GOT International

The Home That Irma Built                                     
For the maltreated, the condemned,

and the abandoned, the last retreat…    

High atop a hill in the Cliffs of Berti mountain range and close to wealthy residential district of designer bungalows and manicured gardens lies Can Tapies, a sprawling 26,000 sq metres of woodland property sitting on sleek terraced slopes. At the centre, perched right at the very edge of a precipice, is the house that Irma Fuentes built or, rather, re-built.

Irma, her partner Miguel,and GOT founder  Lluis Gascon and  the doggies at Can Tapies: from this cliff-top balcony, a panoramic view of the mountains and beyond, and the ‘front’ half of the grounds below.

Eight years ago when Irma first visited the site, she found the ruins of a 16th century farmhouse surrounded by desolate, wild, almost impassable woodland. At 350 metres (1,150 feet)  up the hill, it could get neither running water nor sewage facilities.  Unfazed, she bought the property, and started restoring the house,  clearing the shrubs and undergrowth, getting a new pump for  the well – the only source of water - and installing a septic tank.

All to realise a cherished dream – to provide sanctuary to animals that have been abandoned, maltreated or condemned to be put down by their owners, and to live in a natural environment far from the madding crowd. 

Today Irma and her partner Miquel Ramos  share Can Tapies (pron.  /kɑ:n  ˈtɑːpɪ ʌs/ ) meaning House of  Tapies, with an assortment  of  animals including horses, a donkey,  goats, sheep, dogs,  cats, a mallard, a goose , a swan,  some  exotic birds and parrots, a brood of chicken,  a large number of  threatened tortoises, and even a Vietnamese  pig – all cohabiting in perfect harmony.

From the clifftop balcony, a bird’s eye view of  some of the enclosures. The mountain road on the right leads to Can Tapies and serves as a boundary for the property.

Irma couldn’t change the name of the property when she purchased it. Like the names of all  “masias” – ancient  stone houses that characterise both rural and urban Catalonia -- Can Tapies is a local heritage name which appears on all maps and historical documents and thus  can’t be changed even when ownership changes. According to folklore, the masia once belonged to an Esteve Tàpies who lived in the sixteenth century. Many Tapies must have occupied the house before it was taken over by a non-Tapies, no one knows when. Two decades ago, when the last owner (not a Tapies) abandoned it, Can Tapies gradually fell into decay.

In spite of outward appearances, what Can Tapies isn’t  is an animal farm. In fact, it’s more like a botanical garden with lots of animals running around,  with Irma in charge and  Miquel, a garden keeper with the Bigues Town Hall, helping out..

The numerous species of trees and plants flourishing within the enormous grounds  – four times the size a football field --  give Can Tapies a touch of nature in the wild, albeit somewhat reined in. Beneath the canopy, and strategically spread about, are separate enclosures for  the animal inhabitants of Can Tapies.  Pines, oaks, and fruits trees thrive amidst a multitude of wild plants and shrubs. And there is even a kitchen garden in one corner of the grounds to provide a year-round supply of veggies for Irma and Miquel and the animals.

But peace and security for abandoned animals come at a price. Feeding and caring for them cost time and money. And it’s often hard to make ends meet. Irma works full-time as  sales manager at a firm producing industrial spare parts and machines, but  her salary isn’t sufficient to pay the bills. Some financial aid comes from individuals seeking an alternative home for pets they can no longer keep, from organised nature-study groups visiting Can Tapies, and from institutional contributions. Fund-raising and public relations are Irma’s forte, but there is also the physical work  which includes keeping the grounds and enclosures clean, feeding the animals,  mending the perimeter fencing when it’s brought down by winds and falling trees, and building  enclosures for new arrivals. This pure manual labour  is shared between Irma and Miquel.

 Left, a pond for Adela, the mallard & Hilda. Right shows (R-L): Bruixa (the black one), Melindro the sheep,Flor (blue collar), and  Petita outside their pen with Irma

Irma also handles a particularly critical job --  that of ensuring the health of the inmates and treating the sick ones, a job she’s well up to, having had formal training as a veterinary nurse.  But even for an ardent nature-lover and long-time GOT member like Irma, the going can be tough at times. Yet the rewards of living in a bit of a self-created Shangri-la  and being one with nature have been worth all the sacrifices.

