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Where should I begin?
I spent 3 days last week in Puerto Rico multi-tasking to my optimum limit! My friend, and vet tech, Danielle, went with me - if I hadn't had her there, I'm sure I wouldn't have made it through it all! First off, the dogs. We took 15 dogs from the beach for either spay/neuter and return to the beach or for foster care. Eight females were spayed and 2 males were neutered. We also brought home 4 little loves to find homes for. Yoshi, the 3-legged wonder, and sweet Drew are already testing the waters in new homes. Nestle, who was found abandoned at about 3-weeks of age at the Nestle plant, was brought to me by Peggy Ann Bliss and she's here in my home, piddling on the carpet and annoying mis gatos. But she's a beautiful little girl and will have no trouble finding a permanent home. We also have Rosie, who was picked up from the hotel near the beach where poisonings occur very often, and she's hanging out at Danielle's house for a few days before she goes to a no-kill shelter nearby. Rosie is a loving and sweet girl with a broken leg that has healed well but not in the correct position. Hefner (aka Tito) is a little chihuahua mix and quite the little devil, is still in PR and will be going into foster care shortly. Riley, Lannie, Tatiana, Carmella, and Xena were taken from the beach (Carmella and Xena from the hotel area) and were spayed and released back at the beach. All the ones released back to the beach were also given rabies vaccinations. Rico, a super sweet guy, was neutered and found a home before he ever even left the beach! A couple visiting from Maine starting chatting with us, not knowing what we were doing there, and expressed that they'd had a beautiful vacation but it was basically ruined by seeing all the sad, abandoned animals around the state. Long story short, Rico made the trip to Maine last night and is hopefully resting peacefully in his safe, if not super-chilly, new home. Laila, a tiny little puppy nearly bald with mange, was rescued and is in the loving arms of Yolanda Torres in Las Piedras. She'll nurse the little on back to health and find her a good home. Another puppy, Chiquita, was taken in by Mary Eldergill where she'll be taken care of until ready to adopt. Meiling and Betsy were taken to a vet by Peggy Bliss. Betsy has a chronic skin condition but it is treatable. Meiling, though, has such severe mange and depressed immune system that her future health is in question. She has also shown some aggression towards handlers and other dogs. I had hoped she could be rehabilitated and adopted but she may be rehabilitated health-wise and returned to the beach. I hate doing that to her but at least she will not be so miserable as she was. If anyone wants to take on a "project" with Meiling, all takers come forth! Janice, who was taken to the vet a while ago with a severe uterine infection. is healed up nicely and is staying with Mary until she's ready to go out. Here are pictures of a few of the rescues: Yoshi, Meiling, Laila, Betsy, Rico, Xena, Nestle, Tatiana, Riley, Lannie, Carmella    
      
Puerto Rico, Here I Come!
I will be flying to Puerto Rico on Wednesday afternoon and will stay through Saturday night. I will be a busy little beaver when I'm there. There are 2 main reasons I'm going at this time. The first is to grab as many dogs at the beach as possible and take them in for spay and neuter. We'll get mostly females on Thursday morning b/c they need more time at the vet to heal and we're leaving Saturday night. Then Friday morning we'll be grabbing up males and remaining females for their little trips to the vet. Dr. Burgos in Humacao is giving us a rate of $45 per dog for spay or neuter. That's a great discount. However, it's still going to cost lots of money so if you can make a donation, you'd be providing for more dogs to be sterilized. Aside from so many other things, we really need to control the population at the beach. We shouldn't have to worry about females giving birth and having to deal with their puppies anymore. I'm taking a friend with me, Danielle, who is a vet tech at the emergency clinic near me. She's a big-time animal lover and a great person and she offered to go to Puerto Rico to help out with anything I needed. I think the poor girl is going to regret that after the grueling week! The other thrust to my visit is to meet with as many people I can about the cruelty and abandonment issues at the beach. I have a meeting with the Mayor of Yabucoa, the Police Commander, and the Public Relations guy at the Mayor's office to discuss what they should be doing - actually what they SHOULD HAVE already done - to solve this hideous problem. I will also be meeting with the local clergy for a discussion on how they can become involved in teaching that cruelty is wrong. I certainly believe that their God is not happy when they abuse the creatures He so lovingly created. I'm also holding a press conference on Friday. Media from all around Puerto Rico have been invited. The Mayor will be a part of it as well as me and also rescuers from the area. When I give my opening remarks, I will have a powerpoint slideshow playing behind me that will flash picture after picture after picture of dead animals at the beach. It's gruesome but should get some attention. I also, as I mentioned, want to meet with the hotel owners and hold them accountable for what happened on Friday. We'll also be bringing back a few dogs when we return. We can each take up to 50lbs so there's the possibility we can even take more. Wish me luck and succes!
