The Sato Project 2019 Program Report
Two years have passed since Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico. The Sato Project is working to address the crisis of abandoned and suffering animals on the island through rescue and community outreach programs. This report highlights our impact on the island over the past year, as well as stories of some of the animals and people we have helped.
Two years have passed since Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico. The Sato Project is working to address the crisis of abandoned and suffering animals on the island through rescue and community outreach programs. This report highlights our impact on the island over the past year, as well as stories of some of the animals and people we have helped.
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Photo by Caroline Okun<br />
PROGRAM<br />
UPDATE<br />
September <strong>2019</strong><br />
It has been two years since Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico,<br />
bringing with it an ongoing humanitarian and animal welfare crisis. But <strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong><br />
<strong>Project</strong> has not faltered. In the first year after the storm, we rose to meet the crisis<br />
head-on. We dramatically expanded the scope of our rescue efforts, launched a new<br />
program to reunite dogs with their families who had to flee to the mainland, and<br />
distributed thousands of pounds of humanitarian and animal relief supplies across<br />
the island. In the second year after the storm, our efforts have continued to evolve.<br />
Now, in addition to continuing to rescue, rehabilitate, and fly hundreds of dogs to new<br />
homes off the island, we have adapted our work to address Puerto Rico’s stray animal<br />
epidemic at the heart of its cause. Thanks to our role in <strong>The</strong> Spayathon for Puerto<br />
Rico Initiative, we have been able to change more lives than ever before.
<strong>The</strong> crisis is not over.<br />
But thanks to our generous supporters, we are<br />
still in the ring, fighting harder than ever.<br />
For many, Hurricane Maria never ended.<br />
September 20, 2017 is a date that will stay imprinted<br />
in Puerto Rican history forever. <strong>The</strong> entire island was<br />
left in the dark (nearly three million people) in what<br />
became the longest blackout in U.S. history. Overnight,<br />
hundreds of thousands of residents were left homeless.<br />
Thousands more were left without access to basic<br />
necessities like safe drinking water and medical<br />
care. Hurricane Maria officially claimed the lives of<br />
almost 3,000 people. <strong>The</strong> causes of these deaths were<br />
exacerbated by the slow recovery process, a process that<br />
continues to be marred by bureaucratic red tape, poor<br />
management, and lack of political will.<br />
Until this summer’s wave of protests and political<br />
upheaval on the island, the national media had largely<br />
moved on from Puerto Rico and Hurricane Maria.<br />
But for many of us still living on the island, the<br />
storm’s effects are still being felt. <strong>The</strong> island’s power<br />
capacity has still not returned to 100%. What has<br />
been repaired remains unstable and outages are still a<br />
weekly occurrence in our team’s homes and veterinary<br />
offices, sometimes lasting as long as 24 hours. Tens of<br />
thousands of residents are still living under FEMA-<br />
distributed blue tarps, instead of roofs. <strong>The</strong> healthcare<br />
system is fragile and under-funded.<br />
Food insecurity rates for families in Puerto Rico are<br />
estimated to be over triple that of the mainland. Almost<br />
half of Puerto Rican families with children under the<br />
age of 18 are dependent on food stamps for survival.<br />
According to U.S. Census data, at least 130,000 people<br />
left the island after the hurricane. Since the slow<br />
recovery process has brought little improvement to job<br />
security or quality of life, many people are still leaving.<br />
2<br />
THE SATO PROJECT PROGRAM UPDATE | SEPTEMBER <strong>2019</strong>
What does all this mean for the animals of Puerto Rico?<br />
It means a multitude of difficult questions and daily<br />
suffering. If families can’t afford to feed themselves,<br />
how can they afford to feed their pets, let alone take<br />
them to a veterinarian? As more people leave the island<br />
and/or struggle to survive themselves, more pets are<br />
