A total of 3,419 pets have been sterilized to date!
Baja Dogs La Paz, Inc., continued its sterilization campaigns throughout April, with a total of 223 pets sterilized during the month free of charge to local underserved La Paz area residents. That brings our total number of sterilizations to date to 3,419!
The first sterilization campaign was held on April 26th in El Centenario, at the library next to the new Parque El Centenario, with many thanks to Otton Arce of the Subdelegacion Municipal El Centenario, who arranged to donate the facilities for the campaign. 60 dogs were sterilized in a single day. Many residents from the El Centenario expat community, as well as local residents, came out to volunteer, helping to raise awareness in the community of this important effort. The impact was clear: volunteers saw firsthand how appreciated the sterilization campaigns are by the community, and expressed a strong desire to continue volunteering for future campaigns.
A second campaign was held on April 30th in the Colonia of Agua Escondida, where another 60 dogs were sterilized. A number of local high school students from Agua Escondida Community Telebachillerato #32 came out to volunteer at the campaign, helping with setup, organizing campaign attendees, and providing pre and post surgery care for the dogs. In addition, we held 3 "mini" campaigns throughout the month, where multiple dogs were sterilized at local community homes, and another 66 vouchers were given out for in-office surgeries to those who could not attend the campaigns.
We thank our veterinary partners, Dr. Mario and his team from Clínica Veterinaria El Centenario,and Dr. Fernando and his team from Baja Pet's, for continuing to dedicate their time to perform the sterilization surgeries each month. And a big thank you to all of the volunteers who came out and made the campaigns a big success!
To understand how critical these campaigns are for the good of the community, we bring you this story from one of our campaign attendees:
"Very close to my house there is an orchard. I usually walk with my dogs among its trees. Recently, under the shadow of one of them, I found "Old", a young Doberman nursing her pup. I approached her carefully, fearing that to protect her pup, she might try to attack. Nothing happened. "Old" just began to wag her tail and allowed herself to be stroked. I was surprised that they had abandoned her in that place and that she took care of a single puppy.
I later found out that, to survive, Old would forage for food in the garbage, return to the tree, and regurgitate so the baby would not starve. Immediately afterwards, I managed to have them follow me to my house. After verifying that she was healthy, I began to connect the dots and came to the conclusion that "Vieja" had been criminally used as a breeding tool for the illegal sale of breed offspring. It is probable that, at some point, she escaped from the place where her exploiters kept her and that she crossed with a male and became pregnant. Perhaps, upon recovering her and realizing her condition, the illegal breeders decided that the female no longer had commercial value and went to dispose of her in the orchard.
Thanks to the Baja Dogs campaigns, I have been able to sterilize and vaccinate her against rabies, and thanks to this, she will never be exploited and used to generate more dogs, now she will be able to have a calm and dignified life. Her pup, "Little", is perfectly healthy and has been given up for adoption to a very trusted friend. "Old" is still in my house, where she sleeps peacefully, eats well and looks happy. She is an affectionate dog and a good watchman. She is calm and does not give anything can. I don't even need to put the leash on her when we go for a walk in the orchard. She always comes to my side and obeys me in everything. — Jose Miguel Suarez
What a beautiful story, and just one of the reasons we are focused on bringing sterilization campaigns to La Paz communities. Just $25 USD funds a single sterilization surgery. Donate here to help us continue this important work!
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