I am sure you all remember Buddy, the dog at the Turtle Refuge for who’s surgery we were just raising money. Many of you responded and offered your help – thank you to all of you for your big heart and your desire to help this old guy.
When I went to the refuge to take Buddy’s new pictures, I found him sick and anemic, and his prognosis didn’t look good. We first took him home, and then to the clinic where he spent 3 days on i/v fighting for his life. But Buddy is indeed a fighter, and after being stabilized he was picked up by Liana, who also offered to keep him for the rest of his life, as he cannot get the necessary treatment and meds at the turtle place anymore. So Buddy retired from his work at the refuge, but instead of enjoying his pension and laying around the house doing nothing, he’s already got himself a new job. He is now the new library dog, and can be seen there Tuesday thru Saturday, teaching the kids and their parents love and respect for older pets. The donations collected for Buddy will cover his UNA bill, the transportation costs to UNA of $70 and also the new bill of $175 generated at the Herradura clinic. Thank you to everybody who helped us with it – see the list below.
ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SPAY/NEUTER MONTH
July is always a busy month for everybody down here. Jaco is full of both national and international tourists, and the majority of our members are on vacation, so the castration figures are generally lower than those of all other months. So far we’ve been able to spay/neuter 43 animals on our small spay days with Dr. Jose Manuel Jimenez at “Casa Lalena”, and in the Jaco clinic with Dr. Wendy Villalobos. This number represents only the animals we financed, (both fully and partially) and it doesn’t include those when the owners pay for the low cost castration by themselves. Our THANK YOU goes to both vets, their assistants Elisabeth Lubbers and Silvina Goren and of course to Lalena Bennett for providing her house every week for these clinics.
NEWS FROM OUR EDUCATION PROGRAM
Our EDUCATION PROGRAM “Sharing the world with the animals” has been a huge success during the last two months, as we concentrated our efforts on Escuela Central de Jaco (Kindergarden to 6th grade) with 750 students. We were able to reach all the students with many different presentations and events, and here are some of the subjects we covered:
- “HOW SHOULD WE TAKE CARE OF OUR PETS”
- “WHAT’S DANGEROUS TO A PET?”
- “WHAT’S GOOD AND BAD FOR OUR PETS”
- “WHAT DO WE NEED TO CONSIDER BEFORE ADOPTING A PET?”
- “CLASSIFICATION OF ANIMALS IN WILDLIFE AND PETS, AND THE BASIC NEEDS OF BOTH GROUPS”
Special Thanks to Angela Maria Lozano Lorza, who does an excellent job in teaching our young people everything they need to know about animals, their needs and feelings and about how to be a responsible pet owner. Also a huge THANK YOU goes to the school principal Vera Virginia Alpizar and to all the other teachers for their support and cooperation. And, of course, to Linda Look for sponsoring this great project.
THANK YOU TO DONORS OF SO NEEDED MEDS
The month of July started for us with two very generous donations containing different meds, all of which are so needed in our rescue and adoption program. Leo Hogan brought us many different medications, all of which were donated to us by her friends from Irvine Animal Care Center in California: Dr. Karen Moreland, Emma Cusack and Mila Rihter.
And right after that, Dr. Karen Bolt from the USA also brought us bags full of meds and supplies! We were still logging these meds into our inventory when Kristen Hascall, a young vet student came to visit and brought us another huge donation from Dr. Littlehale and staff at Santa Clara Pet Hospital in California.
We are now taking inventory of all the above mentioned meds, and will be distributing them to our local vet clinics, as well as to other vets who work with both us and with other associations that are known supporters of animal organizations in Costa Rica. Kristen also organized for us a little fundraiser at home in California, and brought us a cash donation, in addition to the meds. In our own name and in the name of all those who will benefit from these so generous donations, a HUGE THANK YOU!
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS OF LAST MONTH
A huge Thank You goes out again to the sponsors of all three programs in this month of June –Linda Look, Stuart Welch, Liz from Taco Bar, Leo Plumley, Hotel Mar de Luz, Cathi Brennan, Wishbone Restaurant, Paola Alvarado, Hotel Los Ranchos, and Gabriela Contreras Cordero for their regular monthly support, as well as to Henry & Eugenia Balke, Fundación Natz de la India, ANPA Costa Rica, Pets y Mas, Pikotravel.com, Economedica Internacional, Cheryl Kern, Dr. Karen Bolt, Pat Huntley, Dr. Karen Moreland – Irvine Animal Care Center, Emma Cusack – Irvine Animal Care Center, Mila Rihter – Irvine Animal Care Center, Marina Imatova, SEANDA S.A. – Daniel Madrigal, Fiorella Pugliese, Olga Ureña, Lori Shaffer, Darien Zuniga, Joy Flunch, Sha Rojas, Valerie Hopson, Marco Rodroguez – Laboratorio Clinico Jaco, Annie Forget, Judy Witt, The Bartholomew Family, Kristy Stockwell, Donna Nicholson, Miriam Baird, Mimi Arandjelovic, Galeria Murillo, Piko Travel.com, Cheryl Kern, Dennis Ward – Capitan of “Never say never”, Anonymous, Julie Textor, Discovery Horsetours, Kelly Limehouse, Bridget Hatch, Douglas Giampapa, Marcia Briceño Valverde, Sue Bartholomew, Stuart Welch, Leo Plumley, Enid Alejandra Retana, Mary Stompe, M’s Fashion Store, Family of Bubba Hallstrom – (in memory of Bubba), Lighthouse Rescue Faro Rescate Animal, Nancy Lebo, Ghogha Amon, Dr. Littlehale and Santa Clara Pet Hospital, Kevin and Linda Haynes, Sandy and Pat Hascall, Nancy Newlin, Lauren Jones, Maggie Christensen, Kristen Hascall, Tina Wallace, Bruce Carl Ertmann, Lic. Alba Sofia – CR Legal Group, Lili & Till – Hotel Tortuga del Mar, Marga Hanks – Apartamentos Iguanas and Lois and Robert Newman, for their support this month.
HELP FOR LUCAS NEEDED
Lucas is a cocker spaniel mix owned by a Nicaraguan family in Herradura. He got into a serious car accident, and his back leg couldn’t be saved, so it was amputated at the University Clinic in Heredia, where he was also diagnosed with severe ehrlichiosis, which required (besides the regular treatment) an emergency blood transfusion. We have an outstanding bill of $500. Ninoshka Pardo is contributing $200, yet we still need $300. If somebody could help us to pay for his surgery, it would be great, as though they really love him and take care of him, his owners simply cannot afford to pay anything.
If you would like more information about these projects, please contact Katja at info@mckee-jaco.com.
Thank you for your time and support!
Katja Bader