Animal Shelter Bonaire

Almost 175 – 200 pets are adopted each year from the shelter and at this moment we have 40 friendly, cute and healthy dogs and 25 cats waiting for an adoption.

Below you can find pictures and success stories of some of the lucky dogs and cats who were adopted from the Bonaire Animal Shelter. And here you can read more successtories.

You may also want to adopt a cat or dog from the Bonaire Animal Shelter. Read this information and our conditions on adopting one of our pets.

Bonaire animal shelter facts

• Our animals are all vaccinated against the usual infectious diseases.
• The cats have all tested negative for Feline Leukemia.
• The animals are not vaccinated against rabies, since we do not have rabies on Bonaire. However, if you want to adopt a Bonairean animal and take it back to the U.S. or Holland, the veterinarian can inoculate it against rabies and provide the proper Health Certificate for traveling.
• Our male cats and dogs are all sterilized (neutered) when they reach 6 months of age. Female animals older than 6 months are sterilized (spayed) when they are adopted. If you adopt an animal younger than 6 months, you agree to have it sterilized at an appropriate date.
• The cost to adopt an animal is very reasonable since it includes the price of sterilization.
• Cat adoption costs 95 Nafl and and adopting a dog costs 125 Nafl

Our adoption conditions

• We require the new owner to certify in writing that they will give proper care, feeding, and medical attention to their new pet.
• Animals will not be abused physically or emotionally; dogs will not be chained.
• Animals will not be isolated or locked up for long periods of time.
• The owner agrees not to resell or breed the animal and to bring the animal back in to be sterilized if it is too young for the procedure at the time of adoption.
• We reserve the right to make inquires at any time regarding the condition of an adopted animal.
• The Bonaire Animal Shelter also has the right to take back the animal immediately if any adoption conditions are not met – without obligation to reimburse the owner for any expenses incurred for the animal up to that time.

Successtories

Ricardo

Ricardo is a truly wonderful shelter success story. He arrived alone as a totally feral three month old kitten. Although he never tried to bite or scratch any of the staff, he was terrified of humans and would hide in the corner of his cage, spitting and barking almost like a dog any time a human being tried to touch him. Once he was found to be healthy and given his vaccinations (not an easy task!), he was placed in the main cat compound and got along very well with all the feline residents. However, he was still very frightened of humans and would run at the first glimpse of one.

One of the volunteers was asked to pay special attention to this beautiful kitten and try to “socialize” him to human beings to increase his chance for adoption. After some weeks of work, she was able to pick him up…but only if she approached him from behind and he didn’t see her coming! After a few more days, he would sit in her lap for petting, purring the whole time….but only if his head was buried under her arm where he didn’t have to look at the human that was making him feel so good!

After about two months of intensive “socialization” work, Ricardo no longer feared humans and actually began to seek out human interaction. He was adopted by a multi-cat household that now reports he is one of the most affectionate cats they have ever had, both with humans and other cats. He “grooms” his owners every day, licking their hair and faces in the morning or evening and insists on several intense petting sessions every day. Ricardo even performs some “circus tricks” with his humans…his owner places him on top of her head, then lets go and he balances on her head while she walks around the room! All this love and attention from a cat once terrified of any human being. Ricardo is definitely one of the shelter’s success stories!

These two friends have finally found someone to love and care for them after a difficult start in life.

And if you see this picture you’d have thought that Jan the cat and Pien the dog had always been together. But it’s only been a few months.

Jan was the first to be adopted and soon Jan was joined by another shelter animal, Pien the dog.

Pien and Jan are now part of a caring household, where they can romp and play with each other.

Charley’s Angels: A shelter succes story

Charley, a female cat with a small moustache, arrived at the shelter as a two-month old kitten in February 2008. Although she was sweet and very affectionate, apparently most people don’t like moustaches on girls so Charley grew up at the shelter; passed over for adoption in favor of girl kittens without moustaches. She was a favorite, however, of the shelter staff.

In September 2008, Meryl and a friend stopped by the animal shelter as Meryl usually does on her Bonaire vacations. While visiting the cat compound, Charley decided that Meryl’s bag was a great place to settle down. Meryl and Charley instantly bonded and, had time and logistics been in their favor, Charley and Meryl would have gone back to the U.S. together. Charley remained behind and continued to do her best to get adopted but it seemed she was to become a permanent shelter resident.

Three months later, another frequent Bonaire visitor and shelter supporter posted some photos on Bonaire Talk about his recent visit to the shelter. After seeing photos of the cat compound, Meryl posted a picture of Charley and asked if she was still at the shelter. One of the shelter staff responded that yes, she was still with us and did Meryl want to come and take her home? Meryl quickly responded that she had not been able to forget Charley and would pay all necessary expenses if someone could bring Charley to Newark Airport where Meryl would come and pick her up. A large request….but leave it to shelter supporters to step up to the task!

Josie and Alan posted that if Meryl was willing to wait, they would return to Newark from Bonaire in February 2009 and would bring Charley along with them. They were more than happy to do so since they had adopted two shelter kittens a few years ago and someone graciously offered to carry one of the kittens back since Josie was traveling alone and could only take one. They saw this as an opportunity for returning the favor that was done for them. According to Meryl, Josie and Alan were “Charley’s Angels”.

The wheels were quickly put in motion. After countless e-mails and planning, all travel arrangements were made and necessary health certificates obtained. On February 21, Josie arrived at the shelter and Charley began her journey. The flight went smoothly, Charley was as good as gold and on the long ride home from the airport, Charley slept in Meryl’s daughter’s lap. That night, for the first time in Charley’s life she slept comfortably in a bed with a human….occasionally playing with Meryl’s feet under the covers!

Meryl e-mailed two days later and said, “So many people asked why we didn’t adopt from our home shelter, my answer is your cat/animal is out there somewhere and you don’t find them..they find you…as I feel Charley did when she jumped into my bag that day at the shelter. As I told Josie….You KNOW your cat when you see them. Charley is finally home.”

Thank you Meryl, Josie and Alan for making another wonderful shelter success story…. you are all “Charley’s Angels”!

Herman

Here are my four rescued animals happy at home! Herman the cat was adopted from our Bonaire Animal Shelter in October ‘07. Annabelle, the small brindle with the BIG ears, was adopted in December ‘07. They absolutely LOVE each other. They wrestle together at every opportunity! Annabelle loves to sit in my lap. She was extremely shy when she first came home, but she has gotten much braver.

Herman was Mr. Anti-social at the shelter, but has totally turned around at home. He now loves attention- from me, my husband, or any of his doggy siblings. The only thing he loves more is FOOD!

My other two dogs, Amber and Bruce, were both rescued from a shelter in Virginia before we all moved to Bonaire.