I will be in Puerto Rico next week and will bring back these guys with me when I return. These little loves are Rosalie, Natalie, Gretel, Drake, Dennisse, and Vicky - click on their name to see their profiles on Petfinder. I have interest in a couple already but want to get them all adopted as soon as possible. If you're interested, I'll be setting up appointments on Sunday (7/13) afternoon/evening.
Next week we will be spending Thursday and Friday at the beach to catch as many dogs as we can for sterilization. We have a list of about 16 residents and 8 new dogs that we are concentrating on catching. Many of the residents, like Connie and Kaly, have been there for 2 or more years and have continued to reproduce - and their babies are having babies. They are so terrified of humans they will have to be caught using sedatives, traps, and catchpoles. Unfortunately, due to their absolute fear of humans, these dogs are not considered adoptable and we will have to return them to the beach after their sterilizations. But others, like Gina, Maggie, and Byron, are more friendly and will be easier to catch. And we want to keep them and start them on the process for adoption. That means taking them for sterilization but also getting all their vaccinations, heartworm test, treatments for internal and external parasites, general health check, etc..
We have worked out discounts with the wonderful vets Dr. Reyes and Dr. Serrano who have agreed to charge us just $75 for males and $90 for females. That includes the sterilization and rabies vaccination as well as 2 nights of boarding for the males and 4 nights boarding for the females (to give them longer for their incisions to heal). This is a great discount price however, even if we only catch 10 males, that's $750. And if they are adoptable, the prices goes way up for all the tests, treatments, and 3+ weeks in foster care.
If you would like to sponsor a dog for this event, please go to our DONATE page. We already have 13 dogs in foster care in Puerto Rico that we're working on getting to the states for adoption so anything you can send is sincerely appreciated.
I have very sad news about little Nia who was adopted to a wonderful home about 2 months ago. Her new dad called to tell me she had died early this morning. He and his girlfriend were, of course, devastated and were desperately trying to find out what had happened. Nia had been outside early in the morning for a little while and then came in, plopped down in her bed, and was dead 15 minutes later with no explanation. When her dad went outside to take a look around he found a huge toad out there. He took pictures and sent them to me and in the end, we believe that Nia died from ingesting poison from a type of toad we have here.
I did a little research on this type of toad and summarized it below to provide information as well as warning to all pet owners. I also included some informative links below.
The toad is commonly called a "bufo" as it's scientific name is Bufo marinus. It is native to Central and South America but it has spread to other areas such as Australia, the American southwest, and here to Florida. Bufo toads have poison glands that secrete a highly toxic poison that can be deadly if ingested. These toads have become a nuisance but are a much more serious problem in Australia where they have proliferated to uncontrollable numbers. Bufo toads have no natural predators so when introduced into an ecosystem that has not developed to include them in their ecological functioning, the toads wreck havoc. They are bigger than the frogs you're used to seeing in your yard - they can grow to be 6 - 10 inches long!
The toads are nocturnal so not letting your pets roam outside at night is the best way to protect them. The toads are also attracted to water, as most amphibians are, and are predators so they eat lizards, insects, etc... Don't leave water or food out which can attract the toads. Also concerning the water, I learned that an animal can ingest the poison even by just drinking from a water bowl in which the toad has been soaking!
The symptoms of bufo toad poisoning are excessive salivation, vocalizing and pawing at the mouth, stiff gait or trouble walking, and difficulty breathing. If the pet ingests enough of the poison the symptoms can rapidly progress to seizures and death. Depending on the size of the animal and the amount of poison ingested, the animal can die in 10-15 minutes! We think because of Nia's tiny size this is what happened to her.
If you suspect your pet has been poisoned, immediately rinse their mouth out with large amounts of water. You are trying to wash away the poison - but be careful not to drown them by forcing water down their throat. Then take the animal immediately to the vet.
If your pet is poisoned - and especially if it dies - by a bufo, remember that it's really not the toad's fault. It secretes the poison as a defense mechanism - it's just what nature intended it to do. The toad was just trying to protect itself from the playful puppy or hungry cat. I don't advocate killing the toads but if you feel you must, PLEASE do it humanely. DON'T seek vengeance on the toad by killing it barbarically. The best way to humanely kill the toad is to put it into a secure container with airholes poked in it (a plastic bucket, for example) and put the toad in the refrigerator (not freezer) for at least 12 hours. This will cause the toad to go into a coma-like state. The next morning, move the container to the freezer for at least another 12 hours then dispose of it the next trash day.
Below is my latest article that hit El Nuevo Dia today with photographs I took that were printed in the paper version of the article. The English translation of the article is below as is a link to the Spanish version. The Spanish version has been cut to some extent, but the English version is as it was submitted.
Members of the Puerto Rico Coalition for the Well-Being of Animals, whose recently submitted proposal to the veterinary licensing board asking for a temporary license and waiver for Remote Area Medical (RAM) veterinary group to come to Puerto Rico and work alongside local vets in holding intensive spay/neuter clinics for the low-income population, were denied their request by letter from the board citing that each vet would need to be sponsored individually by a local veterinarian. Although in their denial the board did come back with this alternate requirement, Coalition members aren't sure finding sponsorship for the four RAM vets would gain the board's acceptance of the proposal.
Copies of the initial proposal were also submitted to the Housing Administration, Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC) and the Puerto Rico Hotel & Tourism Association (PRHTA) for their support, among numerous others, and the proposal's denial comes on the heels of the Barceloneta tragedy where 80 animals were seized from low-income housing residents and thrown to their deaths from a bridge in neighboring Vega Baja, an act which Tourism conservatively estimated cost Puerto Rico 15 million in tourism dollars as news of the incident was broadcast worldwide.
