We held our second sterilization campaign of June on Sunday, the 28th, in the mountain village of Santa Rosa. A large crowd assembled for the event at the village’s former health clinic, coming from various communities in the area, and we hoped to handle 70 animals that day.
As this reporter approached Santa Rosa just before noon, Mother Nature unleashed a ferocious thunderstorm, driving rain mixed with hail that turned the main street of into a raging river. Two of our team members got stuck in the mud on their way to the campaign site, but a 4X4 got them out. And inside the clinic there was no electricity, which meant that the animals could not be shaved for their surgeries and the surgeons were having to rely on battery-powered flashlights to illuminate the patients that had already been anesthetized.
People and their pets normally wait outdoors for their turn, but Julia Salido, our campaign manager, invited them into the registration area to avoid the pelting rain. She assured everyone who wanted to leave because of the rain that we would return in two weeks to sterilize their pets, but most people decided to wait out the storm. Within half an hour, the power came back on and the campaign resumed.
As is always the case when we face a new challenge at a campaign, everyone took the storm in stride. People remained cheerful and courteous, quietly forming a queue for the weighing station. By the end of the campaign, we had sterilized 67 animals—27 female dogs, 6 male dogs, 31 female cats, and 3 male cats.
A new veterinarian and new vet assistant participated in this campaign, Dr. Juan Pablo Rodríguez Fonseca and his son, Pablo Mateo Rodríguez Vega. Dra. Sandy Hernández was on a well-earned vacation.
We had an unexpected patient at the campaign, a female puppy with a broken hip that several of our volunteers saw hit by a car as they approached the clinic. They brought her inside, covered her with blankets to treat her for shock, and made her as comfortable as possible while the campaign took place.
Our team asked our lead surgeon, Ricardo Montes de Oca to operate on her hip at his clinic afterward and to vaccinate and sterilize her once she recovered from the hip surgery. Several volunteers contributed to the cost of the puppy’s surgery and postoperative care. Julie Boyles, another Amigos volunteer, fostered her during her recovery and took the fateful step of giving her a name, Lola. Lola and Julie’s other dog, Kobe, quickly bonded, and now lucky Lola has a new home.
We are grateful to our team members for their hard work: Julia Salido, our campaign manager; surgeons Dr. Ricardo Montes de Oca, Dra. Abril Herrera, and Dr. Juan Pablo Rodríguez; and our dedicated volunteers Karla Ahumada, Julie Boyles, Mary Beth Canavan, Rosemarie Conde, Mia del Ángel Gutiérrez Rangel, Tony López, Beth Lozano, Vero Mares, Adhán Mata López, Lupita Palacios, María Antonia Paz Martínez, Pablo Mateo Rodríguez Vega, and Dulce Sandoval. We are also grateful to the people who braved the storm to attend the campaign.