Baja Dogs La Paz, Inc., kicked off the new year by helping to sterilize 162 pets in La Paz area communities, bringing our total number off sterilizations to date to 2,813!
Our January campaign event was held in the Colonia of Villas de Guadalupe, a low income neighborhood, where 84 dogs and 2 cats were sterilized in a single day. Two weeks prior to the campaign, our volunteer campaign coordinator, Linda, met with a local community resident named Veronica. Together, they walked the neighborhood, posting flyers to promote the campaign and visiting local residents to encourage them to attend. Teaming up with local community "champions" to get the word out about our sterilization campaigns and encourage attendance is a key component in their success.
On campaign day, the owner of the 2 cats carried her pets to the campaign site in a laundry basket, reinforcing what we have seen time and time again: that these local residents are grateful and excited for the opportunity to get their beloved pets sterilized.
La Paz has been experiencing lower than normal temperatures this winter, and campaign day dawned windy and chilly, so extra precautions were taken to protect the animals from the cold. Volunteers hung sheets and tarps around the site to shield the pets from the wind. In the recovery area, more volunteers placed cardboard boxes and wool blankets on the ground, and covered them with towels to keep them warm after their surgery. The veterinary teams of Dr. Mario at Clinica Veterinaria El Centenario and Dr. Fernando from Baja Pets were on hand to perform the surgeries, along with many volunteers to help with pre and post surgery care.
In addition to the 86 pets sterilized at the event, another 76 pets were sterilized throughout January in in-office surgeries by redeeming vouchers at our participating veterinary offices. All vouchers are carefully distributed and tracked to ensure they go to the neediest local pet owners who want to get their pets sterilized, but cannot afford the surgery on their own.
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