This post was written by Lisa Burton, a volunteer for the Meximutt Project and loving mom to two of her very own Meximutts.
I have known Angela Adams, founder of Born Again Pit Bull Rescue and The MexiMutt Project for a few years now. I have fostered dogs for her before and adopted from her rescue. We became friends and connected through dog rescue, and we talked 4-5 days/week after she moved to Mexico to volunteer with her non profit organization “The MexiMutt Project”. 18 months ago, Angela quit her job as a CNA, rented out her house in Oregon, refinanced her house in Oregon and took out an equity loan to have money to live on while volunteering in Mexico to help the dogs and people. Angela does not get paid to do this hard work.
She would tell me about her struggles throughout the day and how exhausted and sleep deprived she was and how she couldn’t keep doing it on her own. She has a few volunteers locally, in Mexico, that are a huge part of the rescue and the work they do around Guadalajara/Chapala area.
A few months ago, Angela asked me if I could come down and fly dogs back for her because she didn’t have time to do it. So, I flew down and spent 4 days with her and then flew back with her 5 MexiMutt foster dogs that were to be adopted out to families in Oregon waiting for them. (The rescue can only afford to fly 5 dogs a month for adoption, plus their main purpose is spay and neuter in Mexico, as they will never be able to adopt their way out of the overpopulation. Sterilization is the only answer.)
Again, Angela and I talked quite often prior to me visiting and she would give me details of her day, but I had NO idea what she REALLY did until I went down and saw it for myself.
Angela starts her day off, in the very early morning, by letting dogs out of their play areas and cleaning the kennels. The dogs are separated into different areas throughout the house whether it be for quarantine, dogs that play well together or don’t, age differences, young puppies, new mama with babies, or medical/health issues that need to be away from other dogs, etc. Having them separated into groups is very time consuming. Also, being very cognizant of washing/sanitizing food bowls, shoes, clothes, hands before entering the next group to prevent spreading kennel cough or any other issues she may be dealing with is very time consuming. Angela makes sure the dogs are not in their kennels for any longer than necessary during the day. She is so busy but does her absolute best to make sure the dogs in foster are living their best life.
Then she sorts all the dog food and medication. Each dog is tested for multiple diseases when they come into the rescue and they go into quarantine to be sure not to spread to other dogs. A lot of the things they test for can be treated with antibiotic pills—but when you have 15 dogs in foster and 9 of them are on different pills at different times, it can be very hard to keep track of who needs what- especially when one dog needs 1/3 of a pill and the other dog needs ½ of a pill. It’s just very time consuming.
At this point in the morning, Angela has cleaned all the kennels, let all the dogs out, fed the dogs, given medication, cleaned water bowls, and she still hasn’t eaten herself!
After doing all that in the morning, it was 9:30am and it’s time to meet her volunteer, Mayra, who speaks Spanish, so we can go feed street dogs. We dropped one dog off at the vet to get test ran, and then bought 15 bags of dog food to feed the street dogs and to give some bags to caring locals who look after some packs of dogs.
On this trip, I learned that nothing ever goes as planned. While feeding street dogs we found a dog who had a bad puncture wound in his foot that was so swollen and painful. We were about to load that dog up when the local brought another dog that has its muscles and leg ripped apart by 2 large dogs. It had happened the week prior and was incredibly infected and its bones were sticking out of its leg. I was sick to my stomach. We dropped everything we were doing and loaded the dogs up and took them to the vet immediately.
After going back into town and dropping the dog off, we went back out on the streets to feed the dogs. We drove to some remote, small villages that were very poor and gave the locals dog food for their dogs. Angela and her volunteers are such a huge blessing to the community. The locals recognize her car and are so grateful for all they do.
Feeding street dogs took quite a few hours and a lot of driving around. While feeding dogs, we stopped and gave flea/tick medication to some dogs that were flea infested and mangy. We also stopped and talked to the locals about spay/neuter program and signed dogs up to get sterilized the next day.
When we finally got back to the house, around 7pm. Angela prepped medicine and food for dogs, cleaned kennels again, and tried responding to emails and inquiries to adopters and writing bios for the dogs that needed to be put up on the website. Angela keeps a VERY tidy and clean rescue/home. I witnessed how hard it was to keep 15 dogs entertained while trying to do work on the computer.
I went to bed around 10-11pm and Angela was still up working. She kept saying she was going to shower and go to bed but I could still hear her working hours after I was in bed.
The next day, Angela woke up hours before me and did her morning routine.
