Animals and Us

Animals and Us is home to over 400 dogs and nearly 100 cats, rescued from the streets of the UAE. It is a sanctuary for sick, injured and abused animals with thousands of lives saved to date. In addition to the animals in the shelter, they ensure that hundreds more on the streets are fed daily. The shelter was founded and is run by a full time primary school teacher, Michelle Mathanda. Michelle has been rescuing helpless animals around her school work for nearly 20 years and in 2016, she made the incredibly brave decision to rent an empty warehouse and sandy forecourt with the amazing vision to build her own shelter, with the sole mission of saving as many lives as possible. The shelter was largely funded from her own savings and salary. Michelle has put everything she has - financially, emotionally, and physically - into building the shelter into what it is today. She has sacrificed absolutely everything for this cause. Our organisation is largely run by volunteers who do as much as they can around their full-time jobs. We have a very small team of dedicated workers who look after the day to day running of the shelter and care for the animals.