If you are interested in volunteering at, or just observing, a campaign, you are welcome to attend. We can put you to work doing something useful but not too challenging. If you just want to observe, we think you’ll find the work we do fascinating and inspiring.

Today, May 31, we are having another sterilization campaign, this one at a private home in the village of Molineros. We expect to have something to celebrate at the campaign and will report it in our June newsletter. Stay tuned!

Our thanks to the sterilization team for all their hard work on the 17th. Team members were Julia Salido, campaign manager; veterinarians Verónica Almaguer, Sandy Hernández, Abril Herrera, Ricardo Montes de Oca, and Arturo Rocha; and volunteers Karla Ahumada, Julie Boyles, Mary Beth Canavan, Fran Espinosa, Adhán Mata López, Tony López, Juana Mondragón, Fran Méndez Montiel, Mia del Ángel Gutiérrez Range, Bianca Lizbeth Rico Vásquez, Estefan Lira Rodríguez, and Dulce Sandoval.

Except for her two dogs, Genie lives on her own. Being a pragmatic person, she decided even before they died that she would not allow her grief over their loss to deprive her of the companionship and pleasure that another dog would give her. Part of that pleasure would be providing a home to a critter who badly needed one.

When Lucy died, Genie contacted Julia Salido, an Amigos board member who has rescued many dogs and cats. Julia introduced her to Luly, a small (3.5 kilos) adult wire-haired terrier mix with enormous ears. Luly is spayed and housebroken and has had all her vaccinations. Julia agreed to start training her to walk on a leash. “She’s a quiet little girl and a little on the timid side,” Genie observed upon their first meeting.

Julia had rescued Luly from the city’s Animal Control Center (CECAA) six months earlier and was looking for the right person to adopt her. Genie fit the bill, given her experience with raising dogs and her availability as a constant companion to this one.

By her third day with Genie, Luly was scampering around her apartment, greeting a visitor, making herself comfortable in both beds Genie had provided, and luxuriating on the sofa while Genie petted her gently. And she knew just what to do when walking on a leash outdoors.

At 90, Genie was concerned about the possibility of Luly’s outliving her. But Julia assured her that if that were to happen, she would find another home for Luly. She even offered to go with Genie and Luly to the veterinarian whenever that was needed.

So, both Luly and Genie have lucked out, thanks to Julia.

Matteo Garbelotto, who participated in the February Winter Olympics as a torchbearer, and his rescued service dog S’Abba can occasionally be seen in Guanajuato.

Matteo is a professor of forestry at the University of California, Berkeley. Having grown up in an Italian alpine village, he has always been passionate about skiing. In 2018 he had an accident and suffered a severe spinal injury while skiing in Mammouth, California. For a while he was wheelchair bound.

As Matteo was struggling to recover, he took in a homeless puppy, whom he named S’Abba, and began training her to be a service dog. With S’Abba’s help and encouragement, he regained his mobility. It’s hard to say whether Matteo rescued S’Abba, or S’Abba rescued him.  S’Abba is a Nova Scotia Duck Tulling Retriever mix and was born in the beautiful island of Sardenia, Italy.

In February of this year the 2026 Winter Olympics took place in Italy. Still keenly interested in skiing, Matteo applied to be a torchbearer for the snow events to be held around Cortina dÁmpezzo. He described his skiing accident and recovery to the Olympic organizers, who selected him—and S’Abba—for this honor. He and S’abba proudly carried the torch representing the U.S.  through the town of Campitello di Fassa near his native village, San Martino di Castrozza.

What is Matteo’s and S’Abba’s connection to Guanajuato and Amigos? The answer is Victor M. Márquez, a San Franciso attorney and Matteo’s husband, who grew up here. Being world travelers, Matteo and Victor live in Guanajuato part-time, and they have contributed to the community by supporting our work.

Matteo and Victor love animals. S’Abba has been an inspiration to both and travels with them wherever they go.

The other urges people to protect their pets from fatal diseases by treating them for parasites. These messages will be seen by thousands of Guanajuatenses over the course of three months. We have also been posting them on Amigos’s social media feeds.

We chose the message about parasite prevention because some of the dogs brought to our sterilization campaigns have shown symptoms of blood-borne diseases that are transmitted by tick and fleas. These diseases cause excessive bleeding during surgery.

Coincidentally, the Secretariat of Health for the state of Guanajuato has just mounted a billboard blitz to encourage people to vaccinate their pets against life-threatening diseases. Rabies has been largely controlled in recent decades through a national vaccination program. But other highly contagious and deadly diseases, such as canine parvovirus and distemper, are endemic here.

We are very pleased that the Secretariat of Health is drawing the public’s attention to the importance of vaccinating their pets. And we thank Joslyn Lewis and Andrea Martín de Coté for creating our bus messages and social media posts.

Everyone at the campaign remained calm, and the surgeries continued until all the 80 registered animals were sterilized. Our cases that day consisted of 21 female dogs, 11 male dogs, 30 female cats, and 18 male cats. After sharing a late lunch offered by our hosts, around 6 p.m. our surgeons, campaign manager, and volunteers packed up their equipment and headed home on nearly deserted streets. 

Early in the morning, I heard a persistent meow; it sounded like a kitten. We lived in an apartment, so I assumed the neighbors had adopted a new kitten. But as night fell, the meowing continued. I went outside and found the hungry little creature we would name Cochi (short for Biz-cochito, because he was cross-eyed and hygiene was a foreign concept to him). It makes sense in Spanish.

We didn’t have anything ready to receive him, so we fed him a can of tuna and let him go. The next day we got a litter box and some cat food and waited for him to return. Sure enough, he returned, and we remained together until the end of his days.