Around 9:30 we met Mayra to pick up the dogs that were scheduled for spay/neuter. Most of the locals don’t have any means of transportation so Angela and her volunteer, Mayra, have the pet taxi service where they pick up the dogs and then deliver them back the next day after surgery. I asked if we could make a quick detour to get worming medication for some horses. I thought it would be a quick stop to deworm some horses but again, nothing goes as planned.
A man asked if we could take a look at a horse on a neighboring property that had been shot. After seeing the horse, we had to go get antibiotics and give it injections. That took about 2 hours of the day. Then we were off to start picking up dogs for sterilization when we found a dog on the road with TVT (a very contagious cancerous STD). They had to get the dog off the street and take it in to get euthanized. The dog was a very cute, otherwise healthy, young cattle dog. It completely broke my heart knowing we had to euthanize the dog.
It was in that moment I realized I would rather pay someone else to do this than to be there witnessing it. I thanked God for people like Angela and Mayra, who can do this day after day, with the love and compassion they have for animals. People say, “I could never do that”. Let me tell you, she doesn’t handle it any better than anyone else. But she does it- because if not her, then who will? The least I could do is financially help.
We were 30 minutes from town and it was getting later in the day so we had to keep moving on. The dog with TVT had to be in a kennel with us all day while we gathered dogs to be sterilized. The roads are not like they are in the states- there are potholes everywhere! Everything takes longer because the roads are so bad. It took about 6 hours to go from town to town picking up the dogs to be sterilized.
We dropped all the dogs off at the vet and went home to pick up our dog sitter Rosalia, a volunteers daughter, who looked after all the foster dogs while we’re gone. We took her home and she showed us 3 cattle dog puppies that were just dumped on her porch. We had to get food for the puppies and set up some blankets and dog houses. Rosalia also asked if we would take a dog, Poncho, that she rescued the night prior from the neighbor who was strangling him and about to kill him! The neighbor had already killed the other two dogs and she was so brave to save Poncho. Angela couldn’t say no, even though she’s at max capacity with fosters, so she took Poncho, took him to the groomer and vet, had bloodwork/tests done, and brought him home for quarantine.
We finally ended up back home around 8:30pm. She did her nightly routine of feeding dogs, administering meds, setting up a quarantine area for Poncho. I went to bed and she was up until 1am doing work- trying to respond to emails from upset people wondering why they haven’t had a response.
My trip to Mexico was heavier than I ever imagined. I see the stress that Angela goes through every day, never having a day off or a break. The emotional toll of wanting to help every animal but worried about funding, the constant non stop barking of dogs in her home, always cleaning up after the dogs, trying to handle upset people who are sending horribly nasty emails about how she’s a horrible rescuer for not responding in a timely manner.
The MexiMutt Project needs help. There is NO paid staff, it is 100% volunteer ran (including Angela, she does not get paid - she is actually paying to be a volunteer - because she is living on her home refi-loan, that will run out soon)!
These are the major needs that I saw in the time I spent down there…
A vehicle—The vehicle they have is borrowed from a volunteer who graciously let MexiMutt use it for the last 12 months. It has no air conditioning, and with 14 dogs packed into a car in the heat of the day, it really should have air conditioning for the dogs and for Angela. The MexiMutt Project will cease to exist without a vehicle. ZERO dogs will be helped without a vehicle.
Medical bills—The US dollar goes a longer way in Mexico as far as vet care. There’s countless animals that need care and it’s much cheaper to help! Example: a horse antibiotic for a gunshot wound cost me $10 USD. It needs 5 rounds. For $50USD I can save a horse instead of letting it die a VERY painful slow death.
Food—The average Mexican makes $12-$15 USD per day or about $75/week. A 50 pound bag of dog food is $25 USD. People can not afford food for their dogs.
Sterilization—Street dogs are everywhere! The MexiMutt Project sterilized 107 dogs last month. Each sterilization is $50 USD with a rescue discount for the org. Locals can absolutely, NO WAY afford to sterilize their pets when they only make $75 a week to support their family. The regular price is $100-$150 usd (depending on size for a spay/neuter). Each dog that is sterilized can prevent 67,000 dogs to be born on the street and die of disease.
The Meximutt Project needs help!!! They can not keep doing their lifesaving work without knowing what their budget will be every month. One time donations are wonderful but recurring donations will allow them to prepare a budget better for future needs.
PLEASE SHARE! Spread the word, like, comment, donate, whatever it takes to help this awesome group of volunteers continue doing what they do best—help the animals, people and their community! Those of you who support the organization already, or have in the past, THANK YOU! Your donations are making a difference!
