RESCUER IN NEED OF RESCUE: Save Don Pedro's Dogs
RESCUER IN NEED OF RESCUE: Save Don Pedro's Dogs
RESCUER IN NEED OF RESCUE: Save Don Pedro's Dogs
RESCUER IN NEED OF RESCUE: Save Don Pedro's Dogs
RESCUER IN NEED OF RESCUE: Save Don Pedro's Dogs
This campaign is closed
RESCUER IN NEED OF RESCUE: Save Don Pedro's Dogs
Baja California Sur, in Mexico, suffers from a serious overpopulation of stray dogs. It is estimated that some 11 thousand strays wander the streets, suffering from disease, cold, hunger and abuse. The majority of these dogs raid garbage containers, beg and even sneak into ranches and farms to steal chickens and look for scraps. They also breed at an alarming rate, and are born into a hard life, in world that has no place for stray animals that should be pets.
This is exactly what’s happening in El Centenario, a rural neighborhood on the outskirts of La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur, where homeless dogs fight to survive in a desert climate where the summer heat or winter cold alone can kill them.
Mexico also suffers from increased poverty levels. Especially in rural areas, many ranchers have gone from being hard working, productive individuals, to living from day to day, barely covering their own needs and expenses. Many are elderly, and have no choice but to continue to work hard despite old age and the ailments that come with it.
Such is the case of Don Pedro García, a 70 year old Goat farmer who barely makes enough to survive. Don Pedro lives on a plot of land in El Centenario. In recent years his goat business began to fail, to the point that he is now basically a pauper, struggling in his old age to keep his business going. On top of that, he can now barely walk, and uses a prop to get around.
But Don Pedro is also something else. He is an animal lover. And as time has passed, he began to notice the number of stray dogs in the area where he lives began to rise. He also realized that these animals were genuinely stranded in an area where there is virtually no food or water. These dogs were starving, diseased and suffering. And so, despite the difficulties he has to overcome on a day-to-day basis, he decided to take on yet another challenge: he began to rescue these dogs and to provide shelter and food for them, as best he could.
So far Don Pedro has rescued 16 dogs, which he has taken to his lot and has been caring for, sometimes at the expense of going hungry himself: and he has stated that despite the difficulties in feeding them, he will continue to rescue more if possible. He loves these dogs very much, and they in turn have provided companionship for him in his old age.
But sadly, things have taken a turn for the worse: Since Don Pedro’s land has no fence or perimeter, neighbors have noticed that the dogs that live with him are free to wander out if they so choose. Despite this, Don Pedro’s dogs usually stay within the premises, and go out only to follow him around. At night, they stay with him. The downside to having no fence, is that neighbors are quick to lay blame on Don Pedro’s dogs whenever an incident occurs. This is exactly the case.
One evening, at a nearby pig farm, some stray dogs snuck in and killed a number of pigs. The next day, the farm’s owner came over to complain to Don Pedro and accused that it was HIS dogs that had killed said pigs.
Don Pedro refuses to believe that his dogs killed the pigs since, he argues, since his dogs are not strong enough to take down a pig, much less five, and since the dogs had been with him that night. Regardless, the pig farmer blames Don Pedro’s dogs and demands compensation. In total, 5 pigs had been slain, each with a value of roughly $150 USD.
Since Don Pedro had some goats left to his name, he offered to pay for the pigs by giving the pig farmer some of his goats in exchange. Unfortunately, the pig farmer would not have it, and declared that if he was not paid what the pigs were worth, he would come after and poison Don Pedro’s dogs.
Don Pedro now has to face the reality of having to raise the money to pay for the pigs or lose his beloved companions. But since he has no perimeter fence to keep the dogs enclosed, he also runs the risk of having the situation repeat itself: should stray dogs raid any neighboring farm again, HIS dogs would be blamed.
At CANIMX, we run an animal hospital and rescue facility in El Centenario, where we offer very affordable animal healthcare, and rescue strays and set them up for adoption with caring, loving homes. When we heard of Don Pedros plight, we decided to take matters into our own hands. We spoke to the pig farmer and he will not budge. He will either be compensated for his pigs or, he says, "the dogs will have to go."
Due to CANIMX's very low rates and our sometimes having to offer our services pro-bono, we have very limited financial resources, and NEED YOUR HELP: We want to raise money to Pay for the dead pigs, set up a perimeter fence around Don Pedro’s land to keep his dogs enclosed, along with a shade to protect them from the sun, and to spay/neuter his pack as well as vaccinate and treat them for any illnesses they may have.
We estimate we will need $4010.00 USD in order to do it all: Pay for the pigs, set up the perimeter around Don Pedro’s land, set up shade for the dogs within the perimeter and sterilize and vaccinate his dog pack
We at CANIMX believe this elderly gentleman and others like him, with the humanity to help these animals in need, should not be abandoned and left to whither but should be praised for their efforts and assisted in any possible way. We understand that something must be done NOW.
Your help means everything for the success of our campaign. Everything we do will be fully documented and all expenses will be made public for our supporters. Please donate to this cause and help us reach our campaign goal to ensure this story has a happy ending, for Don Pedro, his dogs and the El Centenario canine population.
For further information on CANIMX and our operations, please check out our website at www.canimx.org
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