Destruction at Dead Dog Beach

As if it isn't a nightmare every day under normal circumstances, now, things are about to change in a very serious way. I don't know for a fact what the plan is at the beach but it appears the municipality is going to tear down the dilapidated marina building in their "beach beautification" process.

Sandra had noticed construction at the beach in the form of a new sidewalk being laid around the perimeter of the parking lot area and other "beautifications" occurring. But yesterday she called me frantic that they had started putting a fence up around the building and there was even parts of the building that were being torn down already. She said there were 4 puppies in the "puppy room" and that probably by the end of the day, the fence would have them trapped in. That meant we had to get those puppies out IMMEDIATELY and THAT meant we had to scramble to find a foster home for them ASAP.

So we called Nilsa in the metro area and she graciously agreed to take the 4 puppies in for a couple of weeks until they are ready to fly to the States for adoption. Sandra and Nilsa weren't able to meet yesterday for the transfer so Sandra took the puppies to Dr. Reyes office just to keep them overnight and the girls will be meeting at 4 p.m. today so Nilsa can take them home with her.

And the best thing is that thanks to our beach angel, Debbie, who has sent an amazing supply of medications, vaccinations, shampoos, etc... to Sandra, the puppies already have their first vaccination and have been wormed and will be ready for their second vaccinations and their bordetella vaccinations in a few days. Sandra is sending all the vaccinations they need (except for the rabies which needs to be administered by a vet) with the puppies so that Nilsa won't have to take the puppies to the vet at all (unless something unforeseen occurs) until they need their rabies shot and health certificate to fly! Think about the money that is being saved by that! By Debbie purchasing the vaccinations online, the cost is so much cheaper than at the vet and we don't have to pay for the office visit either. This is the best way to go.

Sooooo, now we have 4 little angels in foster care and our cost will just be for their fostering ($5/dog/day for their food and space with Nilsa) plus final vet visit and shipping to the States for their forever homes! That means the cost is greatly reduced by of course not free so please send whatever you can to help. I hadn't planned on taking any rescues because we're still in "debt payment" mode but there was no way to leave these babies there for Animal Control to take them away.

So THOSE puppies are safe but there are 2 others that Sandra is trying to catch - they are a little skittish but they are staying up near the bend in the road which is very dangerous. Plus there are 30-40 dogs scattered around the beach. With this new beach beautification plan going on, there is only one "plan" the municipality has for the dogs and that's straight to Animal Control. They are supposed to keep them for a certain period of time to see if their owner shows up but I doubt they really do. Sandra always notices when Animal Control has been there because she knows who's missing and all the remaining dogs are hiding.

In the past we've just had Sandra go up to the Animal Control building and reclaim "our" dogs. They charge us $50/dog and they have their vaccinations and are sterilized. But in our financial state, we won't be able to do this. Just the fees for reclaiming them alone, for all the dogs that will be taken in, won't be possible - but then the 2-4 weeks of fostering/boarding plus any vetting and then shipping will all make it out of our reach to do much if anything.

But that is the way it is going to go down there and we have no way to stop it. The beach and the marina building are the property of the Municipality of Yabucoa and the Port Authority of Puerto Rico. Sandra and I were talking about it and of course people are not going to stop dumping dogs just because the beach is all pretty now. They will either continue to dump them there and the Municipality will just step up the beach sweeps to keep the beach clear of dogs. Or people will just change where they dump the dogs. They may dump them farther south near the balnerio which is bad because that's closer to the hotels and the hotels solve the problem by poisoning the dogs. Or they may just find a new spot alltogether to dump them which means we (Sandra) won't know where they are going and can't help them.

I don't know what's going to happen but I DO know that the Municipality doesn't care AT ALL about the dogs. The dogs are a nuisance to them and all they care about is getting rid of them in whatever way is easiest and cheapest.