SARA, Syrian Association (Society) for Rescuing Animals is a not-for-profit registered charity, founded 16 years ago in Damascus, Syria, prior to the civil war by Annie Orfali. Annie and her dedicated team have continued to work throughout the civil war and the ensuing humanitarian crisis to rescue, treat and re-home abandoned and abused street dogs and cats in Damascus and the surrounding area. As her fame has spread within the country people from all across Syria have started to bring abandoned and injured dogs and cats to her, meaning the numbers she now provides care for have swelled enormously and now include rescued working donkeys and injured wildlife. No animal, big or small, is refused help by SARA. From small beginnings she and her team are currently looking after 4000 abandoned and abused dogs and 850 cats and the number increases daily. Many of these animals have endured horrific injuries on the streets, stemming from road traffic accidents to general cruelty and neglect to gunshot wounds and injuries from land mines. As a consequence she provides permanent shelter to amputees and disabled dogs which she is not able to rehome.

She works with a local veterinary surgeon to treat these animals and re-homes as many as she can. She raises donations, the majority from Europe to continue her work to provide desperately needed surgeries and veterinary care for her dogs and cats but is facing increasing hardship due to rising costs and is in desperate need of funds to be able to continue ,She began a trap neuter release campaign approximately two years ago with the help of her veterinary surgeon, as she is fully aware of the vital importance of sterilization. She has suffered many setbacks, not least of which her original veterinary surgeon died of Covid three years ago. She now works in partnership with another vet but has recently unfortunately had to stop her TNR campaign due to lack of funds. She is desperate to restart this as she is fully aware of the futility of treating an ever increasing population.

As well as caring for abandoned dogs and cats she provides humanitarian relief for poor families who have lost everything in the war. She feeds and horses those made homeless by the conflict and these people have been trained by her to assist in the shelter with the day-to-day husbandry of the inmates. They also help her to provide nursing care for the sick and injured animals and assist her to trap cats for neutering and in going out to collect injured or abused strays. .Her staff include those made homeless by the conflict and she provides food and shelter for 18 local families who work with her at the shelter to provide 24 hour for the dogs. In this small way she is also doing her best to try where she can to alleviate the appalling suffering of the people of Syria as well as its animals.