Our history

Beginning

When Triinu Priks, the head of studies of the music department of Viljandi Culture Academy and a hipster at heart, arrived at what was then the Viljandi animal shelter in 2005, she could not have imagined that this would become a turning point in her life.

At that time it was not customary in shelters to treat, vaccinate or keep animals for more than 14 days. Animals disappeared; the next day they were simply gone. Triinu became a member of the Eesti Loomakaitse Selts, got together with like-minded people and pushed her way into the shelter to help. The opposition was enormous; no one understood what they wanted to do and why. But those "snowflakes" of the time were persistent. They brought food aid, which the animal protection society organised from Finland, bought food themselves and began to look for ways to advertise the animals.

In other towns the developments were roughly similar. In Pärnu the shelter was run by the Eesti Loomakaitse Selts. It was felt that the running of shelters and the advocacy for animals should be handled by different organisations. So the manager of the Pärnu shelter and two other ELS members joined hands, and Varjupaikade MTÜ was born. But this was by no means a solution to the problems, merely a beginning.

Pärnu

The town of Pärnu had given the shelter the use of a part of the town's covered landfill, on which stood an old railway carriage and a worn-out hamburger kiosk that served as everything at once - accommodation for cats in poorer health, an office, a kitchen and a storeroom. For washing hands there was a container with a tap on the wall, into which water had to be carried, and likewise the slop water had to be carried out in a bucket. Warm running water was something they could not even dream of. In the old railway carriage there were indoor boxes for the dogs and, above them, boxes for the cats. The carriage was heated with an iron stove, which in winter had to be kept alight constantly. It was not uncommon, even on a cold winter's night, to go to the shelter to stoke the stove so that the animals would not get cold. A fine spot, one that even a king visits on foot, was the wooden kiosk in front of the office; there one had to cope both with the summer heat and the winter cold. Over time various left-over portacabins arrived at the site. In this way the cats got their own quarantine. Then another portacabin was obtained in which to put a dog in quarantine, and then yet another wooden kiosk in which cats could be kept, and so on and so forth. Once a family came who wished to help, and so they built roofed enclosures for the dogs, which stand to this day. One major undertaking was the construction of a so-called dog house out of two shipping containers, which lasted several years.

Today there are 11 portacabins and two shipping containers in use on the shelter's territory. For the dogs there is a dog house with six indoor boxes, a washroom and a food store. For the cats there are two separate quarantines and a cat house with four rooms for keeping cats free-range. The veterinarian works in a separate portacabin, and in addition there is a rehabilitation unit with four rooms for animals requiring special treatment or care. Read more about the Pärnu shelter on our blog.

In 2023 a new, modern building was completed in cooperation with the municipalities of Pärnu County, and the old shelter portacabins found a new home in our other shelters or were demolished.

Viljandi

In Viljandi it took two years before we reached an agreement with the former shelter operator that, after the compulsory 14-day holding period, he would hand the animals over to us. This was followed by a visit to the town government, where we asked for premises in order to keep animals and find them homes with the support of donations. And so it happened that in 2007 Triinu left her paid job and, as a volunteer, set about establishing an animal shelter in a house rented from the town government that had no doors, windows, electricity or water. In 2008 the town announced a tender, which Varjupaikade MTÜ, as the sole bidder, won. Suddenly we were faced with the real need to catch, accommodate, feed and treat animals. The entire start-up capital consisted of the will to change something and a couple of sheds standing in the yard. The wages were small, and a large part of even that little was spent on construction. For 10 years the cats lived in portacabins; now, for the period of the public procurement, we have been given the use of all 3 buildings on the shelter's property, which we have, by our own efforts, brought into the condition required for running the shelter.

In 2025 a new, modern building was completed in cooperation with the municipalities of Viljandi County, and the old shelter buildings were demolished.

Võru

At the same time there was in the town of Võru a similar "madcap", Merike Torm, who went about vainly trying to help the local shelter, pestering the town government and bombarding the animal protection society with the wish to change something. Merike became a volunteer of the Eesti Loomakaitse Selts, and the cases in which help had to be given to animals in distress accumulated so much that she decided to undertake something on a larger scale - to establish a shelter and to unite with those of Pärnu and Viljandi to form Varjupaikade MTÜ. Shelter manager is merely a fine job title; in reality it meant working in the roles of builder, repairman, marketer and caretaker, for the shelter consisted of one office portacabin, one shed and 14 kennels. The start-up package also included 1 bag of dog food and the collar and lead of Merike's own dog. At first Merike kept cats and dogs needing treatment in her own home, because there were no conditions for this at the shelter. Gradually supporters and volunteers came.

