The year began with an impromptu reaching event in Las Teresas. On January 6 Tony López and Julia Salido set off for the village of Cajones to conduct a teaching event for children at Resplandor International but learned it had been cancelled because of Three Kings Day, a Mexican holiday. While returning to Guanajuato they saw a group of children playing in a park in Las Teresas. They decided to have their event there.
They rounded up the children and two adults and introduced them to Julia’s rescued dog Paloma. Then they talked with them about how to behave with pets, how to safely touch an unfamiliar dog, and treating pets as family members. They also brought out our giant board game based on Snakes and Ladders and taught the children how to play it. Finally, they gave the children copies of our didactic coloring book Dales la Mano (Give them a hand). Everyone enjoyed the event.
Altogether, we sterilized 160 animals in January—58 in the village of El Rodeo on January 12, and 102 in the city suburb of Las Teresas on January 26.
At the campaign in El Rodeo, we sterilized 34 dogs and 24 cats. As usual, the campaign ran without a hitch. The day was sunny, but the community center in which the campaign took place was chilly, and so our team members had to bundle up.
At the campaign in Las Teresas on January 26, we sterilized 55 dogs and 47 cats in the community center Las Teresas. Case no. 43 of the day was an occasion for another celebration, for it was also our 26,000th case since starting our program in December of 2001.
New bus messages appeared on the backs of two city buses in January. They will remain on them for three months and be seen by hundreds of people each day.
We posted six messages about animal welfare on our Facebook and Instagram pages in January. A new one appeared every few days.
Our thanks to our campaign team members: Julia Salido, our campaign manager; veterinarians Abril Herrera, Ricardo Montes de Oca, and Sandra Hernández; and volunteers Karla Ahumada, Julie Boyles, Mary Beth Canavan, Herber Cervantes, Rosemarie Conde, Manuel Herrejon Martinez, Beth Lozano, Cintia Rodríguez Patrón, Manuel Herrejon Martinez. Thanks also to Tony López and Julia Salido for their education event and to Joslyn Lewis for creating our bus messages and social media posts.