World Animal Day

406 animals sterilized
From the beginning the vision of Spay/Panama has been simple:  increase animal welfare and put a stop to cruelty against animals.  Our mission is to control the over population of dogs and cats through an intensive sterilization program.  

With this clear and understood vision and mission by all, the team of Spay/Panama with the support of local authorities and the Health Department organized a mega sterilization campaign to celebrate World Animal Day.

The event kicked off on September 30, 2010, with the sterilization of 62 animals in Las Tablas.  In the 8 years that we have been working for the less fortunate animals, we have realized that we also improve the welfare of the guardians and rescuers and  of many people that come in contact with the cause.  The surprise in Las Tablas was the enthusiastic support of the young men from Teen Challenge; this is a Christian faith-based organization to help people overcome life-controlling drug and alcohol problems in order to become productive members of society.

Pastor Bienvenido Campos in the red sweater and his wife, Dr. Augusto, Alberto and the young men.  They were so interested and motivated that we will probably go back to Las Tablas.


The honorable mayor of Las Tablas,  Edison González taking photos of the event and a worker from the mayor's office and her daugher registering the animals.


Zoraida Rodríguez did the coordination of the event


Veterinarians:  Dr. Isis Johnson-Brown, Dr. Augusto Barragán and Dr. Darrell Gueulette


Volunteers:  Alberto,  Betty Emerson, Roberto and Pat



The mega campaign continued in La Chorrera on October 2-4, where 344 animals were sterilized thanks to the coordination of Sol Barahona, her mom Sra. Gladys and Serafin Blis.    
Los Angeles de los Animales gave their extraordinary support as always.


From early morning people arrived with their pets


Nerys & Jenny registered the animals.  Pat did the anesthesia.


The dogs and cats receive antibiotics and a painkiller, they are shaved and disinfected, and the dogs get a tattoo with the letter S (stands for “sterilized”).
From the left: Hirakel, Alberto, David, Dr. Valeria


Left: Peggy with a dog cued for operation. Center left: Osvaldo providing “Taxi”, luckily he is very strong!  Center right: The animals get noted in the operation log by Karol. Right: Ana Maria prepares the operation tables again after surgery. And Silvia assists in the operation area while hiding from the camera


Veterinarians:  Dr. Isis, Dr. Augusto, Dr. Gloria, Dr. Darrell, Dr. Letty and Dr. Raquel.  
Dr. Natalia Tarabaeva from Russia was also present assisting the veterinarians



After surgery, the animals get vitamins and dewormer, and their ears cleaned. Cats also receive a little nip of their ear instead of the “S” tattoo (easier recognizable). All animals are sprayed against fleas and ticks.
Left: Betty and Carmen dressing a cat. Center: Cats sleeping off the anesthesia. Right: Karina’s husband. The post op team had three more members: Sol, Roberto and Sylvie.


Preparing and autoclaving the spay packs are very important to keep the veterinarians momentum going.  From the left, Dr. Gustavo, a dentist, Rebeca, Sol and a local volunteer.


Our goal was to have 300 animals sterilized; this cat was number 300.  We were able to sterilize 406 animals.


Notice to the left this poor dog with a huge tumor.  Dr. Augusto removes the tumor successfully.


The volunteers are happy for the dog and Sol and Karina provide the post op care.




Love and dedication.  We had two critical patients so they spent the night with us.  This young boy stayed with his dog and Dr. Gloria slept right beside the other dog.  Thank God both dogs were good the next day and went home.


Results

Of the 406 animals sterilized, 266 were dogs and 140 cats.  

Of the 266 dogs, 204 were female dogs.  If we consider that a female dog and her offsprings can be the source of 67,000 puppies in six years, we have avoided bringing to this world 13,668,000 puppies in six years.  

Of the 140 cats, 117 were female cats.  If we consider that a female cat and her offsprings can be the source of 420,000 kittens in seven years, we have avoided bringing to this world 49,140,000 kittens in seven years.

Funding
To recover most of the spay/neuter costs involved, we must receive $25 per dog and $12 per cat, in other words for this event the total received should have been $8,330 (266 x $25 + 140 x $12).  This does not include the costs for transportation and meals.  For this event, we collected $1,770.25 from the guardians, rescuers and sponsors.  We were able to sell donated Coca-Cola for $3,336 for a total of $5,106.25, which means we recovered 62% of the sterilization costs.

The Health Ministry donated a fraction of the rabies vaccines, gauze and syringes used.  Dr. Eric Lopez, Regional Director of Panama West, visited the event and saw the magnitude of the event.  He has promised to make up for the difference with more gauze, syringes and gloves.

The mayor of Las Tablas, Edison Gonzalez sponsored breakfast and lunch and has promised to donate 3 bottles of the anesthesia Telazol.  The order is being processed in the Office of the Comptroller General.

The Municipality of La Chorrera had agreed to have each of the 18 counties donate one bottle of anethesia, Telazol.  Unfortunately repeated calls to the office have not been successful and we continue to receive phone calls from residents of La Chorrera asking us when we are going back.

We used 39 bottles of Telazol for the World Animal Day event.

Los Angeles de los Animales continue to receive donations of gauze, syringes of 1cc needle 25g, exam gloves MEDIUM and cash to replenish the anesthesia, antibiotic, dewormer and vitamins.  Write to  info@angelesdelosanimales.com or call 6781.2641 and specify that your donation is for the spay/neuter program of Spay/Panama
or
you can make a click here to find out how you can help us make a difference