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Bonaire Animal Shelter |
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The animal shelter was founded on August 3, 1983.
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| As of 2000, Mr. Jurrie Mellema is the Stichting Dierenasiel Bonaire Animal Shelter manager. | 
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 In 2000, new boarding kennels for dogs were added as a service to the dog owners of Bonaire as well as a source of revenue for the shelter.
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Separate quarantine kennels for cats and puppies were built. |
| The newly renovated "Cat House", finished January, 2002. | 
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 The quarantine kennels are on the left, the cat house in the middle.
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Some of the dogs have been at the Shelter for quite a long time. The Shelter's philosophy is: "If it's a good dog we keep it. When a dog is social and adapts well to its environment and handles itself well it can stay as long as it takes for a good owner to come along." |
| Construction project for 2003 - part of the NAf9.000 from the Shelter Fundraising Dinner will be used to replace the dog quarantine cages which were sorely in need of repair. The old ones were patched together and leaked when it rained, not a nice thing when the newly arrived dogs are traumatized anyway! | 
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Press Award to Mellema and Clementina from Bonaire Reporter, April 15, 2005  In a ceremony at the LVV last week, the Bonaire Press Certificate of Appreciation was
awarded to two men whose efforts have made life on Bonaire better by taking action to reduce the number of unwanted animals on the island. It is an excellent example of how cooperation between the Government (LVV) and NGOs (Bonaire
Animal Shelter) makes Bonaire a good place to live.Jurrie Mellema, the Bonaire Shelter Manager, and Gary Clementina, the island´s dogcatcher, were presented awards by Laura DeSalvo, Bonaire Reporter Editor and Papi Antoin, Extra Editor. In the presentation Mrs. DeSalvo said, "Through the gates of Bonaire´s Animal Shelter funnel dogs and cats in trouble; the sick, the lame, the lost, the psychologically damaged. Those that have wandered off, or grown old, or have to be left behind. For five years those animals have been taken in by Jurrie Mellema, the Shelter Manager, volunteers and the Shelter staff including Gary Clementina, who is responsible for removing stray dogs from Bonaire´s neighborhoods.  Jurrie makes painful decisions about our animals that the rest of us want to avoid making. He takes sad but necessary actions we are reluctant to perform ourselves. And what comes back out of the Shelter gates are healthy, happy, friendly pets who get adopted into new homes. They are also sterile pets. Their owners know they will contribute no more troubled animals to the island dog and cat population.The special event celebrated by these awards is the six-month anniversary of the free Canine Sterilization Campaign organized by Jurrie Mellema at the Shelter in October, 2004. More than 200 female dogs were neutered at that time. As a result, an estimated 1,200 unwanted puppies have NOT been born on Bonaire in the past six months. When we consider the additional litters that those 200 mothers will not have, and the litters that their unborn daughters and granddaughters will never produce, we are dazzled by the impact the single sterilization program will have on the island for decades."  In response, Jurrie said he could not have done it without the help of the volunteers, the local and the foreign
vets and the sponsors.A party for LVV staff, volunteers, the award recipients and their families followed the presentation. |
Marlis Tiepel working at the Shelter from Bonaire Reporter, January 27, 2006  Meet Marlis Tiepel from Leiden, Holland, who´s now working at the Bonaire Animal Shelter with Jurrie Mellema. An avid animal lover who always had dogs, Marlis was an anthropology major in college. Her working career was with the government in Holland in the economics
department. She´s been on the island for the last two years and when she heard from Michelle Pachaian that
she´d be leaving her position at the Shelter, Marlis jumped at the chance to take the job. Why? "Because I
took pity on the dogs running loose on the island and I think somebody has to take care of them! I really enjoy working with the dogs and cats, especially when they get adopted." Welcome, Marlis!
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Froukje Pechtold-Idema visted the Shelter from Bonaire Reporter, May 26, 2006  Last week at the Bonaire Animal Shelter all the pets got a special surprise when Froukje Pechtold-Idema arrived for a visit. Ms. Pechtold is the wife of Minister Alexander Pechtold who handles Antillean Affairs for the Dutch government, and visiting the Shelter was one
of her top priorities. "Alexander and I came here 10 years ago when we were on our honeymoon," she said, "and we were so impressed with the Shelter. We bought Shelter t-shirts too. We think they´re doing a great job." Even though Ms. Pechtold was wearing a clean white jacket she scooped up and hugged little "Shirley," the black pup in the photo. "I love both cats and dogs," the Minister´s wife said, not seeming to care whether her white jacket might be covered with black puppy fur!
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Jurrie Mellema has retired as manager of
the Bonaire Animal Shelter from Bonaire Reporter, August 3, 2007  Jurrie Mellema has retired as manager of the Bonaire Animal Shelter. He wrote a new chapter of professionalism in the history of the
facility that will have a lasting effect.For the last seven and a half years Jurrie has headed the Shelter. He´s done a magnificent job that has taken not only management competence but plenty of heart and sensitivity. During his tenure the Shelter reached a high level of service to the community. The grounds and the kennels were cleaned up and landscaped. The boarding kennels were improved to accept more dogs, so that more income could be realized to support the Shelter. The Sterilization Program was expanded so that even adopted pets could have their sterilization included in the standard adoption fee, at no extra cost. And who can forget the two awesome Sterilization Weeks in October 2004 he organized when volunteer vets from the US, Canada and Holland came to Bonaire and did non-stop sterilization operations on 222 dogs. The education program among the school children has been very popular and more and more school and other groups are coming to see and play with the resident cats and dogs. An SGB art teacher and her students painted a whimsical mural on the wall of the cat cage. It´s an emotionally tough job with life and death decisions to be made almost daily. After all, the Shelter can house just so many animals, and the criteria have been that an animal up for adoption must be healthy and social. But, as Jurrie says, "Every puppy or kitten, every cat or dog has the same chance, and that chance is not affected by the person who brings it in." Every year an average of 300 dogs and 100 cats are brought in by people or the dog catcher. But, and this is where the heart comes in again, there are some cats and dogs who are lifetime "residents" of the Shelter. They are not adoptable but they have such fine characters that they´re allowed to stay on. He left some big shoes to fill. We wish him well and thank him for those years of devotion to the unwanted pets of Bonaire. We congratulate Marlis Tiepel, a familiar face at the Shelter for the last year and a half, who has been named the new Shelter Manager. May you continue to grow the Shelter´s reputation and importance to Bonaire. |
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Because we are a non-profit organization operating on donations, we have a limited number of staff and usually cannot get to our email as received. We do, however, check it once a week. Please be patient with us; the animals have to come first and we will answer you as soon as we can. |
Through the years the shelter has undergone many renovations
and improvements.
Some of these photos and descriptions appeared in The Bonaire Reporter, The Islands English Language Weekly. The newspaper is available free on Bonaire and available with a subscription online at