Bhutan Animal Rescue & Care. Saving Homeless Animals
Rescue, Heal, Protect
Balanced Compassion, Copyright Jon Kolkin 2025, All Rights Reserved
Bhutan Animal Rescue & Care. Saving Homeless Animals
Rescue, Heal, Protect
Bhutan Animal Rescue & Care. Saving Homeless Animals
Rescue, Heal, Protect
Bhutan Animal Rescue & Care. Saving Homeless Animals
Rescue, Heal, Protect
Bhutan Animal Rescue & Care (BARC) is a leading animal welfare organization in Bhutan, integrating rescue, veterinary medicine, animal-assisted therapy, and wildlife rescue & rehabilitation.
In 2025, we treated 1,508 animals, including 301 in-patient animals and 1207 out-patient animals.
BARC currently provides full-time residential care for over 350 animals — including dogs, cats, macaque monkeys, and wildlife.
One act of kindness changes a life
BARC provides animal rescue across Bhutan and free veterinary care at its Center for Animal Happiness in Tshaluna for strays, working animals, and wildlife.
When you give, 100% goes directly to animal care.
Our Mission
BARC's mission is to promote the health and well-being of all animals in Bhutan through rescue, medical treatment, rehabilitation, and compassionate long-term care. We believe animals are sentient beings deserving respect, kindness, and compassion—aligned with Bhutan's philosophy of Gross National Happiness.
Our Work
We rescue animals that have been injured, are suffering from disease, are abandoned, or are too old to fend for themselves. We nurse them back to health and reintegrate them into their community, or we provide them with a welcoming home if they have no place to live.
Animal Compassion
Bhutan's constitution enshrines Buddhism as the country's spiritual heritage — the only nation that does so. BARC partners with the Government to extend those compassion ethics to animals.
Meet the Animals
Every animal has a story. Here are a few waiting for your support.
What we do
BARC provides animal rescue across Bhutan and free veterinary care at its Center for Animal Happiness in Tshaluna. We rescue injured and abandoned animals, treat illness and injury, and work to prevent suffering through education and advocacy.
Rescue & Treatment
Emergency response and ongoing medical care for injured, sick, and abandoned animals throughout Bhutan.
Shelter & Rehabilitation
Safe haven for animals in recovery, with physical therapy, specialized care, and long-term housing for permanent residents.
Education & Prevention
BARC is launching school-based animal welfare programs and partnering with therapists to use animal-assisted therapy in mental health treatment."
What veterinary care does BARC provide?
• Veterinary surgery
• Spay and neuter clinics
• Disease and wound management
• Intensive care and long-term inpatient treatment
• 24/7 emergency service
• Infectious disease treatment
• Rehabilitation from starvation, neglect, and abuse
• Physiotherapy
• Wildlife rescue
Meet the Team
Our board members, staff, and volunteers.
Our Partners
Organizations that support our mission.
Where your donation goes
Thousands of animals in Bhutan lack access to basic veterinary care and assistance when sick or injured.
Since January 2025, we've admitted and treated 300+ in-patient animals from communities throughout Bhutan.
Of the dogs in our care
Annually, on average
15 are under Intensive Care treatment
100 have chronic conditions such as epilepsy, diabetes, or kidney disease
35 are handicapped, such as paraplegic or blind
12 are abandoned or orphaned puppies
50 are geriatrics
Outpatient care - annually
1,207 animals in total
580 were pets
98 animals were rescued and brought to our rescue center by people
55 cows belonging to local farmers
474 were rescued by BARC itself
Outpatients are mostly dogs (60%), cats (25%), and cattle (15%), but can be any kind of animal, including birds, mules, and horses.
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Dogs
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Cats
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Other Animals
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Macaques
Stories of compassion
A Message of Hope and Thanks
We at BARC have a deep sense of gratitude for the trust placed in us by both human supporters and the animals in our care, whose recovery is the measure of our work, who seem to understand that they are being helped and loved.
Tshelung Ney Monastery
Be the example yourself. Like us, animals seek happiness too. And when we help animals, we too will live with greater prosperity, peace, and a long life free from illness.
Center for Animal Happiness
Discover the Center for Animal Happiness
Frequently asked questions
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Bhutan is the only country that measures success by Gross National Happiness rather than GDP, and whose Buddhist ethics extend compassion to all sentient beings. Yet there is no national infrastructure for animal welfare here.
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BARC's mission is what we do every day: provide veterinary care, rescue, and rehabilitation for Bhutan's street and wildlife animals, while training the people and partnerships that make that care sustainable.
Our vision is where that work leads — a nationally recognized, financially self-sustaining animal welfare organization that sets the standard for Bhutan. Mission is the daily practice; vision is the destination.BARC opposes the capture or breeding of wildlife for human entertainment.