The Sato Project is determined to build a better future for abused and abandoned dogs in Puerto Rico. Their rescue and rehabilitation work has helped thousands of animals receive medical attention and find forever homes on the mainland. The Sato Project is committed to addressing the root causes of the stray animal problem in Puerto Rio and educates the community on how to be part of the solution. Learn more about their work here!
Why is your work needed?
There are an estimated 650,000 stray dogs roaming the streets and beaches of Puerto Rico. With no access to food, fresh water, or veterinary care, many of these dogs are living daily lives of severe suffering. The shelter system is drastically overwhelmed, with only five shelters across all 78 of the island’s municipalities. These shelters have a combined euthanasia rate of over 94%. To end this suffering, we are saving lives, fighting back, and building permanent change. We’ve flown over 7,500 dogs to new homes, spayed and neutered over 8,000 dogs and cats, and reunited hundreds of pets with their families after natural disasters.
Can you tell me about the scope of your work?
We do rescue and rehabilitation, fly dogs to the mainland, veterinary care, adoption placement, disaster relief, and spread education and awareness. We’re dedicated to addressing the underlying causes of the overpopulation crisis through community outreach and low-cost spay, neuter, and vaccination initiatives. In the past seven years, we’ve expanded into disaster relief efforts, including distributing humanitarian and animal emergency supplies, pulling dogs from overburdened municipal shelters with high euthanasia rates, and reuniting families with their beloved animals.
What do your rescue efforts entail?
We concentrate our rescue efforts on a place known as Dead Dog Beach, a notorious dumping ground for abused and abandoned dogs in the Yabucoa municipality. Thanks to our rescue and community outreach work, the beach has now been entirely cleared of dogs. We frequently rescue packs of stray dogs from the streets and pull dogs from shelters in emergency situations. All dogs are immediately given veterinary care where they receive medical and behavioral assessments and rehabilitation. Once those protocols are complete, the dogs are ready for their freedom flight to the mainland where they will be adopted by their forever families. Dogs are matched with families before they depart Puerto Rico, ensuring that they won’t end up in another stray or shelter situation upon arrival.
What kind of education and advocacy work do you do?
Public outreach and education are the keys to long-term change for animals in Puerto Rico. The Sato Project believes that true change will come from educating the youth. We engage local volunteers and students to assist with our spay and neuter programs as well as transports. We take part in school programs to help empower students to be animal activists in their communities. We’ve launched local campaigns to educate people about responsible pet ownership and reminding people that pet abandonment is punishable by law. Our team is often on the ground with the community, going door to door to educate residents on this important issue and our work to fix it.
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