Almost immediately we developed a very strong bond, a special way of understanding each other, a trust that led him to knead and purr every time he saw us and to come meowing when we called him by the name we’d given him. His presence brought us the pleasure of petting him and the inherent calm of his company. Like any relationship, this one was also full of contradictions, conflicts, and misunderstandings linked to the fact that Cochi and I, despite being very close, belonged to different species. We lived, thought, perceived, and communicated about the world differently.

Cochi was one of the many nonhuman beings with whom I have had the privilege of sharing my days, and thinking of him and our shared intimacy reminds me of the notion of “companion species” proposed by Donna Haraway. For this author, “companion species” encompass the vast diversity of beings that make human and nonhuman life possible—that is, the fungi, yeasts, bacteria, and viruses with which we cohabit and that inhabit us; the animals and plants we feed on and that enable our subsistence; and, of course, the species we more traditionally tend to consider “companions.” 

The idea that we keep each other company and need one another challenges the usual way of thinking about nonhuman beings as resources or objects that exist for our service. In the example of our relationship with Cochi, this mutual dependence went far beyond the need for food and became an emotional interdependence that provided us with security, warmth, and calm.

By thinking of nonhuman beings as companions, we can strive to build different relationships with everything around us, stop viewing others as resources at our disposal, and begin to question the positioning of the human as the centre of existence. At a time like the present, when we face a climate crisis that has already led to mass extinctions and many other catastrophes, this shift in thinking could be of vital importance. For this reason, we invite you to ask yourself: How do you relate to the nonhuman beings around you? How can you transform these relationships?

On Sunday, March 8, our team sterilized 103 animals in El Manantial subdivision—35 female dogs, 19 male dogs, 34 female cats, and 15 male cats. 

For the most part, the campaign went well; but several cases were complicated by excessive bleeding. Such cases sometimes occur because a pet’s owner is unaware of an animal’s underlying risk factor or neglects to mention it.

 “It’s important for people to be attentive to their pets’ health status and not to have them spayed or neutered if they have any doubts about their health or if they aren’t sure they’re complying with the minimum 8-hour fasting period,” advises Julia Salido, our campaign manager.

Blood-born parasitic diseases are common throughout Mexico, and they increase complications during surgery. Ticks, mosquitoes, and fleas transmit the diseases to dogs, cats, and humans. Although less prevalent in Guanajuato, these diseases still pose a significant risk.

Although people cannot contract those diseases from their pets, minimizing our own exposure to tick, mosquito, and flea bites with insect repellent is the best way for us to avoid infection. For dogs and cats, veterinarians recommend year-round preventive medicines that are highly effective. 

On Sunday, March 22, in the village of Cajones, we sterilized 53 cases—27 female dogs, 7 male dogs, 13 female cats, and 6 male cats. All went well, and there were no complications.

We thank both our sterilization team for their hard work and our generous hosts, the administration of El Manantial subdivision and Resplandor International in the village of Cajones. 

Three separate sections offered contrasting wares. The Grand Bazaar, overseen by Liz Carranza and Vicki Wagner, featured a huge assortment of donated items. Among them were some amazing bargains, such as name-brand clothing, which discerning shoppers pounced on. The Collectibles Corner, assembled by Sandra Ward, offered antiques and unusual treasures from foreign lands. And Terri’s Tiny Tiendita, created by Terri Rasmussen, presented a huge selection of beautiful gift items at very affordable prices.

Contributing to the festivity were our two bartenders, Mario Arellano and Gabriel Ramírez, who offered shoppers beer, wine, and non-alcoholic beverages at our no-host bar. To everyone’s delight, Suzy Thompson, our former tienda organizer, was there from the U.S. and helped our bartenders attract customers.

Outside the building a lot was going on too. Volunteers, Susan Pataky and Joslyn Lewis, served many varieties of delicious, hot focaccia they had prepared. A food truck owned by Rafael Herbert offered tacos, hamburgers, and other delicious items.

Our friends from Fundación Corazón Animal were there, too, with some darling rescued puppies for adoption. Several of the puppies went to new homes.

The event raised $67,418 pesos (US $3,890) for our sterilization and education program. And it had a multiplier effect: we donated unsold merchandise from the Grand Bazaar to Arco Iris, another Guanajuato charity that helps families in need.

Our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to the event’s success. Those include everyone who donated items for our Grand Bazaar and Collectibles Collection; Terri Rasmussen, whose re-creation of her Tiny Tiendita was stunning; Jeffrey and Siwsan Gimprich, who graciously stored our inventory as it increased during previous months; our sherpas Cristobal Arellano, Hanna Dixon and her friend, Tom Dunne, Stephen and Mary Haskett, Charles Huckaby, Arlene and Don Lang, Veronique Marconnet, Gabo Ramírez, Kate Redman, and Terry Woodruff, who carried the inventory from the Gimprich home to Case Grande or helped set it up; our in-store sales people Dyan Amirault, Mary Beth Canavan, Liz Carranza, Mary Haskett, Pat Heinke, Jann Lee, Arlene Lang, Maureen Neeley, Terri Rasmussen, Kate Redman, Vicki Wagner, Sandra Ward, and Terry Woodruff; Amigos treasurer Joslyn Lewis, who bought the drinks; bartenders Mario Arellano and Gabriel Ramírez; and Joslyn Lewis and Susan Pataky for making and serving the focaccia. The event could not have taken place at Casa Grande without the use of its salón de fiestas, generously offered to us by owner Ricardo Herbert and his staff. Finally, we thank everyone who came to the fiesta and spent money!