Frequently Asked Questions...

Q. With so many unwanted street animals, why don’t people in Mexico spay and neuter their pets?

A. First, they cannot afford it…to spay a dog is $60-$100 dollars (that is a week salary for many people)! Second, they lack the knowledge for proper animal care because there are no educational programs designed to sensitize people to the plight of animals.

Q. Aren’t there laws that protect animals of Mexico?

A. Yes, but there are no positive enforcement mechanisms. Most municipalities address the problem in their own way, many simply ignore the problem. For example, on Isla Mujeres, an island off Cancun, there are periodic round-ups where dogs arbitrarily picked up and electrocuted immediately. No consideration is even given to whether the animal has been spayed or neutered, vaccinated, or has a collar. Can you imagine if this happened to your pet? In the Bucerias area, a small town located north of Puerto Vallarta, the government ignores the problem all together. Neither is a true solution and those who suffer the consequences are the animals and the people who love them.

Q. Why not just build animal shelters?

A. Because even in the U.S. animal shelters are very expensive to operate and often animals end up living their lives out in a cage. Furthermore we are operating in a developing country which is still struggling to provide resources for their human population often living on the streets. The harsh reality is that it will be a number of years before we can expect the city or it's citizens to be able to support a shelter. By aggressively running spay/neuter clinics and adoption programs there is less dependence on animal shelters.