AAP started its activities in the late sixties and has been officially established as charity in 1972

AAP started its activities in the late sixties and has been officially established as charity in 1972. Since then it has developed towards professional organisation which gains an ever growing respect in the European field of animal welfare. In AAP’s mission statement, co-operation is stated as being one of the main working methods. On both national and international level, AAP has been establishing member of coalitions struggling for animal welfare, it is a/o also associate member of EAZA and active member of Eurogroup for Animals. AAP also fulfills function as facilitator to different European governments who use the rescue center for sheltering confiscated live animals. Increasingly AAP’s volunteers, especially those working at Animal Care Departments, come from different European countries. They are often young people of different levels of education who gain at AAP an important working experience. For AAP, ESC-volunteers represent a valuable assistance in its daily work. Due to their extensive period of involvement many of them develop also towards intermediators between the organisation and its volunteer teams. This is of mutual interest as it enables smooth communication but it also enables the volunteer to gain extra experience from this European Solidarity project.