The Sato Project Receives a Grant from the Petco Foundation

We applied to the Petco Foundation to help us with a rescue effort that we wanted to launch on a beach neighboring Dead Dog Beach: Playa Guayanes.

The dynamic at Guayanes Beach is very different from that at Dead Dog Beach. It is is a small residential area for one. The local people take great pride in their beach and have organized groups who go and clean up on a weekly basis. There are approximately 20 dogs at any one time that call the area home. It is not a dumping ground for dogs like Dead Dog Beach – you cannot be anonymous here. The residents notice new cars and people. The Sato Project has been welcomed by the community – when we first started feeding the dogs on that beach almost a year ago people thanked us and told us about some of the characters.

We have been slowly taking dogs from Guayanes as funds and space allowed – but our main focus remains on Dead Dog Beach. Many at Guayanes were gravely injured ; Disco was our first rescue – he had a severely injured penis that could not retract and had become a life threatening condition for him. He was also heartworm positive and had a previously broken front leg that had healed on it’s own. Indy (now Amelia) was our next – her fur was matted and her teeth were broken from chewing on rocks to abate hunger… Sandy had a severe TVT (transmissible venerial tumor) and was in heat. When we first saw her she was being chased by a pack of male dogs. Raphael came next – he could not walk when we rescued him. The little Ewok pups came from Guayanes and our hearts broke when we took Naomi from there. Read Rafael, the Ewok and Naomi’s stories here.

During our last visit to PR we took two dogs off Guayanes Beach. They are our first “PetCo grant dogs”!

Jasper was a beautiful little boy with patches of fur that had been ripped from his body. He was obviously being ‘bullied’ by the other dogs and was heartbreakingly skinny. His fluffy coat disguised just how thin he really was… when Sophie picked him up she gasped in horror – she could feel every bone in his tiny frame. Jasper would stand by politely when the other dogs ate as if to say:

“Please Sir may I have some more?” “Excuse-me, Sir, would you mind not stepping on my tail, please?“

We just could not leave him. In hindsight we maybe should have called him Oliver…

And then there was Samlee – the tiny little pup we rescued with her eye hanging out after being attacked by another dog (read her story here) We had to remove her eye and it turns out this poor angel is blind.

We are aiming to take another 15-18 dogs from Guayanes beach. The final number will be determined by the condition of each inpidual dog and any sickness or injuries.

The Guayanes dogs will go through our incredibly extensive vetting protocol, be vaccinated and spayed or neutered before coming to the US for adoption. Bianca is compiling a very detailed study on these dogs which we hope will be used as a teaching tool at the Collegio de Veterinario in Puerto Rico.

Sophie is documenting each rescue with photos and film.

We want to thank our friends at the Petco Foundation for this very generous grant to help us aide these dogs and we look forward to sharing more of the Guayanes beach project with you all!!