Amigos de los Animales

Amigos de los Animales in Boquete organized a sterilization blitz by Spay/Panama which took place on January 7th and 8th, 2006. The local coordinators had been given a pre-surgery instruction to be printed and handed out to each guardian scheduled to have an animal sterilized; 4 to 5 animals were scheduled every 20 minutes.

The doctors from Spay/Panama who participated were: Dr. Andres Bailey, Dr. Itzel Terrero, Dr. Letty Guajardo, Dr. Anabell Herrera, and Dr. Ivone Gamarra.   Dr. Andres Tello from the McKee Project in Costa Rica also came down to participate in the two-day blitz.

Contributions requested are $20 per dog and $10 per cat, although no animal is turned away if the guardian cannot afford to pay. These small amounts are paid to the vets by Spay/Panama. With the minimum contribution, the rest of the costs are picked up by Spay/Panama - anesthesia, antibiotics, analgesic shots for pain, Rabies vaccines, flea and tick treatments, internal parasite medications,  the syringes, gloves, gauze, sutures, and all other supplies.

On Saturday, 78 animals were sterilized - 69 dogs and 9 cats. Contributions for the surgeries totaled $810.   On Sunday, 82 animals were sterilized – 24 dogs and 58 cats. Contributions for the surgeries totaled $313.  Amigos de los Animales made up for the shortfall in contributions collected and also covered the transportation cost.  In addition, an extra $90 was donated to Spay/Panama.  Carmencita MacIntyre provided the lodging accommodations.

Spay/Panama donated 4 Covault spay hooks to the Amigos de los Animales’ local vets. Free training was offered to the local vets in return for their commitment to continue to support Amigos de los Animales.