Category: News

*Warning* Some images are graphic in this posting.

It was January 18th, 2016 and I was once again back in Playa del Carmen, Mexico for my annual trip working alongside Pet Project Rescue’s Mexican rescue partners. It was the first day that I, along with a rescue friend and fellow PPR board member, saw Hawkeye, a little orange tabby kitten perched on a pile of discarded bricks, planks of wood, and various other trash. Granted, this is not an uncommon picture at any construction site, but what was uncommon was that Hawkeye looked like a happy, clean, and chubby kitten….often the opposite of what you see of street animals in Mexico. So the rule of thumb applied, when in Mexico, a country with literally millions of street animals, a rescuer does not save healthy, street-savvy animals, especially those being fed as Hawkeye was.  So rather than rescue this clearly street-smart and healthy kitten, he was trapped, neutered, and returned (TNR) to his caregivers at the construction site.

It should be noted that he was not a kitten who was willing to interact with people and always kept a safe distance from us.  I walked by him every single day for a month, and each time he would look my way, make eye contact, and then continue on his way, which was usually climbing and running around the piles of construction materials. The sight of him each and every day made me smile, and while I wanted to bring him home so badly, I had to remind myself to focus on the animals that needed me most, like the 4 tiny puppies I had found in a Playa park 3 weeks earlier and was nursing back to health in my small apartment until they flew to PPR’s home base in MN. So there Hawkeye stayed.

Then one day, as I walked to an early morning appointment I passed Hawkeye and he made eye contact as he did every other day, but this time his eyes looked dark, exhausted, watery, and just not himself. I thought, oh no, he has a cold, which in cats can lead to a number of other issues. I made a note to check in on him again the next day, to make sure he wasn’t getting worse. When I went back I couldn’t find him. This continued for 3 days, and I began to worry. Then as it so happens, I was walking by his normal spot with a few other rescue people and I mentioned Hawkeye, and that I was worried he was sick. A local rescue volunteer then told me that someone had told her he was injured and people were trying to trap him to get him to the vet, but were not yet successful. We were literally steps from the construction site as she told me this, and when I looked up there he was, perched again on a pile of trash. But this was not the normal Hawkeye. He was thin, dirty, and clearly uncomfortable. As I approached him my heart sank, as I realized he had very quickly deteriorated, and as I got close enough to really see him I gasped at the site of his degloved jaw. The skin from his lip, all along his jaw, and back to his throat was torn off and pushed back to his neck. He was starving and in pain, and despite the serious injury he was still attempting to eat the dry kibble left out for him. It was a testament to his street skills that he was still doing as well as he was, considering the severity of his injury.

The group of rescuers knew right away that we had to do something, and we rushed to get a live trap, tuna, and supplies to humanely trap him and to the vet for the care he needed. We climbed through piles of trash, broken glass, and things I’d prefer to not even know what they were! He would come close enough to eat a bit of tuna off a fork, but would not allow us to touch him and would bolt at any attempt to get too close. It took 6 hours of constant check-ins before he walked in the live trap, and we finally had him secure!

The sense of relief cannot be put into words, and when the very next day we had torrential downpours, I could not help but be so grateful he was not out in the elements, as he surely would not have survived.  Instead, he was safely with our partners at Coco’s Animal Welfare, getting 3 days of antibiotics and pain medication in preparation for his jaw surgery. To our surprise, nothing was broken, and the skin could be saved and reattached. The amazing vets did a fantastic job putting Hawkeye back together and in just 2.5 weeks he was fully healed and loving people! We still have no idea what caused his injury, but was likely a result of living among so much broken glass and garbage. Almost exactly 3 weeks to the day when I found him injured, the healthy Hawkeye was on a flight to MN and starting his new journey to find a forever home!

It has taken a village of rescuers to help trap him, overnight him until he could get to the vet, recover him at Coco’s, raise the funds to get him to MN, fly him to us, and foster him with Pet Project Rescue. That is a whole lot of people working hard to make this 6-month-old kitten’s life a good one. Thank you to everyone who has helped him get to a better life!

I cannot help but think that on January 18th my and Hawkeye’s lives became bonded and that it became my responsibility to look out for him. I had no idea what was to come from the very first day I saw that tiny, adorable kitten perched on top of his tower of trash, but when Hawkeye arrived at PPR on March 18th, I knew we had come full circle in rescue. So what’s next? Hawkeye will hang out with his foster mom for a couple of weeks to settle in and finish out some basic vetting, like vaccine boosters. From there he will look for a forever home that will be the perfect fit for this very special young kitty, and live happily ever after.

