DOG HEAVEN: The Sequel, “Somos la voz de los sin voz!¨

Dog Karma: ¨Dogs hear when there is an opening at the homes of those who love dogs most¨ Kirkepiscatoid

We love dogs here at the Foot of The Volcano.   We love every dog that we have ever met.  Every one, no exceptions.  

As with many ¨difficult¨ everyday circumstances living in villages in Central America there are a large number of dogs who live, breed and feed on the street.   We love them too but their lives are often cut very short as they live from handouts from the kindness of strangers. Some of these ¨outdoor dogs¨ are happier than others (and better cared for too) and actually have families who feed them occassionally and even let them in the tiny houses/huts (mostly one or two rooms with tin roofs and dirt floors filled with big families) too.  But most ¨street dogs¨ are very underfed, hang out outside of little bakeries or Tortillarias and need medical attention (lots) and quite often simply fall through the cracks of their everyday existence and die flat out or get hit by cars.  These animals die because they have no home, no food and no care--they are everywhere to be seen on the dusty streets of most every town and they are a heartbreaking pack of stragglers who many of us dog lovers to meet and do small things to help out...what a challenge we see.

However, there is help growing...there is a solution to this very sad situation at least in one town so far as a group in Antigua started a ¨animal rescue¨ program several years ago...it is quite successful in finding proper medical care, then homes for animals who would otherwise be left to a fate of aimless wandering with little food, shelter, medical attention or love.  There is also a ¨finca¨ about a half hour away on the edge of  a town where an American Woman and her English husband run a huge kennel/hospital program that cares for, the housing and feeding of hundreds of dogs and cats--they have a pet cemetery too (Marcos and several others of my pets are buried there) but they always need financial resources and volunteer help and are almost way past their limit in the number of animals they can house and help HERE...their physical limits have been stretched way past their ability to deal with the enormous needs before them in all the villages of Scatapequez, Guatemala.

Last week I met up with an old friend, Linda G., who is a Canadian living in Guatemala.  She and some friends of hers have organized a NEW group to work with local animal  (dogs and cats) as ¨awareness¨ activists within small pueblos...their aim is to offer a regular ¨Veternarian Doctors without Borders¨  clinics on site in each village and also work with locals in each village to generate a better ability to control both disease and population of ¨orphan¨ dogs and cats...a temporary and permanent placement service is also part of the plan for each town.

Already the mayor of my town has expressed great interest in joining forces with Linda and her pals as it is now clear to all there are solutions for this otherwise mostly ignored and very sad reality for homeless animals...now there is a glimmer of hope where there was none before.

If any of you would like to contact Linda G. and/or the new ¨Aware¨  program directly please send me a note and I´ll connect you--Linda and her gang need all the help and support they can get...even modest donations of supplies or money will help.