A Tijuana cause that gives "paws"
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20060515-9...
Tijuana clinic rescues animals, sets adoptions
By Anna Cearley
May 15, 2006
TIJUANA ? They came by bus and foot, cradling their pets in cardboard boxes and duffel bags.
Manuel de Jes?s Rodr?guez Nu?ez, 30, brought his curly-haired French poodle mix, Lucretia, to the low-cost monthly sterilization clinic organized by a
Tijuana animal rescue group called Asociaci?n Voluntaria para Protecci?n y Cuidado de Animales.
After being removed from her carrying case, Lucretia whined and wiggled inside a holding pen at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California. Animal
care workers readied anesthesia shots, and veterinarians prepared medical instruments for the procedure.
?Lots of people, rather than do this, just throw the animals out into the streets, where the animals end up in bad shape,? said Rodr?guez, who works
as a landscaper. He didn't want to be one of those people, he said.
Reaching out to people such as Rodr?guez, and educating others who don't share that attitude, is part of the aim of the grass-roots group ? known in
English as the Volunteer Association for the Protection and Care of Animals.
In Tijuana, stray dogs and cats are a common sight on city streets. Their numbers continue to grow without a comprehensive sterilization program, but
resources and priorities are scarce in a city challenged by poverty.
The Tijuana group is addressing the problem by holding sterilization clinics as well as rescue operations: They pluck abused or stray dogs and cats
from the streets, nurse them back to health and hold adoption campaigns to place them in new homes.
?The idea is to educate the people that having an animal is a responsibility ? like adopting a child,? said Leticia Coto, the group's president, who
as a child rescued animals off the street and hid them in her bed.
Since 2001, the nonprofit group has grown to about 22 active members. Their Web site features before-and-after pictures of rescued street animals, and
it includes information in English and Spanish.
The monthly sterilization clinics have reached about 3,000 pets. And the adoption programs have resulted in homes for about 180 animals. The group
follows up on the adoptions to make sure the animals are being treated well.
The group is spreading its message of being a responsible pet owner to a new generation by making presentations to schoolchildren.
?We bring the animals so the children can touch them and for them to understand that animals aren't toys ? they have feelings,? Coto said.
And they are developing ties with U.S. groups such as St. Nicholas Hope for Animals, a Southern California group that provides medical supplies and
volunteers to help sterilize the dogs and cats during the monthly clinics. Sterilization is considered essential to reducing the number of dumped and
discarded animals.
No one knows how many dogs and cats are wandering the streets of Tijuana, but it's hard to miss them clambering through trash cans and darting through
traffic. The city has an animal shelter, but group members say the shelter's emphasis is in getting dogs off the streets ? and euthanizing them if
their owners don't turn up ? rather than rehabilitating them, which is the group's mission.
Coto said group members lure animals away from abusive situations and the street with food and patience.
?We use lots of tricks,? said Coto, who works as a secretary in a ballet school and got involved with the group after bringing several dogs to the
sterilization clinic.
One time, for example, when members suspected some malnourished animals had been abandoned and locked up inside a house, they called the police to
report a possible dead person. When police broke into the building to investigate the stench, the dogs ran out and the group rescued them.
Group members often pay for smaller expenses out of their own pockets, and members volunteer their time and open their homes to the animals. Coto, for
example, remodeled a portion of her patio to provide room for some of the animals being rehabilitated. The group has had little luck obtaining
donations from Tijuana businesses, said Coto.
Richard Massa, a retired American who lives in Tijuana, joined the group several years ago after seeing one of their adoption tents. His dog had
recently died, and he was looking for some way to honor her.
?Usually, the best thing to do when you lose an animal is to go out and adopt another animal,? he said. ?I thought, well, maybe I'll just get involved
with an organization, but it was a little hard because I couldn't find anything until one day I saw this tent and a sign . . . and I stopped to talk
to them.?
Massa, a retired San Diego City College administrator, said he was impressed with the grass-roots effort.
?I saw this as Mexicans solving the problem of Mexico and assuming responsibility, not as an American organization coming in to solve the problem,? he
said.
Massa has tried to reach out to U.S. pet stores for donations but said businesses are wary about donating money to a group that operates outside the
United States. He did, however, help develop ties with St. Nicholas Hope for Animals, which arranged for donations to be channeled their way.
St. Nicholas member Donna Lieberich, who lives in San Diego County and is a retired clinical psychologist, said St. Nicholas has donated about $30,000
in equipment. She regularly attends the sterilization clinics and brings U.S. volunteers to work with the Mexican veterinarian volunteers in the
operating rooms of the local university, UABC.
During a recent clinic, dogs and cats of various shapes and sizes waited their turn to be anesthetized and have their bellies shorn before undergoing
the operation.
Coto jotted down information on each dog. Not everyone can afford to pay the $15 requested donation, and the program always needs extra hands, so pet
owners often help the crew with sweeping up the facilities or even working with the animals.
Some pet owners, including Graciela and Miguel Gonz?lez, are recruited by the group during the events.
The couple has rescued nine cats and four dogs from the street. They brought some of the cats to be sterilized. While they waited, Miguel Gonzalez
helped vacuum the fur from the shorn pets and carry the heavier animals into the operating room. His wife scrubbed down medical equipment.
A group member asked if they were interested in getting more involved, and phone numbers were exchanged.
Graciela Gonz?lez said she hopes the group can do more outreach in the harder-to-get-to parts of the city.
?This is a terrific campaign. They need to go to these far-off areas where people don't have the time or money to do this,? she said. ?It would be
good to have a mobile unit rescue the dogs out there.?
Throughout the day of the sterilization clinic, as the dogs and cats came out of the operating room, they were gently laid down on heated blankets.
Anxious owners waited outside the facility as volunteers gave them updates of their pets' conditions. Speaking among themselves, the owners shared
stories of their pets and their own rescue efforts. Several said they had more than six pets they had rescued from the street.
?There are so many of them that need help,? said Raquel Molina, 46, as she waited for a cat called Perla that she had brought for her neighbor.
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