being left behind, neglected, or abandoned.<br />
Many of these pets are not spayed/neutered, leading<br />
to a steep increase in the number of unwanted litters<br />
being born, further contributing to a snowballing stray<br />
animal population. We have also seen an increase in<br />
diseases such as heartworm, ehrlichia, and leptospirosis,<br />
which can be deadly to humans. We routinely rescue<br />
extremely malnourished dogs in need of emergency<br />
veterinary care, as well as entire families of female dogs<br />
and their puppies.<br />
By law, each of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities is<br />
mandated to have an animal control facility, but only<br />
five actually do. As a result, the animal shelter system<br />
on the island is overwhelmed, with a euthanasia rate of<br />
94-96%. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong> <strong>Project</strong>’s social media channels and<br />
email inboxes are constantly flooded with messages<br />
from people asking for help with stray and abandoned<br />
dogs. We respond to as many calls for help as we can;<br />
however, sadly, we cannot help everyone and our rescue<br />
team is forced to make difficult decisions every day.<br />
But thanks to the support of our community, we have<br />
remained as determined as ever to keep fighting for the<br />
satos of Puerto Rico.<br />
Transformation Story: Kaelen<br />
Kaelen gave birth to nine puppies while trying<br />
to survive as a stray. She cared for them as best<br />
she could; however, she was suffering herself.<br />
We found her living in an abandoned house,<br />
surrounded by trash, debris, and mud. All of the<br />
dogs were covered in dirt and in desperate need<br />
of medical care. Sadly, by the time we found this<br />
poor family, six of the puppies had already died.<br />
We rushed the remaining four vulnerable satos<br />
to the vet, where we unfortunately lost another<br />
puppy that was just too weak to survive. But<br />
the remaining three survivors, Kaelen and two<br />
puppies, went on to thrive under our care. Now<br />
all three dogs are beautiful, happy, and healthy.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y took their Freedom Flight together at the<br />
end of August on Mission Possible 10, where all<br />
three were picked up at the airport by their new<br />
forever families.<br />
Photo by NYC Pet Photographer/Stacey Axelrod<br />
3
Rescue & Rehabilitation:<br />
Expanding from Dead Dog Beach<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong> <strong>Project</strong> continues to fight back.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong> <strong>Project</strong>’s rescue and rehabilitation efforts<br />
have historically focused on an area in Yabucoa<br />
unfortunately known as Dead Dog Beach. When<br />
Chrissy Beckles founded <strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong> <strong>Project</strong> in 2011, this<br />
infamous dumping ground for unwanted and abused<br />
dogs was home to hundreds of abandoned dogs. Thanks<br />
to over eight years of our rescue and community<br />
outreach work, this beach has been almost entirely<br />
cleared of dogs. Only a handful of feral strays remain,<br />
whom we feed daily. We patrol the beach regularly, and<br />
immediately rescue any of the newly abandoned dogs<br />
we encounter there.<br />
In the first year after the storm, our<br />
team rehabilitated and transported<br />
over 1,500 dogs, reunited nearly<br />
200 dogs with their families who<br />
had to flee after the storm, and<br />
distributed over 69,000 lbs of<br />
humanitarian relief supplies to<br />
people and other organizations all<br />
across Puerto Rico.<br />
Photo by NYC Pet Photographer/Stacey Axelrod<br />
It is for this reason that we were able to exponentially<br />
expand the reach of our efforts to other areas of the<br />
island immediately after Hurricane Maria. In the<br />
first year after the storm, our team rehabilitated and<br />
transported over 1,500 dogs, reunited nearly 200 dogs<br />
with their families who had to flee after the storm,<br />
and distributed over 69,000 lbs of humanitarian relief<br />
supplies to people and other organizations all across<br />
Puerto Rico. We are so grateful for the support from<br />
our community that allowed us to step up and aid in<br />
the disaster relief efforts across the island. However, as<br />
a small (though mighty) team, we also know that we<br />
cannot change the whole island all at once. This is why,<br />
