Community Involvement

The most recent spay and neuter clinic in Guayabitos, Nayarit, Mexico was another major success with 357 dogs and cats sterilized during the April 10-13 clinic. Volunteers from Jaltemba Bay Animal Rescue set up and ran another well-organized clinic. We had abundant help from the community in Mexico and from veterinary clinics in Canada.

Of course, Drs. Poly Lopez, Anthony Garcia, Jesus Pacheco and Leslie Caratachea from the Puerto Vallarta group Pets For Life, led the surgery team and kept us going all day long with their hard work, advice, jokes and crazy ranchero music in surgery!

The Canadian teams were Dr. Nicole Salloum from McKenzie Veterinary Services; Dr Laura Jenkins, and techs Corielle Walsh and Whitney Bertoia from Glenview Animal Hospital; Dr Ashton Wickramaratne from Sassenos Veterinary Services; and Kristen Giglio from ACE Therapy. These veterinary clinics not only support the project by sending trained volunteers, but they also raise money and purchase surgical and medical supplies which we take to use in surgery and recovery at the clinic. We are very grateful for their continued support and it is what allows us to accomplish so many spays and neuters in such a short time.

The clinic highlights were spay and neutering so many healthy puppies and kittens, most of which were adopted during the three-day clinic, working alongside many new Mexican volunteers (now new friends), and consulting on a few unusual medical and surgical cases. The impression is that overall there are fewer sick animals in the streets, that pets are being well cared for, and that animal health and welfare in this part of Mexico is certainly much better today than when the MCVP started nearly ten years ago. Community leaders, business owners, and the general public have told us that they are grateful for the work being done in their community and they want to see these clinics continue.

A big thank you also goes out to our many supporters in the Victoria area who donated money, cages, collars, leashes and supplies for this project. You cannot imagine how valuable these contributions are to the work we are all doing together…Muchisimas gracias amigos!