Long time no write :-(
The past week was a bad week at the beach. Friday morning, Steve found 9 dogs dead and another 15 or so missing. Seven of the dogs had been poisoned and 2 young pups appear to have been beaten to death. The two puppies were found lying next to yet another horse carcass - this time, a young horse with its front feet bound with rope. I haven't gotten the complete list of dead and missing from Steve but Paloma, the sweet and lovely white lab-mix, was one of the casualties.  Some of the missing are Cooper, Jack, Josh, Jay, and Lynne:      I'm waiting for the final count and I'll post it. The really sad, infuriating, and disgusting thing about this latest slaughter is that it happened on Friday and I just found out that a hotel on the beach, right next to Palmas de Lucia, had their grand opening yesterday. I'm sorry but that cannot be a coincidence. I'll be in Puerto Rico next week and believe you me, both of the hotel owners, who are apparently good friends, WILL be on my list of people to confront.
Nina gets adopted and Nicole gets a great foster home!!!
NEWS FLASH: Adorable Kittens Arrive in South Florida!
Boy did I have a precious package waiting for me at the airport on Friday! Four absolutely adorable little kittens - Artemis, Haydn, Hunter and Luna - arrived safe and sound in Miami. It took every ounce of strength in my body not to smuggle them all to my house forever! But I relented and took them to the Adopt-A-Cat Foundation in Lake Park, FL. They will stay there for 2 weeks until they are old enough for spay and neuter then will be put up for adoption. Little Luna, who completely stole my heart, has a condition with her right eye where some of her eyelashes grow inward and irritate the eye. She will have to have laser surgery to fix that but then she'll be "good to go". Take a look at these pictures and I DARE you not to smile! Take a look at the little black heart on Hunter's shoulder! The little angels were found 8 weeks ago in PR in a box next to their dead mother at Dead Dog Beach. They were taken into foster care then sent here to the states for adoption.     I bet you smiled, didn't you!?!?
New News
Yesterday, Liz, Steve, Mary, Yolanda, Christine, and Sandra all took part in an interview at the Yabucoa beach for Univision, the global Spanish-language news channel. This is GREAT exposure for the issue of cruelty in Puerto Rico and I know all the interviewees did a great job. Hopefully I'll be able to get a copy of the tapes.  And while they were there, they took another 8 dogs from the beach! Two new darlings, Kiara and Ziggy, were taken by Yolanda. Mary took Lex and a new one (sorry, no picture yet). Liz and Christine took Miles and Mindy (brother and sister) and Tucker.      Mary also was kind enough to take Yoshi and Janice to Dr. Burgos. Yoshi has a home, he just needs to get there and apparently his dog paddling skills are not up to par! He was taken to the vet b/c it was feared he had heartworm. Test results say.......NOPE! Good for Yoshi. And dear little Janice, she was taken in to be spayed. It was known that she was pregnant but thought to be not very far along. Once Dr. Burgos checked her out, he found a severe uterine infection that would definitely kill her puppies and would kill Janice within 2-3 days if a spay wasn't performed. So we had to say goodbye to the babies in order to save Janice's life. When the vet got inside, he found 8 puppies, and 2 of them were already dead and decomposing inside Janice's belly. That poor little girl. The surgery went well and she's resting comfortably for a few days until she too can come to the states to find a home.  
More dogs out of danger!!!