Traditionally the licensing board and college of veterinarians has not allowed outside vets to come and practice medicine in Puerto Rico, despite the necessity of Puerto Rico adopting humane solutions to address the animal overpopulation problem, seeing outside veterinarians as a threat to the business of local veterinarians; a big oversight on their part, according to Christine Driscoll Rodriguez, president and founder of Amigos de los Animales and Coalition member.
"What these agencies and associations don't realize, is that nonprofits like ours, not to mention the countless others on the island, staunchly support the local veterinarians. Amigos de los Animales alone supported them to the tune of more than $50K last year. And it's not acceptable for government to simply implement animal control measures, sweeping beaches and other areas of animals, without adopting statistically proven humane solutions such as spay and neuter and trap, neuter and return [TNR], both of which prevent the births of hundreds of thousands of animals."
Coalition members were told early on that their proposal would not be accepted because members of the veterinary licensing board and the college of veterinarians are not progressive enough in their policies and are undereducated on alternative humane "best practices" in dealing with animal overpopulation issues. But the question remains, can Puerto Rico afford not to adopt humane solutions to combat the pet-overpopulation crisis? It is statistically proven that animal control alone cannot adequately address animal over-population issues.
With tourism a growing support to the local economy, an economy in its third year of recession, and the media continuing to keep a watchful eye on animal welfare in Puerto Rico (recent articles include March 9th in The New York Times, People magazine's April 28th edition and a spot on the Ellen DeGeneres show in May), rescue organizations are wondering how many more tourism dollars need to be lost in order for government to see Puerto Rico is facing an image crisis precisely because it has no humane alternatives in place. "I think government doesn't realize the extent of the relationship between animal welfare advocates and the media. We are going to keep the pressure on until they embrace humane alternatives," continued Driscoll Rodriguez.
According to the proposal submitted, the spay/neuter event would target the pets of low-income residents—in collaboration with the Housing Administration—in as many as seven to 10 different municipalities where local veterinarians and rescue groups have expressed an interest in participating. RAM would work under the local vets and rescue groups associated with them to spay and neuter as many as 125 animals in each location. However, the real investment of this initiative would have come from the training of volunteers who would then be able to host future events for veterinarians willing to donate their time to this worthy cause.
Picture Key: 1) Three male dogs following a female dog in heat on Playa Lucia (Dead Dog Beach) 2) Christine Driscoll Rodriguez, president and founder of Amigos de los Animales, holding three puppies about to be rescued from Dead Dog Beach. The puppies were sent to a dalmatian rescue group in Florida and have since been adopted.
Jodie, whom Sandra believes is another of Maggie's puppies and this little girl showed up yesterday. Summer is the time so many dogs are dumped at the beach. We are desperate for help! Nothing is being done to help this situation! The dogs keep coming - and then they either "disappear" by us rescuing them or by animal control taking them away. But we KNOW where the dogs are that we rescue - where are the dogs animal control takes away? What is happening to them? And why is NO ONE understanding that this is only going to keep happening over and over and over until there are changes made in the system BEFORE the dogs get to the beach!?!? Just sweeping them up like garbage and killing them is an ignorant, uninformed, and nonsensical policy. Why not help the situation BEFORE the dogs get thrown away by instilling responsible pet ownership and providing low cost spay and neuter services? I'm telling you, I could give a 2-minute description of this situation to my 6-year-old niece and EVEN SHE would be able to come up with a solution - as opposed to a non-effective bandage that would continually get soaked and infected and need constant changing! It completely baffles me why the Puerto Rican governmental agencies that are in office to deal with problems exactly like this one are completely inept with coming up with any viable solution. Until now, the only "solution" we have seen proposed is to have animal control trucks come to the beach a few times a week, catch the dogs and take them away to be euthanized. This it NOT a solution! It's an insane treadmill that will never stop. THE DOGS WILL KEEP COMING UNTIL SOMEONE TAKES THE TIME TO EDUCATE THE PEOPLE WHO KEEP DUMPING THEM!!!! What is so complicated about this concept? How much do you pay to hire animal control workers to spend hours on the beach each week setting traps for dogs and chasing them through the woods? How much fuel does it take in those trucks to travel back and forth to Humacao? How much does it cost for each euthanization of each dog (though I am convinced this is not done at all properly)? Wouldn't it be so much cheaper to just teach people that dumping their dogs is wrong AND illegal? To educate them that spay and neuter is good for the animals, not harmful to them? To provide low-cost spay and neuter services the citizens could utilize? To provide public awareness and education in the schools that animals are not inanimate objects - that they feel pain and get hurt and should not be treated like garbage?
Welcome to my morning pre-caffeine rant. These are the things that circulate through my head all night long, every night as I attempt to find a few moments of sleep - sleep used only to recharge my body so I can spend the next day frantically trying to pick up the "trash" for selfish people who refuse to pull their heads out of the sand. Maybe that's the solution - start dumping PEOPLE at the beach and see how quickly a solution magically appears!
Sweet Pinky has been with me for about 2 months and has not found her forever home. I found a wonderful foster home for her and she is livin' it up with her new foster mommy and furry sister, Val. She gets to go for long walks and wear pretty bandanas and wrestle with Val. Thank you so much to Leah for taking Pinky in while she's finding the right family!
Rocco is finally in his forever home! This boy is one of the most wonderful dogs I've ever met and it's so unbelievable that it took so long for him to find a home. We tried it once but the couple thought he missed me too much (we had bonded, that's for sure) and returned him after a few days. It took almost 2 months (which tells you how super slow adoptions are going right now!) but it looks like he finally made the right choice! His family loves him and he's got a wonderful new furry sister to play with. He's a little down right now because of the transition but will perk up soon once he realizes how good he's got it. Yeah Rocco boy!
