Agripunk Onlus

WHO WE ARE?

We are David and Desirèe and we live in Agripunk, near the town of Ambra in the province of Arezzo.
Agripunk is a shelter for animals freed from farms, intensive farms, mistreatment, slaughter, Amadori, Cremonini, Ipercoop, Mc-Donald's, Coldiretti and other corporations of farmers that exploits and kills animals.

The shelter, which was founded in 2015 by the closure of an intensive breeding of turkeys, has as its purpose to prevent the reopening of the breeding so transforming a place of imprisonment and deprivation in a place of freedom and self-determination to deconolize the valley, founding a small anti-speciesist and anti-fascist community based on sharing and mutual aid: the Agripunk ONLUS association.
The place is developed in an area of 26 hectares of which 4 arable, 20 dedicated to the animals that inhabit the shelter, wild animals and trees and 2 occupied by the former breeding facilities and various housing units and warehouses.

The houses are surrounded by hills, forests and streams.

If you are already vegan and you know about the antispecism, this is the place for you, but it is even more if you are a person who wants to make a new experience that leads to have a new vision of the animal and also to acquire most perception and new awareness of relationships with animals.

Here live with us 7 cows, a small hoax, 14 pigs and wild boar, two donkeys, a flock of about 20 sheep and goats, many chickens, ducks, female cats, rabbits and two dogs.

There are a wild lake that a lot of wild animals come here, for good water: so many wild boar and deer friend from the forest and many birds of various types.

We live dedicating our days ot care animals, cultivation of vegetables and fruits, self-production and the preservation of this beautiful valley.
There is a lot of work to do and we believe that sharing it with other people makes the work less boring.

We also want to share with you the wonderful experience of life lived with the animals considering them traveling companions rather than slaves and we wanna share with you what we have learned in recent years.

We wanna believe that we have a lot to learn from people who spend some time with us and believe that there are no borders so we accept people from all over the world.

Knowing the Italian language is good but we also speak English, a little but understandable. Even with Spanish we can understand each other.

As a matter of safety, however, you must be at least 18 years old and immediately notify us of any allergies (for example, hay) or health problems (for example, back problems) to evaluate together which jobs you can not do.

The minimum time of stay is 4 weeks (you need 2 weeks get experienced in various tasks) up to a maximum of what you want depending on how much you get in tune with the place.

If you do not have to like work or if problems arise with us, with animals or with other volunteers, please be honest and talk to us right away so you can find a solution together and, if you do not find and would like to leave before the end of the stay, we ask you to give us at least a couple of days to find a person who will replace you (especially in periods when there were few volunteers).

We do not force anyone to stay if you do not feel well but one person in a sudden can cause inconvenience in the management and organization of the various activities, we are aware that working in the countryside, outdoors and in contact with animals may not be suitable for anyone and we respect it, but we ask the same respect in giving us the possibility to reorganize ourselves.

Here you come into contact with the animals without filters, without asking them anything in return, in an equal relationship between living beings and we assure you that it is a truly profound experience and that leaves an indelible mark in your soul!

Now here's what we need, what we offer and some basic notes to make the experience at Agripunk unforgettable!

HOW WE NEED:

1) We need help cleaning the stalls, every day: cleaning the cowshed, the stable of goats and sheep, the nocturnal enclosure of donkeys, the chicken house.

2) We need responsibility in the care of the animals: providing for feeding them, accompanying them to pasture and watering them must be the priority to guarantee their health and happiness.

3) we request the utmost cooperation and respect for other people of all species so we ask sincerity both to those who live here and to other volunteers.

4) We organize lunches, dinners and self-financing events almost every weekend, so we ask for availability to help us cook for many people or to better manage the event (space preparation, safety management, cleaning at the end of the event); we also have activities outside the shelter so we ask for autonomy to stay at the shelter in our place.

5) Work for the animals:
6 hours a day with 2 day-off per week in agreement with all the others present and communicating it in advance.

6) the working group is made up of other volunteers and friends who can be from 2 to 8 people depending on availability and season.

7) It is expected that at least 2 people will be able to autonomously manage the main daily activities for at least 2 consecutive days, to allow us to participate in the events for the shelter or to take some healing relax after and before that.

8) coming in close contact with large animals in a state of freedom implies the need to do everything with responsibility and without distractions such as music and mobile phone because every sense must be active for the safety of oneself and those around us: you must be able to see and hear warnings of danger and be aware of everything you do so that nothing bad happens to you or the animals.
We still recommend travel insurance, our insurance covers only the damage you could do but does not compensate yourself.