In the southern part of the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, in **Quilmes**, for over a decade, a space has been operating that represents much more than a refuge: it is a **model equine hospital**, built with [community effort](https://noticiasambientales.com/animales/una-nueva-oportunidad-para-ellos-rescatan-30-perros-de-un-criadero-ilegal-en-cordoba/), which has saved and rehabilitated **over 1,500 horses** that were victims of horse-drawn carriages. Today, that place is in danger: the property has been put up for sale, and the organization that manages it — **Caballos de Quilmes** — urgently needs help to prevent its eviction.
“There is **no plan B**,” warns **Karina**, director and founder of the NGO in an interview with TN. “The countryside cannot be moved, and if we lose it, the hospital disappears, the only one of its kind in the province that can give them a real second chance.”
## A fight against violence, precarization, and abandonment
**Caballos de Quilmes** was born in 2012, after the approval of an ordinance that banned [**horse-drawn carriages**](https://noticiasambientales.com/animales/proyecto-de-ley-busca-reformar-la-ley-sarmiento-y-prohibir-la-traccion-a-sangre/) in the district. The goal: to respond to the **absence of the state in the face of animal abuse and its multiple social ramifications**, such as child labor, labor precariousness, and the environmental deterioration associated with the use of horses as informal urban transport.
The rescued animals arrive **exhausted, malnourished, with severe injuries, or simply abandoned on the streets**. Many were found with maggot-infested wounds, fractures, colic, or after collapsing on the street.
To address these cases, the NGO managed to build —during the pandemic and thanks to hundreds of donations— a **hospital with an operating room, intensive care unit, maternity ward, and rehabilitation areas**, which also serves as a training space for veterinary students.
## 24/7 Care, with a team of volunteers who never give up
Currently, the property houses **over 80 horses**. Every week, about **40 people —including volunteers and pro bono veterinarians—** take turns to clean, feed, medicate, and assist the animals, with **active shifts 24 hours a day**. Some need to be **lifted every two hours with hoists** due to their extreme weakness. Others require surgical interventions for which this hospital is their only alternative.
“Every case we handle is a piece of our soul slipping away,” confesses Karina. “It is physical and emotional work that we do tirelessly every day because **these horses have already lost everything once and cannot be left out in the open again**.”
## The campaign: save the property, save dignity
After the death of the original owner, **the heirs put the property up for sale** and there is no possibility of relocation. Therefore, the NGO launched a **national campaign to raise funds** with the support of actress and activist **Liz Solari** and the organization **Sintientes**.
The goal is clear: **to prevent the eviction and buy the property**. They estimate that if **200,000 people contribute $10,000**, they can achieve it. “We know it’s not easy, but transformed into collective love, it is not impossible,” insists Karina.
## More than an equine hospital: a symbol of justice
Caballos de Quilmes represents much more than a rescue center. It is an **ethical response to decades of normalization of animal abuse**, to institutional indifference, and to a society that still coexists with **horses carrying loads amidst the latest car models**.
“Here begins the dignity that was stolen from them,” concludes Karina. “This hospital cannot disappear. It would be leaving voiceless, shelterless, and hopeless those who need it the most.”
– Help for “Caballos de Quilmes” with the alias: hospital.campo
– From abroad: save.hospital
– Headline: Civil Association Freedom for the Horses of Quilmes
