Urgent Need for Help in Continuing the Spay/Neuter Program in Banderas Bay Gretchen DeWitt - PEACE Ayuda a Los Animales
April 3, 2013

Dr. Poli performing sterilization on the Puerto Vallarta Malecón

The current PEACE Mexico is in the process of being liquidated. A group of long-time donors in the Punta de Mita area have set up a new and legally separate Peace Punta de Mita, A.C. Five full-time and two part-time staff members of the current PEACE have been hired by the new A.C., which will operate exclusively in the area of Punta de Mita.

The "Ayuda a los Animales" free mobile spay/neuter program is one of the programs that will not be continued by Peace Punta de Mita. There is an urgent need for those who care about animal welfare to set up a new free mobile spay/neuter A.C. to serve Puerto Vallarta and the surrounding area.

The excellent clinic staff of four of the current PEACE Mexico is available to continue their work for a new A.C. Matt Messner and Neil Sechan have made the first pledge of a $5,000 matching grant towards helping the clinics continue. Funding for clinics runs out the end of April.

Last year, PEACE Mexico clinics sterilized more than 4,000 cats and dogs in the area of the Bay of Banderas and beyond.  The animals are treated for ticks, fleas, parasites and mange and occasionally euthanized due to severe injuries or disease. Unless 80% of a local pet population is sterilized, there is an overpopulation of unwanted pets. Only a very small percentage of cats in dogs in Mexico are sterilized.

One morning this week on my way to yoga, a very low-to-the-ground brindle dog heavy with pregnancy, teats swaying, ran panting down the street. There are very few days that I don't see a pregnant or nursing dog or hear about puppies or kittens discarded. There are literally thousands of homeless cats and dogs in Puerto Vallarta. They get hit by vehicles, rip up garbage bags at collection sites in their search for food, starve, and contact and spread disease. And they breed. For humans, neighborhoods where animals have been sterilized mean that they live in cleaner, healthier, safer and less sad places.

Each four-day surgery week costs the clinics approximately $2,400 U.S. in salaries, supplies and miscellaneous costs, i.e., gasoline, etc. Cost per animal, if 80 animals a week are sterilized, is approximately $30 U.S.

Please consider donating now in any amount. If 1,000 people donate $100, the clinics can continue for another year. If 50 vet clinics donate $2,000 annually, clinics could operate 48 weeks a year every year.

Free spay/neuter clinics are critical.

PEACE (USA) is accepting donations for the free spay/neuter clinics. Checks made out to PEACE, which has 501(c)3 status, can be mailed c/o Amy Welch – 505 N. Tomahawk Is. Dr., Portland, Ore. 97217. To donate by check, PayPal, or credit card for the US foundation can be found at PEACE. 

For Canadian donations - Canadian Children's Shelter of Hope Foundation. Credit cards are accepted on their website through CanadaHelps or send a check. Information is on their website at CCSHF.

In Mexico, donations are being accepted by the National Protection of Animals (Proteción Nacional de Animales).  

All donations should be earmarked for "spay/neuter" clinics. All donations are tax-deductible.

Once funds are collected, a new A.C. (non-profit organization) with a new name and new board will be created and registered and a clinic director and staff will be hired. Please pass on this message. Please ask vet clinics if they would donate. The clinics need to survive.

We appreciate any help you can give us in continuing our Spay/Neuter Clinics in Puerto Vallarta and Banderas Bay. For more information, please email Gretchen.

  Learn about PEACEAnimals Free Mobile Clinics