By: Jimena Rodríguez, Animal Defense and Rescue Foundation of Zihuatanejo

Animals Need Help Too!

Sadly, thousands of puppies and kittens are born every day and when these figures are compared to the number of humans born every day it becomes obvious that there will never be a sufficient number of homes for dogs and cats. Too many of them live their lives unwanted in any place or by any human being.

It’s estimated that 30% of the dogs in Mexico have an owner, 30% are considered “of the neighborhood” (they live in the streets but are fed regularly and cared for by a group of people), and the remaining 40% live unattended in the streets.

Many owners of companion animals have been pressured by a neighbor or a family member, desperate to rid themselves of the responsibility of unwanted litters of pets.

These animals were not acquired by choice, and so it isn’t surprising that their owners abandon them, or give them away or simply have them living on a roof or on a patio, chained and living without shelter under harsh climatic conditions. In many cases, even the bare necessities aren’t covered (food, shelter, veterinary care), let alone love and respect.

In the majority of the cases, it has been determined that the principal cause of abandonment is not impulse buying, but rather chance matings which produce unwanted litters when owners fail to assume responsible caretaking, thinking their animals have the same needs as a human to produce offspring.

The only method that is 100% effective in controlling the reproduction of dogs and cats is assuring that the animals are surgically sterilized by a professional veterinarian so that they will no longer have the ability to reproduce.

Defensa y Rescate Animal (Animal Defense and Rescue)

Defensa y Rescate Animal (Animal Defense and Rescue) is a group of activists united by their love for animals. Currently, we don’t have a physical shelter, but the animals we have in adoption are being fostered in our homes waiting for the opportunity to find a permanent family.

Any work such as ours requires funds to be carried out, and for this reason, our help is essential in order to move forward with this important project to benefit the animals we bring into our care and the environment.

Please be a part of this expanding wave of Love by contributing a donation to help us carry out Spay/Neuter Clinics on a much larger scale.

Our intention is to attack this problem of stray overpopulation as a disorder of our society through multiple-disciplinary work consisting of:

Awareness Campaigns

Because we know that the origin of many negative issues is ignorance. With your help, we would be capable of carrying out the most important task in the fight against cruelty to animals – education. We want to provide environmental education for children between the ages of 6 and 14 in both public and private schools with the objective of preparing future environmental activists and at the same time a continuing network of help for animals.

Spay/Neuter Clinics

One of the best strategies to eradicate animal suffering is through the procedure of sterilization. Our goal is to offer free clinics to rural communities in close proximity to our city because, in those areas, where there are no sterilization services in place, the residents themselves regulate the population of unwanted dogs and cats in the worst manner: killing the females and newborns.  Please help us end these injustices.

Rescue and Adoption Campaigns

To rescue and rehabilitate, we need to be able to cover the expenses of veterinary care, food, curative and cleaning supplies.

Health Campaigns

With this campaign, our goal is to offer health services such as vaccinations and internal and external medicines for parasites to low-income communities where such care currently doesn’t exist.

You Can Help!

Please have compassion for these little animals. You can help in many ways – adopt one; donate money, food, medical supplies, or animal care products. Please go to our website to learn more. http://www.defensayrescateanimal.org/

Or, visit us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/DefensayRescateAnimal/