Free Sterilization Provided for 415 Animals in the Community of Chetumal
Over the first weekend of February, Street Dog Hero (SDH) joined forces with partners throughout the Mexican state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatán Peninsula to host a free Spay and Neuter Clinic in the City of Chetumal, the state’s capital, nested just against the border of Belize and home to approximately 170,000 people.
Together, partner organizations, groups and individuals from across the Yucatan and the United States organized to perform 415 free sterilization surgeries for owned and street dogs and cats. Dogs on Saturday. Cats (and some more dogs) on Sunday.
One unspayed female dog and her unaltered puppies can produce 67,000 unwanted puppies in only six years. And, one unspayed cat and her young can produce 420,000 kittens. Many don’t survive, or spend their lives plagued by disease. Those that do survive go on to continue the cycle.
Pet owners lined up outside Salón Bellavista, where the Clinic was held, in the early morning to access these much-needed services at no cost. Many did not own vehicles and so travel to the Clinic was an endeavor. They were asked to bring their cats in a carrier and many improvised carriers using items from around their homes, such as cardboard boxes, clothes hampers, purses, milk crates with oven rack lids and canvas totes.
After registering and waiting for their number to be called, pet owners entrusted their pets to the Clinic team for surgical prep, surgery and recovery. Pet owners were then welcomed into the space to sit with their pets until the dogs and cats were ready to go home, sometimes late in the day by that point. Many families and pet owners dedicated tremendous time and effort to accessing these services for their pets. Many spent all day waiting and sitting with their pets. And, they expressed much gratitude.
With the good also came the harsh reality of owned and street dogs and cats. Wounds from chains that were later substituted for free collars and leashes. Nails that had never been cut. Ears that had never been cleaned. Fleas jumping and ticks crawling all over. And transmissible venereal tumor (TVT) in dogs. Many dog owners know nothing about TVT: a cancerous tumor that is sexually transmitted through direct skin-to-skin contact between dogs. TVT is easy to cure in many instances, but without treatment, dogs not only die, but infect all the dogs they come in contact with.
Local veterinarians and those staffing the Clinic educated families about medical treatment for TVT and about using collars instead of chains, as well as provided wellness services, including manual tick removal, flea and tick medication, nail trims, ear cleaning and wound care. The education provided through the Clinic empowers pet owners to care for their pets more effectively and to better the lives of their animals, creating ripple effects throughout the community. Free spay and neuter services like these, alongside education, are key to making a long-term difference in the lives of owned and street dogs and cats around the world.
This Clinic in Chetumal was an enormous undertaking by any measure. In addition to a dozen staff and volunteers from Street Dog Hero who traveled to Chetumal from across the United States to help, others involved included 20 veterinarians and technicians from Planned Pethood International Mexico, SDH’s rescue partner Costa Maya Beach Dog Rescue and dozens of other local rescues and volunteers — even teenagers — including but not limited to Pancitas Felices, Voluntariado del CAC, Huellitas Acción, Habla Por Mi and Soy Tu Voz. All worked endlessly to make the two-day campaign a tremendous success. And, the campaign also had support from the local municipality.
All was made possible by Tito’s Handmade Vodka, based in Austin, Texas. Through their Vodka for Dog People program, a program dedicated to better the lives of pets and their families far and wide, Tito’s offered a $10,000 campaign sponsorship donation match. That meant that for every dollar someone donated to the Spay and Neuter Clinic in Chetumal, Tito’s would match that with a dollar up to $10,000. With contributions from Tito’s, and donors from Central Oregon and beyond, Street Dog Hero raised just over $22,500 to cover the costs of the campaign.
Street Dog Hero plans to return to several areas throughout Mexico throughout 2022 to continue international spay, neuter and wellness services. While abroad, SDH works in collaboration with rescue partners who are local to those areas to rescue street dogs and bring them home to Oregon. Here, they are fostered in homes and then adopted by loving “Furever Families.” Through this work, SDH makes a lasting impact on owned and street dogs and cats and the families that surround them.
About Street Dog Hero
Street Dog Hero serves dogs in need around the world and their communities through rescue, adoption, wellness, spay/neuter and education. Rescue efforts are in collaboration with partners across the globe. Rescued dogs are fostered in loving homes until adopted. Since its inception in 2017, SDH has rescued almost 1,900 dogs from neglect, hunger and abuse around the world, including from South Korean meat farms, from overcrowded shelters in the U.S. and from Central Oregon communities — as well as Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, British Virgin Islands, China, Guam, India, Mexico and Puerto Rico — providing them with wellness, sterilization, transportation, fostering and adoption.
Street Dog Hero’s spay, neuter and wellness efforts serve local and international street dogs and cats, as well as owned dogs and cats in underserved communities from Central Oregon to Mexico. SDH has provided 1,984 free or low-cost spay and neuter surgeries and offered wellness services to 2,619 animals in underserved communities locally and internationally. And, advocacy, education and outreach makes lasting positive change in the lives of dogs (and cats) and their humans.
Street Dog Hero envisions a world where all dogs are healthy, safe, cared for and wanted. To learn more about SDH, to foster or adopt, to volunteer and to donate, go to streetdoghero.org.
