It all started with a meatball...

Sometimes following your heart can take you far further then the hunt for success and medals.

In November 2014, Mikael Lindnord and his team was participating in the Adventure Racing World Championship in Ecuador.

A 435 mile race through the jungles and mountains of Ecuador and after 4 days of racing suddenly a stray dog met Mikael Lindnord at one of the Transition Areas. Mikael gave him a couple of meatballs and continued the race.

The badly wounded stray dog followed the team day and night, in the deep mud, trough rivers and never gave up. Mikael named him Arthur and at the finish line he couldn´t leave his new friend so he decided to save Arthur and take him back to his family in Sweden. Whatever it took.

Arthur Foundations number one priority was to support the LOBA law (Organic Law of Animal Welfare – Ley Organica de Bienestar Animal).

After years of work, the LOBA law was presented to the congress on October 30, 2014.

April 2017 the LOBA law was approved and published.

April 12, 2018 the Organic Environmental Code including the LOBA law went into effect.

This will apply standards of animal welfare to animals used for the purpose of consumption, companionship, labour, trade, experimentation and entertainment. This legislation seeks to minimize animal suffering through the elimination of violence and promotion of empathy towards animals. The legislation will also work towards humaney controlling animal populations by promoting adoption, sterilization and responsible coexistence.

Many people in Ecuador and all over the world have supported the work towards this acknowledgment.

Thanks to the organisation Rescate Animal Ecuador and Libera Ecuador,
especially; Inti Alvarado, Monica Cabrera and Pedro Bermeo.
We can now see this awaited change in Ecuador.