Joy's Latest Update – Pets Alive Puerto Rico

SANCTUARY UPDATE
It’s been ages since my last update in March, and so much has been going on! At that time we were waiting for a break in the rain so the cement trucks could come in – fast forward to mid April, and the building of the kennels runs were finally completed – we finally had a place to house dogs. YAY! There are three areas like the one you see in the photo, and they are located in three different areas of the property. Since then we have gotten pretty good at mixing cement and wielding a trowel ourselves, and we have used our new found talent to build additional kennels in the area under the house for tiny pups, birthing, and nursing moms.

Since April, we’ve rescued 219 dogs, including 17 nursing mothers and four pregnant females who gave birth at PAPR. Three of the dogs have been adopted at PAPR and three dogs were spayed and released in Utuado as part of our Trap/Neuter/Release program – a crucial component in a comprehensive plan to reduce the number of stray dogs over time.

We appointed one dog as the official Ambassador of Pets Alive Puerto Rico. Mrs. Valdez takes her job very seriously and watches over everything, but she especially enjoys her job as “puppy guardian”. We ADORE her!
186 of the dogs we rescued have been transported to Pets Alive in NY. A staggering 165 of those dogs have already been adopted! We are so grateful that New Yorkers love our satos and we are grateful for the awesome job that the adoption team in NY does to get our dogs into loving homes. Some dogs, were adopted just hours after arriving in NY!
THERE’S MORE TO THE STORY
Although the numbers are impressive, they don’t tell the whole story. For every dog we save by rescue and transport, THOUSANDS are left to fend for themselves on the streets and beaches. And thousands more are killed in shelters. It is estimated that 98% of the dogs brought to shelters in Puerto Rico are killed, many upon intake or very shortly after.

YOU JUST NEED TO LOOK AROUND AT THE GROWING NUMBER OF UNWANTED DOGS  IN PUERTO RICO TO KNOW THAT KILLING DOESN’T SOLVE THE PROBLEM. 
 

RESCUE AND TRANSPORT IS NOT A SOLUTION
It costs about $500 to provide medical care, shelter, food and transport for each relatively healthy dog that we rescue and transport. Rescue and transport is very costly, it affects only a small number of dogs, and it will never even put a dent in the problem.
But rescue and transport has value far beyond that which you can measure in dollars. Rescue and transport means the world to the dogs we save and to the people who open their hearts and homes to them and who make them part of their family. And saving these lives fills all of us – those of us who work in the trenches and you, our supporters – with so much joy it makes our hearts soar! But we need to do much more in order to end the suffering of stray and abandoned dogs.

SPAY/NEUTER IS THE ANSWER
The real solution begins and ends with SPAY/NEUTER. The single most effective and important thing that an individual can do to solve the problem of stray and abandoned dogs and to stop the killing of dogs in shelters is to spay/neuter THEIR OWN DOG. Pets Alive Puerto Rico is here to help Puerto Ricans do just that.
The same $500 that it costs to rescue and transport just one dog will enable Pets Alive Puerto Rico to provide 14 low cost spay/neuter vouchers! We are so proud to tell you that we have already begun offering targeted low cost spay/neuter, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. We will soon begin providing low cost vouchers (owners would pay just $45) on a broad scale to people who want to spay/neuter their pets.
CHANGE IS COMING!

TRAP/NEUTER/RELEASE (TNR) IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE SOLUTION
With 100,000 homeless dogs wandering the streets, spaying and neutering pets is only part of the answer. The dogs on the streets need to be spayed and neutered as well.
PAPR is currently piloting a trap/neuter/release program in Utuado. We’ve identified some local areas where dogs congregate in relative safety, and where people regularly provide them with food and water. We are picking up these dogs and spaying/neutering, immunizing, and treating their ailments. We’re collaring and tagging them and releasing them back to the areas where we found them. We check on the dogs at regular intervals to be sure they are thriving.
The same $500 that it costs to rescue and transport one dog will enable us to trap/neuter/release SIX dogs.
CHANGE IS COMING!

WE NEED YOUR HELP
Won’t you please consider a monthly sponsorship or a donation to help offset the cost of these very important programs? $35 will sponsor one low cost spay/neuter voucher. $75 will sponsor one dog for trap/neuter/release. The more dogs we can spay/neuter and TNR, the more results we can show, and the more support we will gain from the local community. Your gift will help change the world for the animals of Puerto Rico.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED AT THE SANCTUARY
We’d love to have more volunteers to help with the day to day care of the dogs, and to help love and socialize with them. Even just an hour each week would be appreciated.

If you take a good photo we could use your help getting pictures of the dogs for PetFinder each week.
Are you a creative writer? Help us get our dogs adopted locally by doing write-ups and posting them on PetFinder.
If you are a high school or college student who loves animals and needs to fulfill a community service requirement for school, why not spend your time at PAPR?
We are forming an offsite adoptions team. Do you have a few hours on a Saturday that you can spare to change the life of a dog? If so join our team and help showcase our dogs at community events. This is something that you can do with your family and friends.
Volunteers are needed to help give baths and setup crates to prepare for the weekly transport, as well as on the day of transport at the airport to help clean kennels and walk dogs before check-in.
If you can help with any of these needs, please email info@petsalivepr.org.
Thank you Maritza and Ulda for helping save the lives of 2 litters of puppies that were orphaned when their mamas were hit by cars. Maritza bottle feed the six “O” Team puppies until they were old enough to eat solid foods and continued to foster them until we had the space to take them in. Ulda fostered two 5 week old pups for two weeks until we had space to take them in. We are so grateful to these two volunteers for putting their love into action to save lives.
COME AND GET YOUR LOVE!
WHAT? You haven’t made your reservations yet?? The avocados are ripe, the nights are cool, the guest rooms are ready, the sweet fragrance of puppy breath is in the air – and we even learned how to cook delicious local dishes in anticipation of your arrival! You better hurry – the guest rooms are already booked through mid-November. Visit us online for more information about taking an “Animal Lover’s Retreat” at the sanctuary at Pets Alive Puerto Rico. Come work side by side with us to save precious lives.

Together we will get them ALL home.

Love from Puerto Rico,

Joy and Ken

XOXOXO