RAP was founded in 2005 by María Alicia Salgado as a response to the growing problem of abandoned animals in Cancun.

María Alicia moved to Cancun in the early 1990s and as a animal lover (”all my life I saved every animal, even spiders”) and also a professional dog trainer, she immediately began to seek work with local pet owners. With her affiliation to the Mexican Canophile Federation and UCAPSA, she was well versed in a wide range of training techniques and also bred dogs when possible.

However, as time went on, she realised that rather than serving the animal population, she was actually perpetuating the problem. It began when she found out that many of the puppies that she bred, did not survive with their new families, due to mistreatment or lack of diligence in their healthcare or supervision. It got worse when she began rescuing more and more dogs from the street, abandoned and often harmed by road accidents or years of abuse. Although she had frequently rescued dogs throughout her youth, the size of the street dog population in Cancun was overwhelming and kept alive, literally, by the irresponsible breeding of dogs by people of all backgrounds.

The number of rescued dogs in María Alicia’s own home grew steadily demanding more time and every last centavo of her earnings in food and shelter.

Thankfully, María Alicia found likeminded people who shared her concern for animal welfare in Cancun and so RAP was born as a way of continuing her work and increasing the structure and range of services available.

While animal care, especially for dogs, remains the focus of the organization, María Alicia is clear that animal welfare issues are intrinsically linked to human actions. In a rapidly growing city that has attracted tens of thousands of new residents, each intent on improving their own quality of life, animals, and indeed, public health issues such as street dogs, often take a back seat. The challenge for RAP is to transform the qualiyt of life for the animals it cares for, but also to be part of a wider transformation in Cancun in which animal welfare is considered part of the private and public agenda.