Valga

By 2009, when the Valga town government approached us with the proposal to begin running an animal shelter in Valga, Varjupaikade MTÜ had already been operating for two years in its three shelters. We accepted the challenge, because the enthusiasm was great, and Valga became our fourth family member.

The location of the Valga shelter, where until then a single staff member of the local municipality had been working, stayed the same. What the shelter looked like back then, 11 years ago, differs like night and day from what the shelter is today. Originally there was only a small gable-roofed house on the site, and on stepping inside you could not even see a hand held in front of your face, so dark it was. In the front room there were four dog boxes and the windows of the room were boarded up. The cats had been placed in two small rooms. In the yard there were a couple of dog enclosures.

For the cats, portacabins were bought, repaired and furnished, and outdoor areas were built onto them. In the house we let light into the rooms and carried out a major renovation of the premises. For the dogs, proper outdoor enclosures and insulated kennels were built. A great contribution was made by lovely and hardworking people who came to help as volunteers and assisted both with labour and with money.

Today the manager attends to clients in the front room of the house, in the back room there is a veterinary room, and one room is shared by staff with litters of cats during the so-called kitten season, when the shelter is bursting with strays. We also have two portacabins with outdoor enclosures, in which cats live free-range, and in addition there is a separate quarantine portacabin for the cats. For the dogs, thanks to the Doktor Stern fund, there is a portacabin with three indoor boxes and 16 outdoor enclosures with insulated kennels.

From 8 December 2025 we no longer provide an animal shelter service in Valga municipality, because we have decided not to take part in service tenders in which the municipality does not offer elementary conditions for the animals and the staff.

Virumaa

In 2009 the Lill family joined us, and on the lands of their farm we established the Virumaa animal shelter. In 2011 the Town of Rakvere announced a tender for the provision of a shelter service. Since we won it, there was no sense in running two shelters a couple of kilometres apart, so we closed the original Virumaa shelter and distributed its assets among our shelters.

From 1 May 2020 we no longer run a shelter in Lääne-Virumaa. The Rakvere Town Government rejected our public procurement bid as exceeding the possibilities of their budget and asked us to clear the shelter's premises of animals and property within two days. Quite a challenge, since we had been providing the service there for almost 10 years.

During the time of operating in Virumaa we found new homes for 1926 animals and helped 406 animals back home.

Läänemaa

Already in the early days of Varjupaikade MTÜ, local animal protectors said that Läänemaa needed a shelter of the kind in which animals and their welfare are cared for. At that time an animal shelter was operating in Haapsalu whose activities were not regarded as satisfactory. Ways were sought to offer an alternative to the existing one, and there was also a wish to begin caring for the animals of the rural municipalities. For a long time this existed as an idea, until in 2014 Kaja and Helina went to look at the cats in the existing shelter. That visit and the wish to do something for the animals became a great driving force, so that the women began to look for a plot of land on which to establish a shelter. Near Haapsalu there lived a landowner who was kindly willing to allow a shelter on his land. From there the wheel began to roll with such momentum that it could no longer be stopped, nor was there indeed any need. It was then agreed that Varjupaikade MTÜ would run the shelter, because we had experience to rely on. In the early spring of 2015, with state support, we acquired two used construction portacabins in which the shelter was to begin operating. In addition, we received used kennels for the dogs from the Pärnu shelter. So - there was land, portacabins, kennels and people who had the will to make something better. All the work - the repair of the portacabins, the building of the dog enclosures, the electrical, water and sewerage work - was done on a voluntary basis. The village folk of the surrounding area rushed to help so that the shelter could get on its feet and the animals would feel well.

The ceremonial ribbon-cutting took place in May 2015, and the shelter was ready to receive its residents.

Tallinn

The Tallinn animal shelter is the only one where the municipality has built and furnished modern working premises to place at the disposal of its contractual partner. From 1 July 2016 we began providing the service of catching and keeping stray animals and clearing away carcasses by way of public procurement, as the contractual partner of the city of Tallinn. For cats that have passed the quarantine period and are ready to go to a home, the shelter has separate rooms for adult cats and for kittens. For walking and socialising the dogs, there is a dog exercise ground with five agility elements on the territory. In order to provide high-quality veterinary treatment there is modern medical equipment, including the possibility of carrying out ultrasound examinations and, if necessary, taking X-rays.

Today Varjupaikade MTÜ has grown into Estonia's largest organisation dealing with homeless animals, providing work for more than 60 people.