Thursday, November 21st, 2019 kicked off our 4 day Spay/Neuter + Wellness Campaign; HOLA’s pilot project in Cartagena, Colombia. The day started bright and early and our volunteers were abuzz with excitement.
For added excitement, our day started with the knowledge that there was a nation-wide strike in Colombia. To be honest, we had some concerns, but we remained paw-sitive and thankfully, our first day of work wasn’t affected by this event.
Our first clinic day was hosted in the Olaya Herrera neighbourhood of Cartagena, and we could not believe that there was a line up of people and their pets well before we opened our doors at 8am. We had 100 spots available for surgery, and depending on a number of circumstances, those spots could be sold out or under utilized. We crossed our fingers and paws…
By 10:30am, we were SOLD OUT! 111 surgeries booked meaning that 111 dogs and cats would no longer be contributing to the pet overpopulation crisis in this neighbourhood. AMAZING.
This campaign has been in the works since March, and never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined such a successful first campaign day.
Thank you so very much to the veterinary team for working at the speed of light, to the local volunteers who also served as translators between the community and our Canadian volunteers and to Funcación ALDEA for organizing this campaign with us.
PLUS, a very special thanks to our amazing, and now very tired Canadian volunteer team! Thank you to the community who came out with pets in laundry baskets, backpacks and more and THANK YOU to all of our donors who made this dream a reality.
Our hearts are full tonight! 🐾
CARTAGENA, DAY ONE:
CANADIAN VOLUNTEERS
ANIMALS SPAYED/NEUTERED
WELLNESS TREATMENTS
Day One in Photos
