Celebrating 10 Years of The Sato Project

When the earthquake crisis began in early 2020, another
emergency immediately followed: the surrendering of pets
to municipal shelters. Without feeling safe in their homes
or having adequate resources to survive, many families
were forced to make difficult decisions. For many, this sadly
included surrendering their pets.
Every animal shelter across the island is severely
overburdened; however, municipal shelters in the
southeastern corner of the island, where the earthquakes
are the most frequent, were pushed to a breaking point.
The municipal shelter in Ponce, Puerto Rico has
faced a euthanasia rate of nearly 99% since the
earthquakes began.
Once The Sato Project found out that so many family pets
were being euthanized due to lack of space, our team
immediately took action. Within five days of the first major
earthquake, we organized an evacuation of 116 dogs and
cats directly from the struggling shelters in the center of the
earthquake crisis to welcoming shelters on the East Coast.
Two weeks later, we organized another flight of 140 dogs
and cats. These first evacuation missions turned out to only
be the beginning.
"The students and faculty from Puerto Rico at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine
(RUSVM) mobilized our community soon after the disaster events, in an effort to raise funds to
assist with relief efforts for animals in the affected areas. The students decided to donate the
monies to The Sato Project, as it proves to be an organization that year after year continues to
provide a holistic approach to improving animal welfare in Puerto Rico."
-Doris M. Castellanos,
Research and Postgraduate Studies Lead Administrator & IRB Administrator, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine
As the earthquake crisis continues in the southwestern corner, so have our
efforts to relieve shelters in that region.
Since these efforts began, we have rescued and helped
transport over 600 animals from two municipal shelters,
Ponce Municipal Shelter, Villa Michelle Mayaguez, and the
non-profit sanctuary Santuario De Animales San Francisco
de Asis, which sustained severe damage from earthquakes
and tropical storms. Saving dogs from euthanasia at the
municipal shelter in Ponce and taking them into our program
has now become an ongoing feature of our rescue efforts.
In the fall of 2020 and spring of 2021, we pulled 70 and 80
dogs respectively from Ponce and incorporated them into
our own rescue and rehabilitation program.
Our No Dog Left Behind program, started as a response
to the devastation of Hurricane Maria, has also continued
helping pets stay with their families. Since this program
started, The Sato Project has reunited over 220 dogs (and
a few cats!) with their families on the mainland who had to
leave the island.
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