Our August 2019 weekend of spay and neuter clinics was another success! With each clinic we receive more community support, and gain more experience for the next campaign.
Saturday was held in Los Pargos, where 61 dogs and cats were spayed our neutered.
Los Pargos is Junquillal’s neighbor and home of the popular beach, Playa Negra. The day started off at 8am with many appointments booked and a steady flow of animals coming in for their procedure, and leaving with all the care instructions and medications they needed to recover. By around 4:30 the talented veterinary team was just finishing up dog number 61!
Fixing 61 dogs in a day is bound to have some complications, and though it was mostly smooth sailing, Berta suffered a minor bite from a scared pup. One of the sponsored cases was waiting his turn in a crate, and when it was time to go into surgery he tried to fend off his escorts with some snapping! Berta, always putting the animals first of course, tried her best to grab him so that he wouldn’t escape. He was caught and neutered, but Berta also had to pay a quick visit to the nearby human clinic to make sure she didn’t need stitches. All was well and she’s doing fine. Funny enough, the little biter is now recovering at Berta’s sanctuary where they have most likely become fast friends.
Check out our photos from the Los Pargos clinic below!
The August castration campaign continued the following day in Lagunilla, a small town between Veintisiete de Abril and Santa Cruz. Hope 4 A Street Dog hadn’t been here before, so we were hoping for a large turnout from the community…
…and that’s exactly what we got! There were a total of 74 animals spayed or neutered in Lagunilla on Sunday.
We were thrilled to be able to help that many animals and have so much support from the town of Lagunilla. It was a full house, with so many people and pets patiently waiting their turn, and the vet staff and volunteers working hard to take care of all the animals.
See photos from the Lagunilla event below!
The weekend was a huge success, with a total of 135 animals spayed or neutered! That translates to THOUSANDS of unwanted offspring prevented, which means less suffering and less street dogs.
And as if organizing a campaign that fixed 135 dogs and cats wasn’t enough for one weekend, Berta ended the night on Sunday with a rescue. She was notified of an abandoned female dog in the local soccer field who was left there inside of a bag, and rushed over to get her.
This is the sad reality that we live with here: people are either so desensitized or so desperate that they will commit unthinkably cruel acts like this to get rid of a dog that they cannot care for. A sobering reminder of why Hope 4 A Street Dog does the work that we do.
For years the dog population was so out of control, and there were no local clinics that provided the option to spay or neuter your animals. So abandoning an animal this way was commonplace. Today thanks to Berta and others like her, this happens less and less. There is still much work to be done through education and organizing clinics, but the local community has come a very long way.
This little girl is headed to the clinic this week to find out if she is pregnant… stay tuned for the results and if we find out any details about her abandonment!
THANK YOU to all of our volunteers, the veterinary staff and the communities of Los Pargos and Lagunilla for another successful campaign!!
To stay up to date on our future spay and neuter clinics, and follow the story of our newest rescue, connect with us on social media. If you would like to sponsor a local animal at our next clinic, we appreciate your donations.