless and is very reasonable. Every cent goes to funding for the animals. You can also elect to volunteer for a bit, or not. The website is pawanimalsanctuarybelize.com.

hopefulist

If I put it together while we were there that the cause had lodging, I've forgotten already, but we enjoyed looking over the fence into the yard and donated a bit. Thanks for the link!

Cattail

hopefulist, what was your impression? Would you stay here?

hopefulist

I didn't see/notice the lodging option so really can't help. I wouldn't want to stay in the play yard for strays - not enough privacy or protection from the elements. ;-)

Without some positive reviews heading in I wouldn't reserve in advance but you could get there and check it out. There are lots of lodging options in the area so you'd find a place if that one didn't suit your fancy. It's a great idea and a needed service. Happy trails!

Cattail

Lol! Actually, I've read glowing reviews!

hopefulist

Then go for it and tell us all about it.

Cattail

Will do - unless someone beats me to it!

Cattail

This is a little late (o.k., very late), but I do want to report what I learned about this place. ): Apparently the woman who runs it is a cat hoarder. The consensus of various local residents was that it was not an ideal situation for the island's cats, but better than the lives they would be leading on the street. We elected, not to stay there.

fishee

Aww, too bad. I hope she's using the money to have them neutered.

Based on what I saw, I thought the animals were in very good shape on CC compared to what I saw in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Grand Turk. No visible signs of starvation and mange although locals told me that there are some ferrel dogs on the Caye that roam in packs and it can get scary. I never ran into these animals, however. Just cute, friendly, adorable ones....

Wish Willys restaurant was across from what appeared to be a Humane Society - not sure the situation there was but there appears to be people on the small Caye who are devoted to animals.

Cattail

Yes, I was pretty disappointed. We biked out to the recently-formed Humane Society which is nothing like we're used to here in the states, just a small house. At the time they didn't have any animals. We also met one of the women running the H.S. They appear to do good work with limited funding, neutering, education, medical care, etc.

While we were there, there was quite a lot of upset over plans to poison any dogs found running around C.C. with strycnine (sp), a very cruel death. Happily, that didn't happen this year, though many dogs were still more humanely euthanized.

I was happy not to run into any feral packs while biking on the island - that would have been scary!