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. 
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.
ONE HUNDRED MORE
Peace, with help and supplies from CANDI and Isla Animals organized a spay and neuter clinic on Isla Mujeres from April 9 to April 13. What a great week. We did exactly one hundred cats and dogs and a few special cases. 
As usual we picked some of the dogs up at the Gautalupana where the kids always help and we had great volunteers at the clinic.
We spayed my Momma Chima and her four pups. Momma decided to recuperate in one of my flower pots.
THE BOW WOW CLUB
There has been a wonderful group of people that have supported Isla Animals for years. Cheryl House has created this group and stayed with it to help us save pups and spay and neuter every cat and dog we can get our hands on. This year has been one of the best as far as donations and we are so grateful and pleased with the work it has allowed us to do. Below is the list of donors and the beautiful dog that has sadly passed but instigated such generosity. His name was Dr. Zhivago. Thank you all for your support.
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
CRAZY HOUSE
Ha we are still a crazy house, full to capacity. And we have our new babes that I just posted, they seem so small compared to the rest of my pups. I bring them inside in a box to feed them. The box picture is blurry because they get so hungry and excited they never stay still.
Our bathtub babes are much better as well, they are going to be big dogs and already tower over some of the pups that are older than they are.
Even though there are a ton of pups I love this time when they all at least have two vaccinations.
IT WAS A TRADE
A woman on the island has saved three dogs from the street. Now she has health problems and can’t keep them. So we arranged for the biggest dog to go to my friend who has a rescue in Cancun but there is always a trade. Guess what we got, a momma and her six pups.
Am I ever glad they are here. The mom really needs some good food and the pups are hungry so we are feeding them some extra milk, they are about three weeks old.
COMING UP FOR AIR
I have so many puppies that today is the first day I’ve had time to put them all on the website. Have a look, they are all beautiful. Each one has a story and I will try to post more often to let you know.
BACK TO MEXICO
We’re on our way back to Isla Mujeres with supplies and to get ready for a Mega training spay and neuter clinic. This will be our third clinic in Corales which is near Puerto Juarez and Rancho Viejo, which is part of Isla Mujeres but on the mainland. Between last October and May we did over one thousand cats and dogs. We are hitting the same area over and over. It’s a very poor neighborhood and the animal situation is awful, but getting better all the time.
It seems like just yesterday when we picked up our two cutie puppies that lived in our shower and found a wonderful home in the USA.
We found them living under a boat and fed them. The next morning they were waiting for us and said they wanted to come along. They were amazing.
KAREN THE FREQUENT FLYER UPDATE
This is such a lovely ending to a long journey I just had to share it. First is the story of Karen at my rescue and then all of her travel trials and then a letter from the person who adopted her. It’s great. This is long but it’s worth it.
In Isla Mujeres and Cancun I’ve become the puppy person. Puppies are so difficult and at bigger risk when put in a rescue with older dogs. So Ricardo, who runs a rescue in Cancun and takes in any and every street dog and does a fabulous job and literally loves the dogs as much as I do, sent me two small puppies at the beginning of February, a male and a female, eight weeks old. They were tiny and adorable with bad skin and shaky knees from a calcium deficiency. I named them after Richard and Karen Carpenter.
BIG PLANS
Isla Animals and Candi (www.candiinternational.org) have big plans for the next year. We are planning a mega-teaching spay and neuter clinic for the vets in the Isla Mujeres – Cancun area. We are hoping to train 48 vets in a high volume, low cost, safe surgery technique during the first week of November.
After that we have plans for many more clinics. Spay and neuter is the answer to improving the sad state of the cats and dogs and we are determined to make a difference. 
The reason I bring this up is in years past people have sent us a wonderful variety of supplies that have allowed us to operate on more animals with less money. To those who have donated in the past, thank you very much and if you can again that would be wonderful and to anyone that could donate now, it makes a huge difference.
A GREAT STORY
Jeff and I are on the way from Mexico to Colorado in our RV. We drive across the Yucatan Penninsula to the Gulf of Mexico and always stay at this one place in a small town called Isla Iguada. It’s right on the beach and really great.
This year we stayed an extra day because we had some complications sending pups to Toronto and wanted to be available. Of course I’m always watching the local dog situation and on the beach right in front of us were two saddly, skinny puppies living under a boat. I took them some food and expected them to run away but they were incredibly friendly. So Jeff and I talked about taking them but decided it would be really difficult. I spent all day playing with them and giving them food. The day we were leaving we stepped outside the camper and there they were. “Hi, are we leaving today?” What are you going to do??????
So we put them in the shower. They were so good I can’t believe it. They were instantly house trained, never whined and were just a joy. So we get to Texas and there is a lovely retired couple in the camp site across from us. One look at the pups and they adopted them. I’m asking all the questions, not wanting to part with the pups, who I named Tipper and Birdie, so soon. But it was a perfect match. So these wonderful cuties went from starving under a boat to a wonderful life in Texas. It doesn’t get any better than that.
STARSKY AND HUTCH
We have had two dogs living in our bushes for four months. They were trapped in the mangroves and brought to us way past the age of making an easy transition to living with people. We had some wonderful volunteers here earlier in the year who worked with them but after they left, having 30 to 40 other pups made it impossible to continue training them on a daily basis. They needed hours of time every day for weeks to make any difference but, sadly, we could never find them homes the way they were.
Then along came Troy, the incredible dog trainer. He wrote me in March to say that he was coming to the island in May and asked if there was anything he could do. I immediately wrote him about Starsky and Hutch. He sent some wonderful suggestions and offered to work with them when he got here. He was great. He got them out of the bushes and came every morning to train them. It’s amazing what knowledge and patience can achieve. Troy went back to Arizona and I’m walking Starsky and Hutch twice a day. I have Starsky tied to my foot as I’m typing this and he’s lying down and relatively calm.
Both dogs have a long way to go, but I’d given up on them and I’ll never do that again. Thank you Troy.
