FPK Foundation · SINCE 2023
We rescue. We treat.
We give a chance.
We operate comprehensively for the protection of animals. We conduct interventions, provide treatment and safe care, seek responsible homes, and also work towards legal and systemic changes. We respond where animals need both direct help and effective protection of their rights.
OPP
Public Benefit Organization
WHO WE ARE
A foundation for tough cases.
The FPK Foundation (Fundacja Psa Karmela) was established to help where assistance does not end with removing the animal from the street. As one of the few organizations in Poland, we specialize in caring for animals after accidents, severe injuries, and complex medical cases. We receive dogs requiring surgery, long-term treatment and rehabilitation, animals with disabilities and seniors, as well as horses, donkeys, and ponies.
In Poland, the system of care for homeless animals relies primarily on municipalities, but the quality varies greatly by location. Costly treatment and rehabilitation are often reduced to a minimum, and in the most severe cases, the animal may be euthanized instead of being given a chance for specialized care. This is exactly the gap we strive to fill.
We do not run a traditional shelter. We build a care system based on foster homes, home kennels, veterinary clinics, and cooperation with specialists. Each case is handled individually: from securing and full diagnostics, through treatment, surgery, and rehabilitation, to finding a responsible home.
OUR DAILY WORK
Animals need more than first aid.
01
Severe cases
As one of the few in the country, we also focus on animals in critical condition, especially dogs and cats after accidents and with disabilities. We undertake cases requiring complicated, costly, and long-term treatment. We do not give up just because the path to health may take many months.
02
Treatment
We provide full diagnostics, procedures and surgeries, treatment, rehabilitation, and specialized care. We cooperate with doctors of various specializations and guide the animal through the entire treatment process, even when it requires numerous procedures, regular check-ups, and months of intensive care.
03
Safe care
After rescue, there must be a place where the animal can calmly and safely recover. We do not run a traditional shelter. We use only foster homes, home kennels, and verified care places, tailored to the specific needs of each animal. Our caretakers are trained for this role and regularly participate in training we provide. Among those caring for our animals are also veterinarians and veterinary technicians. Thanks to this, even sick animals, postoperative ones, or those requiring special care can receive appropriate conditions outside a shelter box.
04
Adoptions
We seek responsible homes throughout Poland. We get to know each animal before adoption—its character, needs, limitations, and behavior in various situations. We do not match animals to photos or whims. It is the future home that must fit the specific dog and be ready to take responsibility for it for years to come. We conduct the adoption process, verify future caretakers, and stay in contact with them after adoption. We do not want the animal to find just any home. It must find the right one.
05
Law
We represent animals in preparatory proceedings and courts, file reports, gather evidence, and respond when institutions responsible for their protection fail.
At the same time, we actively participate in the work on legal changes. We regularly take part in meetings of the Parliamentary Special Committee on Animal Protection, which works on draft amendments to the Animal Protection Act. We also participate in the work of the Parliamentary Team for Animal Rights Protection. We present problems we encounter in practice, propose solutions, and advocate for regulations that will genuinely protect animals, not just declare protection.
FROM DIAGNOSIS TO A NEW LIFE
Treatment is the beginning of the journey, not its end.
The longest part of the work begins when the animal is already safe: tests, treatment, rehabilitation, rebuilding trust, daily care, and finding a suitable home.
01
Diagnosis
We determine the health condition and plan further treatment.
02
Stabilization
We provide a safe place and care tailored to the animal's condition.
03
Treatment
We diagnose, treat, and rehabilitate in cooperation with the best specialists in the country.
04
Home
We seek a responsible, well-matched adoption.
difficult cases
We also help when there is no easy solution.
We don’t ask whether the case will be easy, quick, or look good on social media. Many animals coming under our care require enormous effort, time, and money, and the results cannot be guaranteed.
We take on cases that require seeking specialists, consulting various options, and making difficult decisions. Sometimes we fight for months to help an animal regain functionality. Sometimes the goal is not full recovery, but to ensure the animal lives without pain and with as much comfort as possible.
