Of course there are dogs everywhere and when we have spay and neuter clinics we go there to pick up animals. And when we get donations we go there with de-wormer, collars, vitamins, food and medicine if needed. I would love sometime to be able to vaccinate all the animals but we will need a bigger budget for that as most of our funds go to the sterilization clinics. 
The children are wonderful and after many, many visits the people are used to seeing me hang around making a big fuss over their dogs. 
2011 ROSIE'S BOW WOW CLUB
The club for 2011 raised a total of $2,950.
In memory of Dr. Zhivago
Extra Large Bones $300 & Over
Cheryl House. In Memory of Rosie
Jan & Terry Gerken (Moby)
Large Bones. $100 to $299
Lael House Wojcik, Honoring - Rookie
Julie House Presa, Honoring - Trucco
James & Kristin Yasord. In Memory of Vago
John & Jean Epler
Chris & Kim Cannon
Roxane Osantowski, Honoring - Tequila - adopted from Plaza Almendros(AKA, Oreo, Patches)
Kelly Ragsdale
Valerie Kordyban
David & Karen Childers
Ron & Diane Seals
Medium Bones $50 to $99
Karl & Deanne House
Drew & Alison House
Tom & Barb Carlson
Small Bones $25 to $49
Mike & Tina Lawrence
Julie Howard
Dan Lindner
Don & Jan Hardin Honoring Goldie, Plaza Almendros Cat
Here is our new mom warming up her pups after their bath this morning, such a good mom. This must be black dog week, out of the thirteen puppies there is only one white one.
We are so looking forward to moving ahead this year. With all the rescue groups and people that we are working with now, we can get more done and we're hoping that we can get some help with this. Already we have some wonderful monthly donators, and it makes a huge difference.
So many people ask me what they can do to help, well it's really easy. If we can get enough people donating $10.00 a month we will have a budget to work with. Ten people giving up two starbuck coffees every month can buy enough dog food for a week, or three spays or four neuters, or twelve vaccines, or five distemper tests, or four parvo tests, or two and a half medium crates, or ten bottles of specialty shampoos, or two bottles of de-wormer, or five dog rides to the airport, or five health certificates, and on and on. Every penny goes to the dogs, there is no administration, we pay Marcelino's salary (he works at the house and helps with the dogs). IT'S ALL FOR THE DOGS.
We've been home three nights and already have two momma's with their pups. There is no where else for these dogs to go. We will find homes for the pups and spay the moms. Each spayed female is one step closer to a better life for dogs in Mexico. If you already donate, ask a friend to do it too, and ask their friends to do it as well. Ten dollars a month and we can make a huge difference together.
I forgot to mention in this blog yesterday that the Isla Animals Website is set up to do monthly donations. If you scroll down to the very bottom of the front page there is a donate button, click on that and then there are instructions on how to continue. Thank you everybody, in advance, who donates. It makes all the difference.
We are setting up for a big spay and neuter clinic today and getting ready for all the street puppies that we find.
We haven't finished with the tally because Jeff is still working at the music festival but as soon as we have numbers I will post them. We had over sixty runners thanks to all of you wonderful people who signed up to sponsor school kids. And for you generous supporters who sponsored teams of five, it added so much excitement. Unfortunately we couldn't fill all the teams but next year people will have a better idea of what's going on.
The whole event was fun and involved the entire community. From the island government to the police department to the Navy that allowed us to run on the runway. We had help from the Red Cross, they sent their ambulance to be on standby. We had runners of all ages from many different countries. For the first year we couldn't have asked for more.
Into this
It's a great gift idea for the person who has everything. You can buy them a monthly donation to Isla Animals. I will make sure that every penny that you donate is put to work. It's the most wonderful thing to know that we can count on a certain amount of money coming in each month. It allows me to plan ahead in this work that is other wise, to say the least, financially chaotic.
And if you are looking for something different you can donate a certain amount of spays and neuters in someone's name. The surgery averages out to $20.00 an animal and it's the bottom line solution to overpopulation and suffering of animals in Mexico.
Donate and then let me know by email bayfirestd@aol.com so I can make sure that a Christmas card is sent to your friend or family member. They will love it.
Common Q & A
Q. How long does a dog or cat have to be in quarantine when you take it into the US or Canada?
A. There is no quarantine period for cats and dogs going into the US and Canada. You need a health certificate and a rabbis certificate and proof of vaccinations and an airline that will take animals.
Q. With so many unwanted street animals, why don’t people on Isla Mujeres spay and neuter their pets?
A. First, they cannot afford it…to spay a dog is $60-$100 dollars (that is a week salary for many people)! Second, they lack the knowledge for proper animal care because there are no educational programs designed to sensitize people to the plight of animals.
Q. Aren’t there laws that protect animals of Isla Mujeres?
A. Yes, but there are no positive enforcement mechanisms. Most municipalities address the problem in their own way, many simply ignore the problem. For example, there are periodic round-ups where dogs arbitrarily picked up and electrocuted immediately. No consideration is even given to whether the animal has been spayed or neutered, vaccinated, or has a collar. Can you imagine if this happened to your pet?
Q. Why not just build animal shelters?
A. Because even in the U.S. animal shelters are very expensive to operate and often animals end up living their lives out in a cage. Furthermore we are operating in a developing country which is still struggling to provide resources for their human population. The harsh reality is that it will be a number of years before we can expect the city or its citizens to be able to support a shelter. By aggressively running spay/neuter clinics and adoption programs there is less dependence on animal shelters.
Q. How did you get into this?
A. My commitment has grown over the years. I started feeding a few dogs in the street and then I kept a few puppies at my house. It has come about slowly and continuously. If you love animals and you live in Mexico it is very hard not to get involved.
Q. How many dogs do you have at your house?
A. I usually have between 20 and 30. Puppies are so much fun they barely count?
Q. Do you ever have to put dogs down?
A. We have put very few dogs down, only if they are too sick or injured to survive or if they are too aggressive, which happens sometimes if they have been treated cruelly for too long. I did have one very old weimaraner put down because his litter mate had died and he howled so loud I could hear him all over down town. It just broke my heart to see him that sad and he was twelve with bad hips. Generally we do everything we can to make any dog we find healthy and try to find it a home.
Q. What about the cats?
A. The cats are more independent and with all the fishing boats and docks they often get enough food. Also they are not a menace, like a dog chasing moto’s or biting tourists. The city generally leaves them alone. We do have one lady on the Island, her name is Lupita, she is known as the cat lady because she feeds so many cats that she goes through at least three bags of food a week. We are working hard at a catch and release spay and neuter program.