Behind every animal there is a poignant story beginning with  abandonment or maltreatment, then discovery, rescue and finally salvation at CanTapies. Carquinyoli the sheep had just been born when found by the wayside by a family out cycling in the countryside. Neither its mother nor the shepherd were anywhere to be seen. Malindro was born by caesarean when its mother was dying of some illness. Both ended up with Irma, who bottle-fed them till they grew up.

Cluny in her corral , and Harco and Calitja in theirs –the hay has to be purchased.

Samfaina, a very sick donkey, Patufet, the lame pony  in the pine grove, and Soci the Vietnamese pot-bellied domesticated pig

Calitja the horse and Samfaina the donkey were were victims of acute maltreatment and on the verge of death, and were rescued thanks to the efforts of the Association for the Defence of the family Equidae (ADE), an animal protection group, which managed to get the Town Hall to force the owners to release them to Irma’s care. Calitja’s condition was hopeless, and at one point Irma thought it had to be sacrificed, because its wounds needed expensive surgery which Irma couldn’t afford. Fortunately a wealthy ADE sponsor who learnt of her desperation offered to pay for the operation on condition that Irma looked after it for the rest of its life. Cluny and Harco were competition horses that grew old and costly to maintain. They were about to be put down by their owners when Irma learnt about it and took them to Can Tapies.

 The main building with the dogs on alert, and the barn (on elevated ground on the right) seen from the tortoise enclosure down below.



Back into the wild for the Hermanns…

Can Tapies is an official breeding centre for tortoises that once faced extinction – the native  Western Hermann's Tortoise(Testudo hermani hermani). Loss of habitat, fires and solitary confinement as pets almost wiped them out. Some years ago they became a protected species and a programme to breed and release them  into the wild was begun. Today there are about 50 official breeding centres like can Tapies,the Hermanns have been removed from their “threatened species” status. Popular with the children,  Irma’s tortoise enclosure is a major attractiion for visitors of Can Tapies.

…but the birds stay put

In the middle of the tortoise zone there’s also an aviary with some 50 exotic birds that wouldn’t be going anywhere. Irma explains that 15 years ago, when she wasn’t  yet a fully-fledged advocate of of freedom for animals of the wild, she had bought the birds and kept them in a small aviary at her previous home.  When she came to Can Tàpies in 2003, she moved the birds into the 3x6x3-meter high aviary but stopped buying caged birds. However, she does take in caged birds whose owners tire of them. All the birds she has are non-native and would be unable to survive in the wild were they to be set free.

From left: nest boxes hang all around the aviary, and a few species have mated and borne young; Cinnamon Pearl Cockatiels; parakeets; and a canari

Irma’s collection includes the Cinnamon Pearl Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus),  the smallest cockatoo endemic to Australia; the Diamond Dove (Geopelia cuneata), also Australian; the Tricoloured munia  (Lonchura malaca), an orestrildid finch  native to India;and the Zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), the most common  estrildid finch of Central Australia.

Two parrots complete the avian population -- Curri , an African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), and  Mati,a Blue-fronted Amazon (Amazona aestiva). Both suffer for a peculiar illness and require constant attention and medication. So they are kept indoors. They were about to be put down eight years ago because of their sickness, but Irma asked for them and began treating them. They have survived so far.

Mati (left) and Curryi. On the right, an owl’s nest box sequestered by bees, high up a pine tree –something that happens often with unoccupied nest boxes.                   

The Restoration

The transformation of both the grounds and the ancient  ruins into what they are  today took about a year.. Much of the walls of the house were salvaged and fortified, but the inside had to be completely re-done.

               Before & after: the view from the upper level courtyard & blue-topped kennels.The brick parapet was replaced with timber fencing

   Before and after: the lower courtyard with a barn in the background. Only the European nettle tree (Celtis australis) on the right stood the test of time.

Words & Photos by Abul Fazil