Thanks so much to Veterinarios Internacionales Dedicados a Animales Sanos (VIDAS) and Cats and Dogs International (CANDi) for their help with the first-ever Cancun free spay and neuter clinic. The clinic was held at our facility September 30 to October 4, 2008. Thanks also to the many volunteers who came to help!

We are happy to report that during the sterilization clinic we were able to sterilize almost 250 dogs and cats. If each of these animals had been allowed to reproduce freely for 3 years the result could have been about 9000 unwanted puppies and kittens. With this sterilization clinic we were able to make a very big impact on the future of the street animal problem here in Cancun.

Equally important was the impact that this sterilization clinic has had on pet owners in Cancun. Each day pet owners lined up outside RAP’s clinic in order to have their pets sterilized. And, sadly, on the last day of the clinic we had to turn away a large number of pet owners. Many of these pet owners are so poor that they brought their pets to us in cabs. It was awful to have to turn these people away. But we are very happy that people’s consciousness has been raised to the point that they want their animals sterilized! This represents a great step forward and will make our future work easier, we are gaining community support!

We were able to give rain-checks to those pet-owners who were turned away from the sterilization clinic. And this week RAP’s veterinarians have been working hard to sterilize those animals.

We look forward to working with VIDAS and CANDi again soon on another sterilization clinic in Cancun. Our goal is to be able to have regular spay and neuter clinics in Cancun so that we can begin to effectively reduce the number of unwanted dogs and cats roaming the streets here.

Together with Veterinarios Internacionales Dedicados a Animales Sanos (VIDAS) and Cats and Dogs International (CANDi) we will host a free spay and neuter clinic at our facility in Cancun from September 30 to October 4, 2008.