And always bad news along with the good
Dead Dog Beach is aptly named. The dogs there fight for their lives - sometimes literally - every day. I hesitate to describe the atrocities that occur there - it's just too hard to stomach. But briefly, and as delicately as I can, here are some recent events. The carcass of a horse is laying near the building where all the dogs congregate. Apparently, it died and someone wrapped a chain around its neck and dragged it all the way to the beach for "disposal". Near its final resting place, the chain around the horse's neck severed the head from its body. Steve, rescuer extraordinaire, found the carcass and then nosed the head which was thrown into the bushes. He also found a tiny puppy, less than three weeks old, curled up and terrified in the body cavity of the dead horse. He braved the assault of rotting flesh on his nose and got the puppy out but the little one is very sick. It is suspected he has distemper and at the very least is dehydrated and anemic. Steve and Sandra are caring for him as best they can with antibiotics and good food. Also, two dogs were found dead and decompossing in the tall grass near the building. Steve believes they did not just go in there together to die but rather were killed. He's seen nearly 1,000 dead dogs in his mere 16 months working at the beach. The way the dogs were laying and the condition of their bones (broken, shattered) suggest that they were literally beaten to death. This, sadly, is common, along with mass poisonings. Steve buries at least one dog almost every day. Even more tragic in this instance is that one of the dogs, Benji (pictured below), was to be picked up that very day and taken in for adoption. Benji had been missing for about a week prior and it was the hope, as it always is, that someone had taken him in to love and care for him. Unfortunately, nearly every time, the poor creature shows up dead a few days later. Poor little Benji was near the end of his horror at the beach, about to be rescued, but some horrible, evil, hate-filled individual ended his horror - and his life - before help could arrive.  Also at the beach yesterday, some young children were seen dragging a dog around by a chain around it's neck. They were yanking the chain and the dog was in obvious pain. Steve ran over and removed the chain and told the kids that what they were doing is wrong. They just ran away and will most likely do the same thing again. Aside from the obvious misery the dog was in, these instances also cause the animals to become fearful and aggressive and the likelihood of one of them biting a human is greatly increased. In fact, the people from the Health Department were at the beach that very day looking for a particular dog who apparently bit a man over the weekend. That dog will be taken in a put to sleep and probably because the man abused or threatened it or its puppies to the point where it had to defend itself. A great percentage of the dogs at the beach are friendly, loveable balls of fur - at least when they arrive there - or they are so fearful of humans, because they have been beaten and abused in the past, that they won't come anywhere near a person, even the rescuers who bring food and love. Another dog, Yoshi (below), a sweet, playful, three-legged dog, was also to be picked up for adoption. Rescuers unfortunately discovered that he was heartworm positive and chose to pick up seven healthier, younger dogs instead. It's the sad sad reality there that the same amount of money it takes to heal Yoshi can get all seven of the other dogs treated, vaccinated, and sent to the U.S. for adoption. Luckily for Yoshi, a kind soul has offered to pay for Yoshi's treatment so as soon as someone can go pick him up, he'll begin getting treatment. Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Yoshi!  I'm sorry to be the bearer of such horrible stories but I believe it is really important for EVERYONE to know the truth about what happens at dumping grounds all around the island of Puerto Rico. I recognize as well that this is sadly not isolated only to PR but to many other countries as well, even in the United States. But this project is dedicated to working on protecting and saving the animals in Puerto Rico so that's where all these stories come from. Hopefully this reality will spur you and others to act on behalf of these animals. I encourage you to write to the Mayor of Yabucoa and to the Governor of Puerto Rico (addresses below) and ask them to take strong actions to end the cruelty inflicted on these innocent creatures. I've met with Mayor Garcia and with people from the Governor's office and they assure me they are committed to making the changes necessary - so you can be strong in your language but also be diplomatic. And, of course, I encourage you to donate what you can to Manos por Patas - and/or to other rescue groups on the island - to help cover costs for rescue of these animals. Their lives, truly, depend on all of us. Honorable Aníbal Acevedo Vilá Governor PO Box 9020082 San Juan PR 00902-0082 Honorable Ángel S. García De Jesús Mayor P.O. Box 97 Yabucoa, P.R. 00767
7 more dogs off the beach!
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