1. Remember we are a 501C3. So you can still give a donation before midnight and get a tax deduction. Here is a rundown on some of the things that a donation would pay for. $4.00 will deworm 4 puppies, what a difference that can make $8.00 a vaccine, saves puppies every day $20.00 pays for one spay or neuter, the math is incredible on how many puppies or kittens one sterilization can prevent from being born $25.00 buys a bottle of doxycycline with 500 - 100 mg. tabs. This cures ehrlichia which affects almost every dog in Mexico, and it's also good for respiratory infections. When one pup gets one of those and there are 45 other pups in the rescue, it spreads like crazy. $25.00 pays for someone to work for seven hours cleaning up after and feeding our pups $25.00 pays for one soft carrier that one of our pups can ride in to fly to a forever, loving home $50.00 pays for one medium crate $100.00 pays for one large crate Other items that we use every day like: Vitamin B12 Wound gel Metronidazole for Giardia Ear cleaner Creams for skin problems - these are all $20 to $40 a container and we go through them fast. There are many more things of course but I just thought that it would be nice to know where the money goes. Thanks in advance to everyone who helps us help them. Happy New Year. On the left is Franklin, he's new, he was hit by a car but is doing much better now, Jeff has even let him sit on the couch. And on the right is Momma Elsa, who was used for breeding, she is so pleased to be here and even gets to sleep on the bed sometimes.

2. Last weekend I went to an area called the Guatalupana. The government on the island has been absconding with property that belongs to the islanders. So a large group of Islenos squatted on a big piece of property mid island on the Carrabean side. It has been a few years now and they still don't have water, electricity or sewage. Most of the homes are shacks and many of the homeowners have dug wells or bought large water tanks that sit in their front yards. 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.

3. 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 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

4. Jeff and I just got back to Mexico a few days ago. We're having a spay and neuter clinic next week and then the normal dog stuff from there. I would like to do a sweep of the island, door to door, working on vaccinations and spaying and neutering. I mean really - we've been back two days and we already have a very weak momma with eight pups. Then I got a call about another dog with eight pups and Jeff and I are about to go pick up four. This has to stop. I called my new momma - Momma Rina after the hurricane that wasn't. 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.

5. We are doing another big spay and neuter clinic in Corales near Rancho Viejo which is next to Cancun. This is our second clinic in this location. Last time we ended up with over fifty puppies. We can put the dogs back on the street but never the puppies. We often re-home the dogs if we can as well. Anyway it has been the worst year for distemper that I've ever seen. Unfortunately we lost about 20% of those pups to distemper. It only takes one distemper pup to infect an entire group of un-vaccinated puppies. So this April we're going to test every puppy that comes in. The tests are two hundred pesos a piece, about eighteen dollars, we want to have seventy five available for that last week of April. I'm asking if any of you can help by buying one or two tests it would make a huge difference. You can donate on our pay pal and make a note that it's for distemper tests and that's exactly what it will be used for. This is an extra cost that we didn't figure into our budget when we were making the original plans. On a more fun note, Isla Animals has had a small explosion of puppies. First we got a litter of nine. Pepe spotted the mom and her pups next to the bull ring in Cancun and has been waiting for them to be old enough to bring here. Then we got a moma and her seven pups. Everyone is healthy, has already been tested for distemper and is adjusting well. By the way Rusty is doing much better.

6. The race was great. There's lots of room for improvement but for a first effort we are all very happy. To all of the incredible volunteers, Jeff and I are so, so grateful. And to those who helped set things up ahead of time with the city and the schools and the race route, we couldn't possibly have done it without you. 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.

7. What could be better than getting a puppy or dog off the street. How can you beat putting meat on a starving animals bones or help out a dog before it's abused and learns to mistrust humans. It's the best feeling in the world. Help me prevent another box of unwanted pups being left on a vacant lot. I can do all that and more if I have the funds. Help us turn this 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.

8. Thank You to the Bow Wow Club For Your generous Donation!

9. Yahoo, we are now a 501(c)3 tax-exempt non-profit organization

 

 

Donate $100 to Isla Animals today and get Alison's Book "No Urn for Ashes" FREE!

 

YAHOO FOR SPAY AND NEUTER

What a magnificent week we’ve had. Bonfil, Cancun, near the airport where the street dog population is heartbreaking. Candi, Isla Animals and Planned Pethood did a 5 day clinic. We spayed and neutered 1,574 cats and dogs. I still can’t believe it. What a team. Everyone from Canada, the USA, different parts of Mexico, and Cuba came together to make this happen. The impact on this area will be incredible.

As usual, we don’t put puppies back in the street so Isla Animals brought home 29 pups. We only took the ones that needed help or were too young to adopt out. The rest were adopted out the last day of the clinic with the help of local animal rescue groups who helped with the clinic.

Do you know how long it takes to vaccinate and deworm that many puppies.

BUFF, KELLY, ANDREA AND BOCA

We have some wonderful happy endings. Buff, who had tick paralysis and stayed here for almost two weeks, is home again. He’s much much better and has a loving family that missed him. It was so cute. We sent him home with an old dog crate and set it up in Buff’s front yard. Buff was inside before we finished putting it together. He just sat there looking out at us and barking “mine, mine, mine”.Then there is Kelly who was tied to my door not too long ago. She looks terrible in this picture, sadly that was how she arrived. It took three days to get all the ticks off of her but under all those ticks and fleas we found the most beautiful dog. Wow, I mean wonderful. She has already been adopted and now lives in Rhode Island, I miss her. Other good news, Momma Andrea, now Georgia has a fantastic home.It was love at first sight with her new family and now she’s living in Michigan.
But I also need some positive thinking for Boca, a puppy who my friend Pamela knew about. The poor little thing may have a broken jaw. We think that she was bitten by a much bigger dog and we’re hoping that it’s just swollen. Pepe is taking her in for x-rays. I’ll keep you updated.

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.