pets alive and hands for paws: you are inspirational organizations – keep up the great work.

The yellow lab, Roy, was just rescued 2 days ago. We’d been trying to get him for a couple of weeks but he seemed to always be off wandering when Sandra was at the beach to pick him up. But she was finally able to get him and he’s awesome! He does have hookworms and sarcoptic mange – but amazingly, no heartworm, which shocked us all as he’s a 3-4 year old boy and been on the streets for a while. He also has a hip/back leg problem that may need orthopedic surgery so the vet is taking an x-ray on Monday so the oh-so-fun fundraising will start for that at some point. But for now, Roy is safe and has warm and dry blankets to sleep on and a full belly when he falls asleep at night. And I know his his doggie brain that he understands that he is safe – that he has been rescued – and that things are going to be much better for him from now on.

If you want to get updates on Sugar, Roy, Madison (Hero and Macy’s mom who is being treated for heartworm), you can visit our blog at http://www.manosporpatas.org/blog/blog.htm. (p.s. “manos por patas” is the spanish translation of “hands for paws”). Much love, Ginny

It IS heartbreaking. Thank YOU so much for the work you do. I hope we can continue to help in some small way. These dogs are so sweet, so forgiving. Let’s hope we can save more souls together in the future.

Matt

There is so much pain and horror not just at that beach but all over the island of Puerto Rico and we’ve been fighting for years to get the government to do the right thing and educate the citizens about the ethical treatment of animals and to provide education on spay/neuter and to offer low-cost or free sterilizations but we have gotten nowhere. It is seriously a crying – literally crying – shame that the animals are the ones who have to pay for the inaction of the government and the wrong and ignorant actions of individuals.

And we are the ones who have to “clean up” their “messes”. But we do it because we love every animal that crosses our path and we want each one to have the safe and happy life they deserve. Sadly our only resource for animals on the island is to send them to the states.

Adoption on the island is almost never done from most rescue groups because we know 9 times out of 10 that the animal will end up stray at some other dump site or wandering the city streets, regardless of the stated intentions of the adopter at the time.

The other option is to just euthanize all the strays to at least put them out of their misery and keep them from any future harm – intentional (poisoning, beating, shooting, etc…) or natural (disease, starvation, etc…) – that they will probably encounter.

In my book, both those are out so until those from inside the island, the amazing rescuers who do amazing work on the island (I live in Florida) can affect real change on the part of the government and the people, we can only keep rescuing, repairing, and transporting them to the states. It’s not ideal, but it’s all we – it’s all THEY – have got right now.

So I’m again eternally grateful to Pets Alive for recognizing the corner we are stuck in and agreeing to take our innocents. Keep us posted on how they are doing. All my best, Ginny

Bad owners should be uthenized, and not the innocent animals who did nothing wrong.