Anima secures funding until June-end

Anima Macau has received MOP1.9 million in funding from Macao Foundation on Friday, the president confirmed.

Last week, Albano Martins told the Times that Anima faces annual expenses amounting to MOP10.5 million, yet only receives MOP3.8 million annually, forcing the association to announce a shut down of operations.

Speaking to the Times yesterday, Martins explained that the MOP1.9 million in funding will sustain the association – which looks after 700 cats and dogs – until the end of June. However, the association would nevertheless still need to reduce its employees.

“Usually our monthly budget is around MOP650,000 to MOP820,000, which means there are a lot of expenses that need to be cut, and maybe we have to begin to reduce the staff,” he said.

“We are considering the staff reduction at the end of this month.” Martins added.

The president then noted that Anima’s activities would be limited due to the constrained number of employees, citing the public’s visit to the animal shelter.

Currently, Anima Macau is working on submitting funding requests to gaming operators and launching its own campaign that will be open to the public.

Martins expressed that funding from gaming operators would be significant to the non-government association, recalling the past contributions of Wynn Macau.

Yet, Martins remains positive that the association still has the public’s support. “We have good international support. We are positive of that,” he said. He also urged the local government to be more supportive of the region’s non-government associations, calling for an increase in its annual budget.

“I am expecting that the Macau government will think a little bit more carefully about associations that are considered by government as public service to finance [us] not in a poor style,” Martins said.

“We are not putting money in our pockets, we’re just taking care of animals. We [urge] the Macau government to understand that we need more support, at least in 2019 if not this year,” he added.

The president also hoped that the association would acquire sufficient funding so as to not close down by the end of June, noting that it would celebrate its 15th anniversary on December 11.  LV