Animal rescue takes a village, and we are reminded of how very true that is every year when PPR comes back to where we got started, Mexico! Pet Project Rescue has had the pleasure of being part of Mexican animals rescue for nearly a decade already!! We have had the honor of working with some pretty amazing people who are accomplishing some even more amazing things for animals in need.  The Snoopi Project is one of those amazing programs that was set up by Kelly, an American, who is now a permanent resident of Playa del Carmen. The program started out as a simple plan to provide wooden dog houses and longer tie-outs to protect chained dogs from the rain and sun that is so common in this area of the world, but it turned into so much more!

Playa del Carmen is unique for Mexico, in that the city has a lot to offer animals in need thanks to the hard work of many people, like the high volume spay/neuter clinic that runs 6 days a week at Coco’s Animal Welfare, and the number of rescues set up to help street animals. But what so many of us don’t have the time to do in rescue is go door-to-door in our communities to find those that can’t help themselves. To help those people that are not seeking out assistance, but still need it just as much! It’s something lacking in the animal welfare community world wide, and the reason The Snoopi Project is so vital to the success of improving the lives of animals in Playa. What is even more exciting, is that this project can easily me duplicated and applied to any city, reservation, rural area, etc…everywhere in the world! So that’s why we wanted to share this project with all of you, in hopes that someone will read this and want to start a similar program for their community.

While The Snoopi Project provides shelter for chained pets, that are exposed to the elements, it also provides de-parasite meds, flea and tick meds, collars and tags, food, life saving vet care for the most extreme cases (when funding is available). But most importantly, they provide dialogue, education, and a platform to help local people, who are struggling themselves, and with this assistance owners are able to provide the best environment they can for their pets. It’s simple, it’s brilliant, and it’s working! To date over 150 dogs have been given shelter, dozens have been given life saving vet care (including getting spayed and neutered!), plus all of these dogs avoid street life!

We want to introduce you to just 2 of the 150 dogs this program has helped in the 7 short months since it was created! Rex was rescued just a few months ago from the streets, and was very thin. His new owner has worked hard to put weight on him, but she had very limited means to provide to herself or their dogs. She had set up a door to provide shade, but when the Snoopi Project came to give him a home they were also able to neuter him, which is a service they can offer through a partnership with Coco’s Animal Welfare. His life is improving each and every day now!

This is usually the part of the conversation where people ask us, why are these dogs chained? And that’s a good question. The reality is that Mexico is a very impoverished country, where people struggle to shelter and feed their families. These families often acquire a dog to protect their home, but very few people can afford a fence. A dog wandering loose runs the risks of being hit by a car, getting lost, or worse, so while living on a chain is not ideal, we are forced to acknowledge the limitation placed on us by extreme poverty. For these dogs, the tie-out and collar also provides more space, and is more secure.

There are also other issues to consider, such as homes don’t have doors, and if the people don’t want the dog inside that makes it really difficult to not have them on a tie-out. People often live in shared spaces as well, so their dog is not their neighbor’s dog, and therefore if “Blanco: the dog hops up on the neighbors kitchen table or nips a child, you may have a real problem on your hands! In cases where it can work, The Snoopi Project has built fences out of bricks and other materials to get dogs off chains. So as you can see, it’s a complex problem, without a single solution, but we do have the option to give the dogs shelter and a tie out with length to move around more freely and improve their quality of life.

Another need is often vet care for seriously ill/injured pets. The Snoopi Project met Manchas  last week when they were asked by Coco’s Animal Welfare Playa del Carmen to sponsor his weekly chemo treatments to treat him for TVT (A TVT is a transmissible venereal tumor that is common in unaltered dogs in Mexico). Machas has started treatment and will hopefully be back to health in the next few months. He isn’t in the greatest shape, but a dialogue with the owner is being had and assistance is offered thanks to donors to The Snoopi Project! Machas has a shot at better life that he didn’t have before, and that is what this project is all about, and he will be neutered!

You can learn more about The Snoopi Project on Facebook, and stay tuned for Pet Project Rescue and The Snoopi Project collaborations in the future!