AVAR Brings About Humane Reform In Juarez, MexicoMarch 2005
With a permanent free spay/neuter clinic securely in place in Juarez, AVAR will travel to another region of Mexico to host two additional Spay Camps in 2005. However, we will continue to implement humane reform in Juarez through our most recent project – a citywide humane euthanasia program.
The Humane Euthanasia Project is a comprehensive program that includes improvements in the housing and care of all animals at the animal control center in addition to ensuring that they are all provided with a humane death via the use of injectable euthanasia solution. The project, which has the support of local and state governmental agencies, will be supervised by AVAR member Dr.Bill Pearce of El Paso, Texas who is generously donating his time and expertise. We will be returning this summer to do a statewide animal control officer animal handling class in Juarez as an adjunct to our humane euthanasia training. Representatives from animal control facilities from all over the state attended the April training, as well as the local veterinarians and animal advocates who will be implementing the program in the initial stages. I organized the training for AVAR and attended the two-day event and confess that it was emotionally draining and one of the most difficult experiences I personally have ever had during the years I have spent working with unwanted animals in Mexico. However, knowing that not one single animal would ever be killed via electrocution in Juarez from that point forward made the endeavor more than worthwhile. Helen Keller once said: “The world is full of suffering, but is also full of the overcoming of it”. This statement seems absolutely appropriate for AVAR’s work in Juarez, where hundreds of thousands of unwanted animals roam the street each day, but where slowly and steadily the seed of humane reform is gradually blossoming. Christi Payne is a second-year veterinary student at the UC Davis. She serves as a consultant to AVAR, coordinating the Mexico Spay Camps and the Humane Euthanasia Program in Juarez. Donations Needed: AVAR will be seeking donations of medical supplies for our upcoming Spay Camp this summer. If you’re interested in donating supplies or equipment, please contact Pam Runquist at pam@avar.org or via tel. 530 759-8106 and we can provide you with a list of our needs. Spay Camp Team Heads to Juarez for Spring BreakFive Veterinarians, Team of Veterinary Students to Sterilize 200 AnimalsMarch 2005The sixth AVAR-sponsored Spay Camp is currently underway in Juarez, Mexico, where three AVAR volunteer veterinarians from the United States are teaming up with two Mexican veterinarians to sterilize approximately 200 animals. The veterinarians are joined by a group of seven veterinary students from the University of California, Davis, including Christi Payne, the Spay Camp coordinator. The students will assist with the surgeries as well as help perform wellness exams, vaccinate animals and monitor recovery during the four-day clinic. At the conclusion of this Spay Camp, AVAR will have helped sterilize more than 1,000 animals in low-income communities in Mexico, where access to veterinary care is virtually out of reach of most families. AVAR also has helped train several Mexican veterinarians in how to perform sterilization surgeries, and, as a result, a new permanent low-cost spay and neuter clinic has opened in Juarez this year. In conjunction with the current Spay Camp, AVAR also has expanded our efforts in Juarez to establish a humane euthanasia program that eliminates electrocution and strychnine poisoning at the city animal shelter to be replaced by the use of injectable euthanasia drugs. Working with contacts at the new spay and neuter clinic and with the local animal welfare group, Aprodea, Christi Payne coordinated a humane euthanasia training program in early March for the local veterinarians and shelter workers. AVAR veterinary volunteer Dr. Bill Pearce, who lives nearby in Texas, is now overseeing the program and AVAR is sponsoring the cost of supplies. The local group, Aprodea, meanwhile, is ensuring that the animals in the shelter are fed and watered daily, which did not happen in the past, and that cages are cleaned. Volunteer Team Heads to Cancun for Fifth Mexico Spay CampVeterinarians, Veterinary Technicians to Offer Free Spay/Neuter and Surgical Training in Low-Income CommunityNovember 2004
This trip, the fifth Spay Camp sponsored by AVAR, will head to the Bonfil colony of Cancun where, as in many Mexican communities, there is a substantial animal overpopulation problem and little access to spay and neuter services for the animals. Christi Payne, the Spay Camp coordinator and a University of California, Davis veterinary student, will lead the group. Dr. John Strathman of Sebastopol and Dr. Rick Bachman of Santa Rosa will perform the surgeries and provide the training for the locals. All are repeat volunteers who give up their Thanksgiving holidays, and other week-long vacations throughout the year, to work long, hard hours for four to five days sterilizing animals in makeshift clinics set up in schools, churches and community buildings.
Many of the families who visit the camps have few resources to buy animal supplies since they are struggling to feed and clothe their families. Spay Camp volunteers bring donations of leashes and collars, flea and tick preventative, pet food and treats and identification tags to distribute to the participants. Humane education materials and clothing and food for the people are also distributed when possible (depending on shipping and transportation). The Spay Camps are funded entirely donations and manned by volunteers. AVAR is always looking for donations of medical supplies for the Spay Camps, as that is one of the biggest expenses. Donations of frequent flier mileage are also appreciated so that funds can be spent on supplies instead of airline travel. Monetary contributions to the Spay Camps will be used solely to buy supplies and pay for travel costs for this project. Some of the medical supplies we need include: flea and tick preventative and dewormer medications; medical supplies such as gowns, masks, gauze and sutures, identification tags (the type which can be filled out on site) and vaccinations.
For more on the Mexico Spay Camps .... |
This spring a team of AVAR volunteers headed down to Juarez, Mexico, for our fifth and final Spay Camp in the area. We traveled with a full team: six UC
Davis veterinary students and three AVAR veterinarians; Dr. Karen Mueller, Dr. Gary Hurlbut, and Dr. Richard Bachman. As always, we worked alongside local animal advocates
and veterinarians to put on the massive event, and together we sterilized 274 animals in just four days.
Local families lined up each morning to secure their animal’s place at the clinic and oftentimes the line of animals awaiting our free sterilization, vaccination,
and deworming services stretched over ½ mile long. Fortunately, the animals we were not able to treat were referred to a local free sterilization clinic that is now
open thanks to SNAP-MEX, who took an interest in Juarez after being prompted by AVAR and Compassion Without Borders a year ago last spring. (Shown below, AVAR volunteer
veterinarian Dr. Karen Mueller spays a dog at the March 2005 camp.)
In early April, AVAR and SNAP-MEX’s Doug Fakkema held a humane euthanasia training at an animal control facility in Juarez. Like most other regions of Mexico, Juarez
was utilizing electrocution as their method of killing unwanted animals and was housing animals in deplorable conditions.
For the second year in a row, a team of volunteer veterinarians and veterinary technicians will spend their Thanksgiving week
working at a Spay Camp in Mexico. The Spay Camps, sponsored by the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights (AVAR), provide
free spay and neuter for the cats and dogs in impoverished Mexican communities. The Spay Camp team also provides training for local
veterinarians and animal advocates so spay and neuter efforts can continue in the future.
Approximately 200-250 animals are sterilized during each clinic with the Spay Camps having spayed and neutered more than
800 animals since the project started in 2003. That number has increased during recent camps thanks to the donation of Neutersol,
a chemical sterilization product donated by the Spay-Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP), out of Houston, Texas.
Donations can be sent to: AVAR, 635 Anderson Road, Suite 13B, Davis, CA 95616. Or call (530) 759-8106 or email Pam
Runquist at