Final Note

The numbers are in: during the 5-day clinic, we spayed and neutered 80 animals (65 dogs and 15 cats)!

Good people, successful project

Completed shelter!! Bienvenidos!

After the animal rights march, Steph, Virginia and I went to meet Courtney and Carter at the shelter to see the progress. The shelter was almost complete - the fencing was complete, gates and all - and the living/sleeping quarters for Jesus were near completion with just a bit more roofing to go! A real success. It was really touching to see how happy Daniel, Berta and Jesus were with the outcome there. Such a difference this will make for the dogs and those working at the shelter with them.

It was also time to say adios to the perros.

Last day of work in Trujillo

A photo here after the last day of work at the Ahren clinic. We took the three dogs that we had picked up that morning home when they were still quite groggy! This is Steph and I holding Cholo and Lito in the back of the truck heading back to Huanchaco.

And this was a few of us at dinner that day at our favorite restaurant - Chill Out - owned and run by a Scot and his Peruvian wife.

Honored by the city of Trujillo

On our last day of work, on Saturday, we were told to go to the Mayor's office in the city of Trujillo to be honored for our work. About half of us were able to attend the mini "ceremony" where the Mayor's next official in line and another official of his office presented us with individual certificates for our work with the Perros Project. The City also officially decreed that it was officially recognizing and committed to furthering the work of the Perros Project in Trujillo.

I think this was really quite remarkable and I really felt that it marked one point of success for this project. It is not that we needed mayoral recognition for our work there to be beneficial to the animals, but I think the recognition showed that the Perros Project was not about descending on Huanchaco and Trujillo with the ways of the US to show them how we think a shelter and a veterinarian clinic should run. Rather, the Perros Project had successfully worked with the communities on a project with a common understanding and a team approach. Certainly this relationship building with the community in all of the months leading to the actual project and throughout the project (which can only be attributed to Courtney and Matt) is a cornerstone of the success of the Project. I am grateful to have been a part of this sort of collaboration with these Peruvian cities and citizens.

Los Animales Me Importan!

Rather serendipitous, yes...there was an animal rights march in Trujillo on the that we were leaving for Lima. On Sunday, only Steph, her mother Virginia, Courtney, her brother Carter and I remained in Huanchaco. So, we took advantage of having Sunday without work to attend the March in Trujillo. Fernando, the vet from Ahren, was sort of the leader of this event and he was glad to see Steph, Virginia and I show up. We had also obtained t-shirts with the main March chant on them the day before: "Los Animales Me Importan."

I was amazed by the number of people that came out for this event! We marched for about 2 miles form the city center to Ovalo Papel, where Ahren vet clinic is located. Not only were there many people and dogs on the march, there were some cats, a couple hamsters, a bunny and even a mouse. These people take their "animal welfare for all" seriously!

Cute dogs

Anyone want to adopt a dog? :)