Celebrating 10 Years of The Sato Project
When The Sato Project was founded in 2011, our work began by rescuing one dog at a time from Dead Dog Beach. 10 Years later we have flown and vetted over 6,000 dogs from the streets and beaches of Puerto Rico to loving homes on the mainland. We have also spay/neutered and vaccinated over 7,500 animals and distributed 136K lbs of disaster relief supplies across the island in the wake of Puerto Rico's multiple natural disasters. None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the support of our #satostrong community. Read this special edition 10th Anniversary Program Report for The Sato Project's full story.
When The Sato Project was founded in 2011, our work began by rescuing one dog at a time from Dead Dog Beach. 10 Years later we have flown and vetted over 6,000 dogs from the streets and beaches of Puerto Rico to loving homes on the mainland. We have also spay/neutered and vaccinated over 7,500 animals and distributed 136K lbs of disaster relief supplies across the island in the wake of Puerto Rico's multiple natural disasters. None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the support of our #satostrong community. Read this special edition 10th Anniversary Program Report for The Sato Project's full story.
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SPAY/NEUTER & VACCINATIONS
BEYOND RESCUE & REHABILITATION: COMMUNITY OUTREACH
The Sato Project team has always recognized that Puerto
Rico’s stray dog epidemic cannot be solved by rescue alone.
In order to truly end this crisis,
we must address the systemic
causes and prevent suffering
before it begins.
Yabucoa. For $35 any pet owner could get their dog or cat
spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped. Our team
went door to door with flyers in hand to get the word out
and talk directly to the community about the importance of
spaying/neutering and regular veterinary care for their pets.
Aside from the immediate months after Hurricane Maria
when all veterinary services were temporarily shut down,
our SNVM voucher program has reached its maximum
number of pets nearly every month since it started in 2016.
“Why are there so many stray dogs in Puerto Rico?” is
another question we are often asked. There are many
layers to answering this question, but at the heart of it is
many years of infrequent spaying/neutering, which leads
to unwanted litters of puppies and a never-ending cycle of
reproduction. Compounding this issue is a lack of access
to affordable veterinary care, and multiple natural disasters
that have led to even more abandoned pets.
After extensive research and planning, our first community
spay/neuter initiative came to fruition in 2016. It was a
partnership with Humane Society International and local
veterinary group, Cruz Veterinary Services. Together, we
held six mobile clinics once a month throughout 2016.
Once that initiative came to an end, we immediately used
it as a stepping stone to establishing our own permanent
program: a subsidized Spay/Neuter, Vaccine, and Microchip
(SNVM) voucher program for our surrounding community in
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