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Published: January 11th 2009
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Two Great Guys
Juan and Edgar Amigos de los Animales
written by Carol
How long can you sit on the beach, read and walk around town? For the second year now I have volunteered to help at the animal shelter. There is no dog pound, SPCA or Humane Society in Mazatlan. There is only the Amigos de los Animales. They run an adoption centre and take in animals found on the street. The summer was not too good for the Amigos because they lost their on-site vet and funding got very slim. Mostly the organization is funded by donations from both Mexican and foreign residents. When the foreigners head north for the summer, so does alot of the funding.
Right now the Amigos are down to two paid employees. I cannot figure out how to explain how much work this is for only two people. Try to picture taking care of 20 dogs not counting puppies and 30 cats. When I showed up to volunteer again, they were very happy to see me and put me straight to work. The shelter is a short bus ride away from our house. Part of the job involves walking anywhere from 8 - 18 dogs usually two
Two favourites
one found abandonded in a house, the other on the street - both adopted at a time. Sometimes the dogs have never been on a leash and can be a big handful twisting to get away and sometimes escaping. Most of the dogs however, just love the walks since they don't get out every day. After a couple of months now being there 3 days/ week they recognize me and try to convince me to "pick me" to go out first.
Every day the cages and floors of the entire shelter are cleaned. This is 7 days per week every week since, as the guys say, the animals' needs do not recognize Sundays or Holidays.
After a couple of hours of freedom the dogs are returned to clean cages and any new arrivals from the previous day or two get processed into the shelter.
New arrivals are kept in the front part of the shelter until they have been assessed for behaviour and health issues. Once they are considered acceptable for the general population, they get a flea and tick bath, groomed if necessary and put with a room mate. Girls can room together but boys and girls may not. These dogs are not spayed or neutered and the last thing we
need is more puppies. Boys usually cannot be roomed together since they may fight for dominance. All putting a strain on a relatively small shelter.
We haven't even got to the cat cages and it is almost time to open to the public. The smell out of the cat area is horrid so it is best if most of it can be cleaned before opening. All loose cats are picked up and caged in small cells while the entire floor area, litter boxes and food bowls are sanitized. Mazatlan has a real problem with cats. Few people think there to be value in the life of a cat and paying to spay and neuter them is considered to be ridiculous. Right now there are some beautiful cats there, and no one wants them. The shelter does a spay/neuter and release program for some of the younger cats. Given the rodent population, the cats hopefully can fend for themselves. At least they are not producing more kittens and the shelter is constantly at capacity. But some of the older cats stand little hope for adoption and so they stay at the shelter.
As a volunteer my duties include floor
A whole litter saved
Our friend wants to take them all home to Canada with her cleaning, flea and tick baths, tick removal ( I am now an expert on ticks never having seen one before coming here) bottle feeding orphaned puppies and kittens, de-worming the entire shelter, washing towels and bowls, socializing the frightened animals and whatever else the guys trust me to do.
The stories Edgar and Juan tell are both horrible and hopeful. The work is never ending yet so rewarding. Both these men are educated professionals who turned to animal work to get more satisfaction from their jobs. They are earning much less than they had been but are much happier. They are very special people. Both men say that the suffering inflicted by humans on these animals far outweighs life on the streets. It is a low kill facility only euthanizing for health reasons. Many of the animals brought in have been hit by cars and they do what they can to repair injuries or they put them out of their misery. The success stories are numerous. There is Lucia, the dalmation who has cancer. Every week now for two months she has been taken to the vet where she undergoes chemo therapy. She is looking and feeling very good
Charlie
Finally found his forever home right now and a lady has showed interest in adopting her. Then there are the mange cases. Mange is a disease where the animal loses all the hair and the skin becomes very leathery and smelly. It is caused by abuse - lack of shelter and nutrition. They have fixed so many mange animals, it is difficult to count and to see the transformation in the animal is very fulfilling.
I have met some great people working here. There is the wonderful Mazatlan couple who keep finding stray dogs and bringing them to the shelter. Yesterday they brought one found running in the traffic on a very busy street. They have adopted three dogs from the shelter including a three legged one, because nobody else would take it. There is the lovely lady who comes every Thursday afternoon to help with the cleaning and the local vets who donate time and resources and discount their services. There is the whole gang of foreign residents, many who have adopted and animal or two themselves, who give time and money to raise the funds to keep this vital organization going.
It probably is hard to understand for some of you
Poor Mange Baby 1
This is day 3 after her arrival but I LOVE IT!!! and it is the best job I have every had.
If anyone wants to donate you can do so using Pay Pal through the web site http://www.maztravel.com- just press the donate button and it takes you to Pay Pal. This web site belongs to two of board members and the couple who started the shelter 10 years ago.
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