All is not well at the Centro Canino in Palma

Dear Sir,
Jane Reynolds, my mother, who founded the Centro Canino Internacional, would I am sure be very distressed by recent events. She really cared for animals and totally changed the face of animal welfare in Majorca. She founded the Centro in the first place because the Sociedad Protectora des Animales and Plantas in Mallorca, which she transformed totally voluntarily and for which she raised large funds, threw foreigners off the committee and took over the money she had raised. For Barbara Mayhew, to whom my mother handed the mantle and who ran the CCI, caring for the animals devotedly and efficiently, with no financial reward, for over ten years to be summarily stripped of her title as President, was unbelievable. To insist she stays out of the shelter seems amazing. As had been the case with my mother, she had run the CCI for years, earning her spurs, before being prevailed upon to accept the honour of becoming its President while still directing its day to day affairs. Yet I understand that the new director of the day to day running of the CCI has immediately become its “President.” Clearly it is a good thing that new people come onto the scene willing to engage in onerous unpaid work for charity. But it is a very bad thing to dismiss and hurt those who have given wholeheartedly of themselves and their talents for years, especially if no representations have previously been made. I understand the CCI meeting was convened without the prior knowledge of the then President and Treasurer, definitely not showing the transparency of the CCI, which my mother insisted upon. Honour was important to her and she was even prepared to go to jail for her principles. The new President said, weeks ago, she would write to me to explain matters but I have had no such letter. I cannot see that the explanation, whatever it is, could possibly justify the unkindness. My mother would have been outraged. It dishonours the charity, which she founded and which still bears her name as the Jane Reynolds Foundation. The CCI is now facing the huge problem of finding a new home for its family of strays due to the Ayuntamiento's redevelopment of the area. All animal lovers should be united in this undertaking. It is no time for divisiveness and disharmony. As my mother would say: “The animals must come first.”