PAWS for Change: Help Roaming Dogs in Peru

This is the story of Suzy.

Her story tells the us about the struggle for dogs in Peru.

Suzy's start to life

Suzy was born on a garbage dump near a rural village in Cusco, Peru. Feral dogs in Peru often end up at garbage dumps so that they have access to food. Unfortunately, the dogs can become a problem for people living in villages near the dogs and to people working on the dumps. The dogs create packs and can become aggressive to protect their resources. They also venture away from the dump to hunt livestock. Dogs living on garbage dumps have short and unpleasant lives. They suffer from disease, starvation, fights and are often culled by people living nearby or from those working on the dumps.

Suzy and her sibling's rescue

While the PAWS vet team were working in a village on a healthcare day, we were told by the local villagers that there were a number of pups born near the village from the feral garbage dump dogs. We decided that the best action was to take the pups to spare them the life on the garbage dump. After a check by our veterinary team, all the pups were found to be healthy. Some of the male dogs were adopted into families in the village that day. Male dogs are preferred to females in the villages as female dogs produce pups which is seen as a problem for the owners. After promising that we would return regularly to check on the pups and to neuter and spay them once they were old enough, we managed to adopt most of the pups into the village.

That afternoon we were scheduled to visit another village for a health campaign on their dogs. On arrival, the villagers asked us about the rescued pups we had with us. Maybe they wanted to adopt! But no, they also had a litter of new pups on their garbage dump! Within 30 minutes they had collected the pups and bought them to us to take away. We now had 8 pups with us to take back and put up for adoption. All the shelters were full, so we needed to adopt them quickly and safely.

Adoption of the pups

There are a number of rescue shelter in Cusco, but they are usually full of mostly older dogs. PAWS works with the shelters to provide veterinary care to the dogs as well as neutering and spaying the dogs making them more attractive for adoption out of the shelters. Puppies are always much easier to adopt but we have to be very careful about were the dogs go as we do not want them ending up abandoned, mistreated or in a shelter. After woking with some animal groups, we managed to adopt all the pups after a few weeks. It is always easier with the promise that our vet team will check on the pups and neuter and spay once they are old enough.

Veterinary checks

We kept in touch with the new owners of the pups and our veterinary team made regular visits to check on the pups. All were doing great in their new homes except one, this was Suzy. She was found to be too skinny on one of our visits, so we left some top quality food with the owner and talked about the importance of caring for Suzy and how to do this. On our next visit, Suzy looked better but that was probably due to the food that we left. Unfortunately, on a subsequent visit, Suzy was once again too skinny. We talked with the family and the neighbors to find out what was going on. It turned out that the family were not feeding Suzy and leaving her to find her own food. This was upsetting the villagers as Suzy was taking their chickens for food. 

A decision had to be made and quickly. The family were obviously not caring correctly for Suzy and she was now in great danger of being poisoned by the neighbors for taking their livestock. Suzy was taken that day from the family and homed at PAWS's founder, Jim's house. Suzy needed time to recover and get healthy again before being adopted. It turned out that Suzy was such a wonderful dog that she ended up staying with Jim and his family!

What PAWS does to help dogs like Suzy

• Neuter and Spay
  Our Neuter and Spay program stops pups like Suzy from being born into a life of suffering.
• Health Care
  We have provided healthcare to almost 5000 dogs and cats in Cusco. Our mobile veterinary team allowed us to identify Suzy as being in a dangerous situation.
• Education
  Education is an important part of our work. It is a difficult task to change minds and cultures, but it will allow more dogs to life better lives if people are educated on how to care for their animals.
• Adoption and Shelter support
  We do not have the resources for a full adoption program or to run a shelter, but we support the shelters with veterinary care and work with groups carrying out adoptions. But when we find dogs like Suzy, we do our best to find them new homes.
  
• Anti-venom packs
  Poisoning dogs is a big problem in Peru. Until recently, this was a practice carried out but government to control populations but is still an issue in villages. Suzy was in major danger of being poisoned. We have a program alongside the education project to provide anti-venom packs into locations where we find poisoning happening. The kits are a quick and effective way to save a dog's life after poisoning without the need of a vet.

Thank you for your support!

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of our generous donors. Your unwavering support has been the cornerstone of PAWS' success, driving us forward and making our impactful work possible. Your kindness and dedication have enabled us to make a tangible difference in the lives of the animals we serve. Truly, it is not possible without your compassion and commitment. Thank you for making everything we do possible!