Two more rescues, no sponsors, $3000 in debt

What a morose title, eh??? Well, I'd be lying if I told you we have enough money to pay our ever-expanding vet bills for the Los Machos Beach Project and Amigos de los Animales...not even close. We're in the hole big time, by thousands of dollars. All together, Liz, Adri, and I would wipe our slate clean with 6 or 7k.

I know that the majority of the individuals who read this blog have continuously sacrificed chunks of his/her paychecks to support the Los Machos Beach Project. Therefore, I'm not just asking for your donations, as I often do. Can you help me brainstorm? We need a large sum of money to get us back on our feet again, I have to clear my bill at Dr. Ramos' before I leave, and, by the way, we have two new rescues to support. Let's talk about these special boys for a bit...then, we'll get back to raising money.

So Adri came to Los Machos Beach with me on Sunday. I was hoping to find Toby. He's gone, it seems. I did hear a rumor that another group may have rescued a few dogs out at LMB and have emailed them to see if some of the dogs I know to be missing were a part of their rescue list. No response. Anyway, we brought loads of salchichas and fed the masses. Here are some photos from our visit.

Homer, whose skin conditioning is worsening, was hanging out by the Avis parking lot like he used to months ago. He usually stays within the fenced-in yard of an apartment complex across the street from Avis. He needs out help in such a big way...it makes me feel helpless.

Members of the regular crew "of the forest" next to Los Machos Beach. From left: China (pronounced "chee-nah"), Lola, Negrita, and Willie. China and Negrita got some head-petting (still with a bit reservation) along with their salchichas, but Willy and Lola still remained at their comfortable distance from us.

Hammond, aka "Ham", is sort of a new kid on the block though I've seen him during my past few visits to LMB. Looks a lot like a purebred Weimaraner, eh? So sad. The first time I saw this beauty, he wouldn't come within 50 feet of me. On Sunday, he was much more brave.

Marley, my darling boy. He pranced up to us at the fish market, tail wagging as usual. Unfortunately, this time he had a noticeable limp. As I wrote in my second-to-last post, there are still a couple of super adoptable satos that would be "easy" rescues in terms of placing in shelters in the States due to how social they are...Marley is one of them. As for Spot/Pinto (white with reddish-brown spots), Juan, my fish-market friend, told me that Pinto had been missing for 5 days.

Two new puppies, dropped off a couple of weeks ago says Juan, who need a lot of socialization. Though adorable, they were not keen on human affection, from us at least. Can't really blame them considering the life they most likely live on the beach.

So while we are in debt, I tried my best to be strong and have my only mission that day at Los Machos Beach to be to find Toby and introduce Adri to Los Machos Beach. Adri has offered to visit Los Machos Beach, hopefully at least 1-2 times a month, when I leave. Here's an excerpt from her blog about her first visit to Los Machos Beach:

Shanti took me to Los Machos Beach in Ceiba on Sunday morning so I could see where all the beach kids are because she's leaving at the end of September. I will try to go there every couple of weeks so our rescue efforts can continue there too. I could never fill her shoes and I'm more than a little nervous about biting off more than I can chew - but where there's a will, there's a way.

PLEASE GOD!!, Let someone step up to the plate and help out at Los Machos Beach!!!!!

Alas, my efforts to not rescue anyone except Toby did not go as planned. After not finding Toby, hearing about Spot's disappearance, and seeing Marley limp across the sandy road, we decided we couldn't leave without Marley. In a nutshell, I have been emotionally overwhelmed by the disappointment and feeling of loss whenever I return to that beach to see my favorite satos are gone, missing, possibly dead. I could not let Marley disappear as well...And by the way, Homer has got to be next.

In the same day, Adri, Sally from PARE Este, and I also had to go over to the Fajardo Dump, as the landfill is called, to find a Dalmatian Liz requested we pick up.The Fajardo Dump rescue mission was unsuccessful. A man working at the dump said that an animal control vehicle came and picked up some satos from there, including the female Dalmatian we were looking for. I believe Liz is still working on trying to rescue the Dalmatian from the Humacao shelter with the help of Dead Dog Beach's Sandra Cintron. Instead of rescuing the Dalmatian, however, we found a sweet Puerto-Rican-Terrier (not an actual breed, so you know, but what we call the undefinable mix-breed dogs that look terrier-esque) puppy who Adri named Moe at the Fajardo Dump. Check out his darling little face:


Adri picked Moe up, and that was that. He stayed in her arms throughout our car ride back to San Juan, while I stretched my non-driving arm into the back seat to give Marley as many reassuring head-pets as he needed.

So you could say it was a successful rescue day, but the practical side of me is screaming for help. With at least a $3000 bill at Dr. Ramos' from unpaid vet expenses of Los Machos satos such as Cha Cha and her pups, Annie, Nugget, Chip, Lulu, and Bongo not to mention other rescues I've been involved including the Arecibo rescues, what am I thinking to take in two more dogs!?!??!?!

So this is where you guys come in. I am not asking any of you to empty your bank accounts more than you already have, but I am asking for your help. If you haven't spread the word already, please do. If you feel compelled to do a little of your own fundraising for us, have a local animal shelter that might want to share some of its funding, and/or come up with any other ideas, BRING IT ON!!! I will be working on some funding possibilities as well, but will take all the help I can get. In the grand scheme of things, $3000 is not a lot of money...so it's doable. It would require 6 $500 donations or 12 $250 donations. Not too bad, right?

Marley at Adri's house

Marley and Moe have not been sponsored yet as well, and unfortunately Marley ended up being heartworm positive, which in itself will cost $250. When I can no longer rescue dogs in Puerto Rico myself, I will be dedicating my free time to the main topic of this post: funding (as well as a couple other things like outreach and trip planning).

So here is my desperate plea for your help. Do what you can, but know that I appreciate how much support this project has already received.

To end on a less pathetic and positive note, it looks like ADLA's Adri is willing to check up on our Los Machos Satos when she can, which will definitely help me sleep better at night when I leave for California, which by the way is officially happening on September 26. Colin and I have officially moved out of our apartment and into our friend Rachel's house with our animals. All of our stuff (beds, couches, etc.) are on their way to San Diego. It's really happening...crazy.