Surfers for Strays MEXICO

In August of 2020 I boarded an airplane, with a mask and a giant bottle of hand sanitizer, to visit Surfers for Strays in Zihuatenejo, Mexico.

My mission was to help this amazing dog rescue and rehabilitation center to reorganize their shelter, budget and procedures to make life easier for the women managing it, which of course means more time and money can go towards improving the lives of the animals in the region.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it alone, and so I reached out to a fellow sailor I had met online, who also happens to be a licensed veterinary technician in Texas…. Michelle and I had been in touch before about spay and neuter campaigns, and I was sitting their wondering who might be crazy enough about animals to drop everything they were doing to fly to Mexico in the middle of a pandemic and she popped into my head. With two weeks notice she rearranged her schedule and flew down! Amazing!

Surfers for Strays was established in 2017 by two amazing women, one of whom, Natalie, manages the center, while also holding down a job as a yoga instructor and masseuse in Troncones. Since opening the center has helped thousands of animals, through rescue and rehabilitation as well as through education and mass sterilization campaigns. The volunteer manager, Sandrine, volunteered with the center last year and then fell so in love she never left. It was so inspiring to see two passionate women running such a huge project, making local lasting change for the animals.

Michelle hard at work… removing over 200 ticks from one dog!!!!

The work begins…

We hit the ground running on arrival, holding meetings and rummaging through every inch of the rescue center, Michelle writing a list pages long of everything we could do to help make things run as smooth as possible. But before we began organizing, we had to meet the puppies! Up to 14 dogs live at the rescue center at any one time, many of whom have severe skin issues or other diseases that require daily treatment. The volunteers, along with Natalie and Sandrine, ensure these pups get the very best of care and so much love. Once the puppies are healthy enough they are flown to the USA to FUR-ever homes.

Grace found her forever home just after i left the center

While the all female crew of volunteers focused on the day to day care of the dogs, Michelle and I began revamping the center. Michelle focused on cleaning, feeding and structural procedures; while I focused on medical and budget procedures. Together we went through every document, every drawer, every cupboard and every folder… and at the end of our four week stay had managed to make small tweaks and improvements to almost every aspect of the shelter.

Natalie and I talk shop on our way to surf some waves!

And the surf was good too…

Proof of my toes on the nose!

The second most amazing thing about Surfers for Strays (Puppy rescue coming first) is its location!!! Troncones is a beautiful beach community, the shelter is located about 50m from the beach. And with in an hours drive there are multiple points, river mouths and beaches with PERFECT waves for every surfer. In between puppy rescue we spent hours by the beach or in the water, perfecting our surfing skills. I finally got my toes over the edge of the board… albeit only with one foot…

We also hosted a spay and neuter campaign, and treated many of the local dogs in the area with our visit. It was the first time the shelter had a veterinarian volunteering and we took full advantage of the situation, giving out medicines, providing free veterinary advice and meeting with local veterinarians to help improve animal health and welfare in the region.

We sterilized 100 animals during our spay and neuter campaign, in a small town called Laguinillas. It was a long two days, but so exciting to be part of such a massive project, doing something that we know will change the lives of the both the animal and human community of that town. Having less dogs on the streets makes life better for the people living there as well.

A group of INCREDIBLE women spaying and castrating 100 dogs and cats!!!!

Follow up…

At the beginning of the month I went back up to Troncones to help with a special case, and got to see how everything was going after a month and a half. The changes Michelle and I had made had been implemented and both Natalie and Sandrine felt such a big sense of relief, with things running much more smoothly. They both had the willingness and passion to get the center running smoothly, but were so incredibly busy looking after the dogs it was hard to find a moment to sit down and review procedures! A big part of our work was putting new procedures in place to help Natalie and Sandrine make important treatment decisions, when veterinary care is over half an hour away, and we helped streamline some of their protocols to make life easier. For example scheduling all once off treatments, like flea control, and veterinary visits for either a Monday or Wednesday, so Natalie and Sandrine can pre-plan to take a day off once in a while (Naughty ladies, were very rarely taking a full day off before that!).

Little changes can have a big impact, and I am so proud of the work we were able to do with Surfers for Strays. SFS is making a HUGE difference, and I really loved working with a team of strong and passionate women, it really made me feel the power of women’s empathy, how it can change the world.

You can volunteer with Surfers for Strays too - it is hard work but absolutely rewarding and fun! They also accept donations to help them keep saving animals, and of course you can even adopt one of their rescues! (and you don’t have to be a woman to volunteer, but you will likely be outnumbered by the beautiful caring women that are there, not a bad prospect!)

Check out their website SURFERS FOR STRAYS

A little cuddle with Fred during some downtime…