The Municipalities of Vila Real de Santo António and Castro Marim adopted a new management strategy for the Official Intermunicipal Animal Collection Center (CROA), with the aim of “clarifying responsibilities, reinforcing management stability and ensuring a more structured and rapid response in the area of animal welfare”.
Located in Sítio de Monte Matos, in the municipality of Castro Marim, CROA is an infrastructure dedicated to “safeguarding public health and promoting animal welfare”, ensuring the collection, temporary accommodation and basic care of stray or abandoned animals, operating in a “direct and coordinated manner by municipal executives”.
According to the Municipality of Vila Real de Santo António, the center has a “permanent municipal veterinary medical service”, guiding its mission towards “the defense of animal health and the promotion of a culture of responsibility within the community”.
For several years, operational management was in charge of the Guadi association, an entity that, according to the municipality, “played a very important role in supporting the animals taken in”, under a collaboration protocol supported by the Municipality of VRSA. With the end of this cycle, the management of CROA now passes “entirely to the local authorities”.
This change, highlights the municipality, “ensures the continuity of the service, with a reinforcement of institutional response capacity”, allowing the animal welfare policy to be implemented “directly and coordinated by municipal executives”.
Joint digital platform promotes adoption
As part of this new phase, a new official CROA page was also created, managed jointly by the two municipalities. The platform now centralizes “the dissemination of animals for adoption, the registration of lost animals and awareness actions”, being considered “a fundamental tool to increase adoption rates and guarantee total transparency about the work carried out in the Monte Matos structure”.
The Municipality of Vila Real de Santo António highlights that this digital investment “reinforces proximity to the population and values the technical work carried out on the ground”.
Strengthening teams and investing in sterilization
At the same time, this new stage is accompanied by a reinforcement of human resources in the municipality of Vila Real de Santo António. The municipality states that the technical team, which already had the support of a nurse from the Municipality of Castro Marim, “now includes another nurse from the Municipality of VRSA”, allowing “a closer, more articulated and effective action, especially in situations of greater vulnerability”.
In a complementary manner, and to respond to one of the main needs identified in the municipality, the Municipality of VRSA hired “another veterinarian, dedicated to strengthening the sterilization capacity”, ensuring that “each animal flagged receives appropriate technical and clinical support”.
Alongside the management of CROA, the Municipality of Vila Real de Santo António continues to consolidate its animal protection policy through the KAHU Program. About to complete six months, this strategy focuses on “humanized control of stray cat colonies”, using the CED method – Capture, Sterilization and Return.
The program also includes “the installation of standardized shelters, guaranteeing hygiene conditions and supervised feeding”. This approach balances “the well-being of felines with public health and urban sustainability, ensuring healthy and monitored colonies”.
The new page of the VRSA and Castro Marim Intermunicipal Animal Collection Center is available on and .
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