No Longer Shot or Poisoned, Animals Benefit From Two Decades of Humane Population Control Efforts In Todos Santos
Four-month old Princesa doesn’t know it yet, November 13, 2010 is the day her life will change forever. Owner Yuta Torres has traveled several miles over a bumpy dirt road to bring the young dog to a free spay and neuter clinic.
Owner Yuta Torres (right) with Princesa and volunteer Maryann Douglas. On a piece of masking tape stuck to her forehead, Princesa has all the vital pre-op information vets need for a successful outcome
Yuta found the tiny puppy wandering in the desert. Now, the sweet-tempered mixed-breed greets everyone with a lick on the hand and a tail wag.
Princesa is lucky. She’s about to meet a well-organized team of US volunteer veterinarians, vet technicians, and 30 local animal loving volunteers who assemble for twice-yearly clinics. In a simple half-hour spay operation the team will take a small step to ease Mexico’s exploding animal population.
“For fifty one weeks of the year we take care of pampered pets,” said Dr. Scott Dolginow, owner of Aspen (Colorado) Animal Hospital and Valley Emergency Pet Care. But when we come to Todos Santos we see the need. We’re inspired to work long hours to improve the quality of life for animals here. We definitely see the value of what we offer.”
The busy four-table operating theatre is set up outdoors under large awnings at Canada del Diablo. With a single anesthesia machine (center) veterinary technicians are able to simultaneously keep four animals properly sedated
Dr. Dolginow, 55, and his team of six will do approximately 120 to 140 surgeries over the course of three twelve-hour days. This is the fifth time this all-volunteer team of experts has visited Todos Santos, located about a one-hour drive north of the resorts at Cabo San Lucas.
Since the program was started, more than 3500 dogs and cats have been spayed and neutered.
INCREDIBLY PROLIFIC
Cats can have up to 3 litters a year. Theoretically, in just seven years, two cats and their offspring can produce over 420,000 cats. A pair of dogs can produce up to 67,000 offspring according to the US Humane Society.
Dr. Dolginow brought the entire staff of his vet hospital to Todos Santos. Doctors John Kuck and Julie Martin will also be doing surgeries. Backing the surgeons are Veterinary Technicians Katie Hack, Rebecca Everest and Angie Bloomfield. Traffic coordinator Patsy Psaledakis keeps things flowing smoothly in the four-table, sand-floored operating arena.
The staff of Dr. Dolginow's Aspen Animal Hospital
The makeshift MASH (Mobile Animal Surgical Hospital) is set up under outdoor awnings at space lent by Canada del Diablo, a large furniture store and storage yard.
In the US, a spay or neuter costs between $200 to $800 depending on the complexity of the operation. While costs in Mexico are lower, vet services outside of large towns are may be difficult to find. To get Princesa fixed, for example, Yuta might have to make a 100-mile round trip to La Paz to find a vet.
A CROSS-BORDER EFFORT
Funding for the effort comes from sources in both the US and Mexico. Private donors kick in, as do Friends of the Aspen Animal Shelter. In Todos Santos there is the annual Fur Ball fund raiser, and rummage sales.
Dr. Dolginow pays for gas, food and lodging to get his team on the road. His biggest expense, however, is paying another vet to cover his practice while he is away from the office for a week.
Volunteers round up stray dogs and cats and bring them to the clinic in pet carriers
Dogs and cats come from various sources. There’s no local newspaper and few locals have Internet access. One of the most effective means of reaching locals is to hire a car with loudspeaker on the roof to cruise the neighborhoods blaring out the message.
Volunteers also scour neighborhoods, beaches, and the city dump scooping up strays. They also take care of everything from checking in clients to feeding the team.
WELL-OILED FOUR STEP PROCESS
Todos Santos’ spay and neuter clinic is organized into four steps, with volunteers for each phase. First, an incoming animal gets a pre-operative exam and a weigh-in to determine the amount of anesthesia to administer.
After a tense moment the pre-surgical team was able to get a tranquilizer into this struggling dog to calm him down
Initial anesthesia is injected; after a few minutes, a volunteer transports it to the operating table where it is shaved and cleansed with betadyne.
Next, the doctor performs surgery while an assistant administers anesthetic gas to keep it at the right level of sedation. In addition to the spay or neuter, doctors sometimes perform emergency surgeries. Today they also performed a mastectomy to remove a breast cancer, removed a badly damaged eye, and wired the broken jaw of a tomcat.
Finally the animal is delivered to the recovery area where volunteers carefully watch it slowly come out of anesthesia. Volunteers watch to make sure an airway isn’t blocked, there is no bleeding. They administer an anti-flea and tick treatment. They may also do additional grooming such as clipping long nails.
A SERIES OF BREAKTHROUGHS
It’s taken nearly two decades of spay and neuter clinics to develop such a well-oiled machine, according to program founder Angelique Schorenstein.
“Until 1994, we took dogs and cats from Todos Santos all the way to La Paz (a 100-mile round trip) because we had no vet here,” Angelique said.
Sleeping it off: Blanketed to ward off post-aesthesia chill, Princesa, with her black muzzle and white paws, pulled through the operation with flying colors
A breakthrough came in 1994 when they convinced a veterinarian to come to Todos Santos to do the operations at Schorenstein’s office at Maya Roca Real Estate.
A second breakthrough came when Barbara Perkins, the owner of Canada Diablo, agreed to let the spay/neuter team use her much larger facility.
Perkins, another animal lover, was able to expand the surgical team for today’s effort at the last second when she ran into her
Barbara Perkins, the feisty, animal-loving owner of Canada del Diablo, hosts the spay and neuter clinic at her business
friend, Dr. Rob Tugend of San Diego. Tugend, who works for Main Street Animal Hospital, had just arrived in Todos Santos to spend some time at his second home.
Dr. Rob Tugend of San Diego
“I’ve been in Todos Santos just four days, and here I am, helping out at the clinic,” Tugend said. “I’m loving it.”
Tugend speaks easily as he works on a small dog. “When I first came down here the police used to warn people to keep their pets indoors,” he said. “Then they shot or poisoned strays they found.”
Tugend said that continuous efforts are paying off. “If we spay or neuter 100 or more dogs and cats in a small town such as Todos Santos it makes a real difference. We can dramatically cut the number of unwanted animals.”
Efforts are also reaching into the schools, where young students are being taught the importance of animal population control.
Angelique Schorenstein (left) with Dr. Julie Martin and a beautiful brindle-coated puppy
During a break in the action Schorenstein scoops up two puppies that were brought in as strays. She’s heard of a family who may want to adopt the young dogs.
In 30 minutes she’s back, wearing a broad grin.
“They took both puppies,” she said. “I’m so happy it makes me want to cry.”
