Rescue roosters from being slaughtered in macumbas and recover abused goats. From a very young age, Florencia di Matteo feels a very special connection with animals, which led her to create in Ramos Mejía "the sanctuary of Florcita", a self-managed space where species that are victims of animal exploitation have the opportunity for a better life.
The "rescued" are of all kinds, from horses and sheep to cats and dogs. At first her dream was to live with all of them, but today her ex-husband is in charge of the "biggest" animals in a field in Exaltación de la Cruz, while she is mainly responsible for the transit of dogs and cats in Ramos Mejía.
Di Matteo does everything. She works in a kindergarten, rescues animals, gives them up for adoption and does activism for liberation. He currently lives with 23 dogs, and gets approximately 100 pets a home per year. Although caring for species is an everyday job and sometimes exhausting to her, she knows it can change lives.
Di Matteo with a pig, one of the "rescued".
Achieve that "an animal that was about to die on the street ends up being part of a wonderful family", and that sometimes even "they take them to know the beach or buy them clothes". In this sense, the activist highlights the fundamental role of adopters, since without them, she would never have been able to rescue so many species.
Many people told him that it is a waste to have so many animals in such a big house. For her, "there is no better way to take advantage of space than by saving lives."
In 2009 he started using Facebook and watching a lot of videos. Thus came to be informed about the processes of obtaining food from animal suffering. That's when he decided to make a "root" change and convert to veganism. On this, although not everyone can make their home available to rescued animals, he stressed the importance of activism for animal liberation.
The fight for the Moreno fair
Two months ago, Florencia was the protagonist of the denunciation and closure of a clandestine pet trade fair that according to her, "worked for more than 12 years" in the municipality of Moreno. "Every weekend, dozens of unvaccinated dogs and cats were sold on the side of the road and in the summer sun, in cages, without food and without water."
"Each puppy costs at least $100,000." For her, the most unfair part is "seeing animals in deplorable conditions and knowing that breeders are filled with money by exploiting them."
Although previous complaints had already been made in conjunction with independent groups and protectionists, they never received a concrete solution. At most "it was closed for one weekend and the next they came back."
Florence with a rescued dog.
One day, looking for pastures for a newly rescued goat, di Matteo arrived by chance at "the terror fair". Seeing the state of the animals, she decided to "send herself" to film the place and alert on her social networks.
The result was a video of approximately 15 minutes where, between insults and aggressions, you can see the terrible state of the animals. "Within an hour we called the police five times and they wouldn't come, while the situation got worse and worse. They are a real mafia," the activist explained.
On this, she said that she actually ended up being assaulted: "They threw me to the ground, kicked me and stole my documents." As he explained, the breeders demanded that he delete the video and ask for forgiveness to return his things. "I don't even delete the video," Florencia replied.
Although the situation escalated with much violence, it was thanks to those videos (with more than 2 million views) that "they had no choice but to close the fair", because "a lot of people, from their little places in the world, were in solidarity with the cause and denounced it".
However, Florence soon discovered that the same clandestine merchants had moved to Merlo. In that sense, he questioned: "Are we (the activists) the ones who have to go investigate these cases or is it the responsibility of the Municipality that is responsible for making a cause with the legal step by step as it should?"
How to help
"I got into very delicate things in order to save an animal. Many times it implies an enormous sacrifice to have them in a state of well-being to all. I do it because I love him, but there would have to be state support for these causes," di Matteo reflected.
His instagram account is @elsantuariodeflorcita. In principle, collaborations of all kinds are welcome for Florence. It is crucial to disseminate cases of animals that need a home - whether permanent or transitory. In addition, "solidarity transfers" are also valuable, that is, collaborating with car transfers to visits to the veterinarian, or to a new home.
See also
