Lorena Afonso Martín and Gabriela López Cabrera define themselves as “crazy animals”. Their friendship began with Whiskey, a dog that the first one met in the street and that suffered an injury to the vertebrae that caused him to lose mobility in his hind legs.
The young woman, 25 years old and a native of La Guancha, began to tell through social networks about her pet’s illness, the care she needed on a daily basis and the details of her treatment. Gabriela, from the nearby municipality of Los Silos, responded instantly. They stayed one day and then they never parted again.
Both are veterinary assistants but their occupations are far from that profession. Lorena works in a school canteen and her friend works in a supermarket.
When the Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on Sunday, the first thing they thought about was the animals, so the first one suggested to her friend that they go to La Palma because she knew the girl who is wearing a protector and they were going to give her a hand.
The next day, when they saw the images on television of the Civil Guard and the different security forces rescuing the animals that had been locked up in farms, houses or cages, they confirmed their desire to help and decided to buy tickets “to the day it was ”.
The first available to both according to their obligations, was Sunday at one in the afternoon and they did not hesitate. Lorena posted her decision on Instagram and encouraged all the people who wanted to collaborate with them, to do so, taking advantage of the fact that in many northern municipalities they know her because she usually collects animals from the street and helps them find a home.
And so he did, with the idea that if they got food, “much better because they could donate it to the protectors.” Otherwise, they were limited to helping them with the pets, which they surely needed and were welcome.
What they never imagined is that in just five days they were going to get more than 800 kilos of feed for dogs, more than 500 for chickens, 200 for goats, more than 100 for cats, carriers, soakers, blankets and 480 euros in cash.
Since then, they have not enough to organize all the material that was donated to them and that they keep in the garage of Lorena’s house, who was forced to take out one of the family’s cars “I have everything packed in mountains,” she says.
“They even donated pallets of food to us”
On the second day they realized that it would be impossible to carry everything in their Berlingo “because there are people who donated pallets of food to us,” the young Guanchera pointed out excitedly. Luckily, the Cooperativa Agrícola Las Medianías, located in the San José neighborhood, in San Juan de la Rambla, contacted them and offered to be a collection point. He also gave them trucks and vans to be able to move all the merchandise in the next few days.
Coco Peluquería, a pet shop located in the La Magalona shopping center in Icod de los Vinos, offered them the same. They would go to pick up the donations and at five hours they would be called again to tell them to come back for more because they couldn’t fit in the store. The chain reached La Laguna.
“A lot of people turned upside down, I didn’t think it was going to be that many,” insists Lorena.
However, they continue with their initial plan. They leave on Sunday and they will take what they can, which is “practically nothing” compared to everything they have accumulated and divided into four parts to distribute it equitably among the protectors according to what each one needs.
They leave at noon and return on Monday at six in the morning to fulfill their jobs and with their dream of helping the animals: “If it weren’t for that, we are both very clear that we would stay in La Palma as volunteers”, they hold.
Trip ends Monday but pickup continues
Gabriela and Lorena return on Monday but they are clear that they will continue to collect food and utensils for all kinds of animals. Only from now on they ask that the donations be taken to the Las Medianías cooperative, in San Juan de la Rambla, or to Coco hairdresser, in the La Magalona shopping center, in Icod.