We don’t promise miracles. We promise to do everything reasonably possible.
NOT ONLY RESCUE
Animal suffering must not end with a vet bill.
That’s why we also act where the responsibility of perpetrators and the future of animal protection are decided.
A
Proceedings
We file reports, collect documentation, and participate in cases regarding animal abuse.
B
Legal change
We participate in work on solutions that aim to improve animal protection standards and reduce suffering systemically.
C
Voice of animals
We engage in parliamentary work and public debate whenever human decisions affect animal lives.
Fight for normality
We save animals. But we also want to change the reality in which they are harmed.
We don't just want to fix the consequences of a bad system. We want to change its rules. That’s why one of the important areas of our activity is working on legal changes and how the state protects animals.
We regularly participate in the work of the parliamentary Special Committee for Animal Protection and the Parliamentary Team for Animal Rights Protection. We speak up during work on specific regulations, present experiences from interventions and daily work with animals, and propose solutions to problems we face in practice.
Some of the changes we've advocated for have already been translated into specific legal solutions. We took part in work concerning, among others, the ban on tethering dogs and mandatory pet identification. We want the experience of organizations that see the effects of ineffective regulations every day to be present where new laws are made.
However, our activity does not end at the Parliament. We organize and co-organize numerous demonstrations and protests, participate in meetings on animal protection, conduct lectures, trainings, and educational initiatives. We engage both with people responsible for lawmaking and enforcement, and with those who daily impact the fate of animals.
Because effective animal protection requires not only saving individual lives. It also requires changing the law, its application, and society’s attitude towards animals.
KARMELEK'S HOOVES
We also help the biggest ones.
The Foundation also cares for horses, donkeys, and ponies. Neglected, sick, old, or animals threatened with slaughter. We provide transport, treatment, feeding, farrier services, and safe shelter.
boss of all bosses
About Karmel the Dog
Karmelek is a little dog who, along with his sister, was hurt and abandoned by the roadside. In November 2019, a lady driving a car found these two dogs wandering by the road. She was not indifferent to their fate. She took them to Warsaw with her. It so happened that this lady was a friend of the founder of our foundation, Michał Gromada. Michał adopted Karmel, and the mentioned friend took his sister.
Our four-legged friend got his name because of the color of his coat. The Foundation, in turn, got its name in honor of Karmel. And Karmel very much wants his dog friends in need to experience the same luck that befell him.
Karmelek keeps an eye on all our wards – on one because he is blind in the other eye; nevertheless, he vigilantly watches over the new rescued dogs that come to us.
And the real boss of the Foundation remains Karmel.
COOPERATION
Together we can do more.
Not only employees and volunteers of the Foundation are involved in saving animals. We cooperate with specialists, clinics, foster homes, companies, and people who want to use their abilities, knowledge, or resources to help effectively.
For companies
Donations, partnership cooperations, special campaigns, in-kind support, and other forms of social engagement.
For specialists and volunteers
Veterinary care, foster homes, transport, organizational help, and specialist knowledge needed by our wards.
For everyone
Adoption, foster home, donation, volunteering, and helping us to bring animal stories to more people.
THE FOUNDATION'S PEOPLE
Behind every saved story are people.
Board members, animal caretakers, veterinarians and veterinary technicians, specialists, experts, volunteers, donors — the Foundation is a network of people who say at the right moment: we will help. Thanks to them, we can respond when an animal cannot wait.
Behind every intervention, there are many more people than it seems at first glance. Someone answers the call, someone goes to the site, arranges transport, takes the animal under their roof, goes to the vet, administers medication, rehabilitates, socializes, or simply stays beside the animal when it can feel safe for the first time in a long while.
We share one conviction: that professional help for animals requires people, knowledge, and cooperation. That’s why we train our caretakers, use the experience of specialists, and build a team where everyone has their role. The FPK Foundation is not one person or one place. It is people who together create a system that allows helping when help is truly needed.
HELP US SAVE THE NEXT ONES