Giving Forgotten Animals a Voice

Antonia Escuchas´ life changing animal rescue story! 

My personal journey of animal rescue started as an infant and little did I know this would become the central purpose of everything I would do in my life as an adult. From the time I was an infant my mother told me the only way my parents could get me to eat was if there was a dog or cat near me so that I would smile and open my mouth for them to feed me!  

I grew up with dogs, cats, birds, goats, chickens and many other diverse types of animals you find in people’s homes, farms and in the wild of the countryside. I spent all my spare time taking the animals on long walks to spend quality time with them and loved seeing the fish in the rivers and the birds in the trees, because it gave my heart joy and a sense of peace that spending time alone with friends could not.   

As a child and teenager, I would secretly enlist the help of my friends by creating elaborate stories of adventure and fantasy, so that we could all wander the countryside to find stray, abandoned or injured animals to rescue and then save no matter what! I have always felt deeply connected to all animal life and felt it was my personal responsibility to love, nurture, save and care for them wherever and whenever possible, the way only good humans can and should, to save them all! 

Growing up as a young adult, I could never understand why my own family and others like them could not clearly see the pain and suffering of dogs, cats and other injured, suffering or abandoned animals in our community. Precious innocent animals who needed each one of us to reach out to save and care for them in order to let these poor helpless animals know that not all humans are bad and heartless! I have always believed that each one of us has a personal responsibility to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves in this life, especially when it comes to innocent animals who rely on us for their very survival! There were countless nights my parents had to lock me in my room because they caught me staying out all night on a critical animal rescue mission. In the end, it was worth every minute I spent and every tear I shed to save those amazing and loving creatures who needed help. I would do it all over again if given the chance to save even one animal’s life. 

I got married at 23 in the small village of Noguerones and instilled in my own son and daughter a love for animals and rescue from the time they were infants by taking them through the streets of our community with bags of food to feed and care for the many animals who were injured or abandoned. The very same animals that people just seemed to ignore as they passed by every day. My husband had no idea about the crazy journey he was signing up for when we got married, but he has always been an amazing source of love and support every step of the way in my animal rescue journey which I’m eternally grateful for.  

My life with my family soon led me to Martos, Jaen, Spain where I saw even more incredible animals of all types in need that were in terrible situations facing heartbreaking conditions. Discovering such a large and quickly growing number of animals needing help led me to reach out to others like myself who had a passion for rescuing and saving animals. Together we created two new amazing no kill animal rescues called Association para la Defensa y Adoption de Animals Ciudad de la Peña for dogs and Huellas Invisibles for cats.  

Over the past several decades working in animal rescue, we have faced many extremely difficult trials, tribulations, heartaches, tears and financial difficulties trying to rescue and rehome all of the animals in need we have saved, but seeing the look of relief and sincere gratitude in a puppies eyes when it knows it is safe and loved makes everything we have gone through for every one of these animals lives worth it! Our hearts overflow with sincere joy and gratitude when we see a precious animal like that puppy find its new forever home with a loving family to call its own! It makes everything we have all gone through worth it on this incredible journey to save every animal we find in need! 

Together, all of this amazing animal rescue history has culminated into the need for a larger and more comprehensive animal rescue and refuge facility, as our two current shelters are not adequate or large enough to serve the ever-growing needs and diverse population of animals, who need rescue and a place to call home in our community. As the executive director of this non-profit organization, I have always passionately envisioned a large all-inclusive animal rescue and refuge to include many of the other animals we have all worked so hard to rescue and save along the way over the years including; birds, ferrets, pigs, goats, horses and many other types of animals who also need the kind of love and support that we have provided over our many years in animal rescue. 

Our new and highly diverse multi-animal rescue refuge called, ¨Martos Invisible Footprints Animal Refuge¨ will be a safe, loving, healthy, nurturing and open place where every animal who is too sick or injured to be adopted can live out its remaining life in peaceful wide-open spaces where they can roam free and be properly cared for by our highly trained volunteer teamers staff.  A home where they can live out their remaining days in a safe, loving, happy and healthy environment. In order to make this new vision a reality, we desperately need your support through your generous financial donations; by volunteering your professional experience and skill sets to help us get the land we need to build this amazing facility or by donating your company’s products or services which will help us save another precious animals life.  

Our volunteer teamers and I have sacrificed so many important things in our lives both personally and professionally to accomplish this critical life’s work and mission. So, it is with a humble and open heart that I sincerely ask for your financial support and continued help to make this dream a reality! By supporting us today, we will make this world a better place for the animals and for us all! Some people might say our dream is impossible, but we have a long and proven history of making the impossible a proven reality! Won’t you please join us on this incredible life-changing journey to save all animals in need today? We look forward to hearing from you to see how you can get involved to make a positive difference today!