Mexico Spay/Neuter Camp

I've been meaning to write up a reflection of my time in Zaragoza, which is on the outskirts of Juarez, Mexico. I spent a week there, volunteering with Compasssion Without Borders (cwob.org), which hosted a spay/neuter camp for dogs and cats in partnership with APRODEA, a mexican nonprofit that is similiar to a humane society here in the states. AVAR, based in Davis, helped fund the event. Vets, vet techs, and volunteers came from all parts of the U.S. and Mexico to help out--there were about 15 people in total. I got donations from people all over Marin, and multiple donations of vaccinations, collars, etc. from everyone at the Marin Humane Society...the outpouring of support was wonderful.

I'll have to get the final count from CWOB, but I think we spayed and neutered about 200 dogs and 30 cats over four days. It was really intense. I volunteered in recovery, giving vaccinations, flea/tick medicine, and pain killers to all the animals coming out of surgery.

It was sad for me because a lot of these people actually had the money to pay a vet there to do it, but the culture is such that they didn't want to "waste" their money on animals. Many of the animals were in decent shape, but there were a lot that were skinny, sick, or not well taken care of. This area is better off than other areas of mexico, so few of the animals were starving.

Nontheless, I felt a great sense of success because we saved thousands of unwanted animals from being born into conditions of great hardship and certain death. I was also very happy that many of the female dogs that had numerous litters would no longer have to go through that again.

I picked up a kitten the first day, who stayed in my bathroom at the house I was staying in that week. Pam from AVAR drove her back to Davis and she is currently being fostered by Lisa, a vet student at UC Davis, and will then be adopted out. Pam also brought back a little dog we rescued, named Bonita (pretty in spanish), who is currently being fostered at my house and is now healthy and happy and looking for a good home. CWOB brought back 10 dogs that will be adopted out through rescue groups in the Bay Area as well, so check out their website if you're looking for a dog to adopt!

CWOB is a fantastic group doing great work in Mexico. I encourage you to learn more from their website and join their email list. They host about 2-3 spay camps per year and do other amazing work as well.

I'm looking forward to going on a future camp later this year.
:)
Alicia