Our Story
Kiki’s Hope for Animals is a small organisation with big goals. We have provided support for stray animals in various Balkan regions over the last decade. Our team consists of a sister and brother who work on the ground in Serbia and the administration and fundraising team in the UK, with supporters across Britain and the world.
​
Our dedicated team, with experience, enthusiasm and compassion, volunteer their time to run Kiki’s Hope for Animals CIC (Registration number: 14671453).
In many European regions, the concept of pet ownership is either in its infancy or non- existent. Neutering is often considered unnatural or unnecessary leading to an endless cycle of stray, unwanted animals and, inevitably, horrific animal suffering. Within the Balkan countries, good work is being done by a small number of individuals and organisations but the lack of animal welfare infrastructure means that much work is yet to be done. It is our aim to help and contribute to this process.
The Covid pandemic and lockdown led to increased abandonment of animals in Serbia and other Balkan countries. At the same time, many UK residents chose to purchase pups from breeders meaning less rescue animals were adopted. Travel and export of pets to the UK became restricted and some UK import regulations have also been tightened in recent years. Financial crises, particularly as a result of the Ukrainian conflict, have led to increased living costs across Europe, the knock-on effect of which being that people cannot afford to keep their pets and abandonment of animals has increased dramatically.
We now have more animals under our care than ever before and face a daily battle to fund food as well as many other costs. To compound matters, we have had to outsource kennelling of many of our dogs to third parties, which is prohibitively expensive. Our monthly outsourced kennel bill is nearly 5,500 euros (50 euros per dog per month).
For the first time in our history as an organisation, we have run up significant debts in the last 12 months and we now need to take positive action to ensure the future of the animals in our care and continue our work.
We are now hoping to reach out to as many supporters and animal lovers as possible for your help. We are different from many rescue organisations in that we recognise that not all dogs are suitable for rehoming and they will live out their lives with us; many of our cats came with health problems and will also remain in our care, long-term. This all comes at a price and means our running costs are significantly higher. Regardless of the challenges involved, we just want to help save lives and end suffering.
​
We are proud of all we have achieved over the years, proud that hundreds of animals have been saved and are now living wonderful lives in the UK / Europe and we want that to continue, the animals of Serbia and surrounding countries desperately need and rely on help from people outside the region for their survival.
Thank you for reading our story and we hope you will consider helping our animals in one way or another.
Contact
If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch!
Or message our Facebook - Kiki's P.A.W