in the second year after the storm, we have returned<br />
our focus to our original home community of Yabucoa.<br />
4<br />
THE SATO PROJECT PROGRAM UPDATE | SEPTEMBER <strong>2019</strong>
Yabucoa remains one the poorest municipalities of<br />
Puerto Rico, with over half of the population living<br />
below the poverty line. And as the place where<br />
Hurricane Maria first made landfall, it is also one of<br />
the communities most affected by the slow recovery<br />
process. Over 90% of the municipal buildings in<br />
Yabucoa were destroyed in the storm. Fallen trees still<br />
block roads, broken street lights and signs remain<br />
unfixed, and many families are still living in houses<br />
badly in need of repair.<br />
Beyond the border of now-cleared Dead Dog Beach,<br />
there are thousands of stray dogs suffering in the<br />
streets, desperately awaiting their chance to be rescued.<br />
Many of these dogs are in critical condition, struggling<br />
to survive. <strong>The</strong> animals of Yabucoa still desperately<br />
need us and we remain committed to doing everything<br />
we can to help them.<br />
Transformation Story: Zora<br />
This past April, our clinics were completely full<br />
of dogs, yet we were still being inundated with<br />
requests for help. Sadly, we had to keep turning<br />
many of these requests down because we just did<br />
not have any more space. But then a follower on<br />
social media sent us a picture of Zora in the streets.<br />
She was extremely emaciated and suffering from<br />
severe demodectic mange, anemia, and parasites.<br />
We knew she would not survive much longer<br />
without our help, so we rotated some animals<br />
in our clinic and rescued her that very day. After<br />
months of veterinary care, medicated baths, good<br />
food, and most importantly love from our team in<br />
Puerto Rico, this sweet ten month old sato grew<br />
into a beautiful blonde. She took her Freedom<br />
Flight at the end of August, along with over 200<br />
other satos, on Mission Possible 10.<br />
Photo by Roberto Kozek<br />
An amazing team of super stars headed by Chrissy Beckles. This group knows each<br />
of their dogs individually, cares, and loves them as they are sent on their Freedom<br />
Flight to their forever homes…TSP has not only embarked on rescue but addressing<br />
the root of the issue by organizing their spay & neutering programs. <strong>The</strong>ir dedication<br />
is endless even when conditions seem hopeless. #satostrong<br />
- Hope L., Adopter and Volunteer<br />
5
When Chrissy Beckles first started rescuing stray<br />
dogs from Puerto Rico, she began by rescuing one dog<br />
at a time. Gradually, her efforts grew from one dog a<br />
month, to one dog a week, to hundreds, and then over<br />
a thousand dogs a year. Our strategy remains the same.<br />
One beach has been cleared. Gradually we hope this<br />
will evolve from one beach at a time, to one community<br />
at a time, to one city, and to one county, until the entire<br />
island is cleared and every sato has a loving home.<br />
Since Fall of 2018 we have rescued,<br />
rehabilitated, and flown almost 400<br />
dogs from Puerto Rico to the mainland.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se ‘Freedom Flights’ either<br />
take place as privately chartered<br />
airplanes containing anywhere from<br />
30-150 dogs, or as a handful at a<br />
time on commercial flights.<br />
FLYING TO FREEDOM<br />
Our team was determined to save as many lives as possible before the height of Puerto Rico’s hurricane season<br />
began at the end of August. A critical part of our hurricane preparedness plan included organizing the biggest<br />
transport ever in our history, a mission we dubbed Mission Possible 10. On August 18th, <strong>2019</strong>, two airplanes<br />
filled with a combined 240 rescued animals (221 dogs and 19 cats), flew from San Juan, Puerto Rico to one of<br />
several stops along the East Coast. Once on the ground, every dog was greeted by their new forever family,<br />
foster family or one of our trusted shelter partners.<br />
6<br />
Photo by NYC Pet Photographer/Stacey Axelrod<br />
Photo by NYC Pet Photographer/Stacey Axelrod
I don’t even know where to begin to say how wonderful this organization is. Words don’t<br />
do them justice… Everything about the organization is top notch. <strong>The</strong>y run a very tight<br />
ship, all from a view to protecting these amazing dogs and getting them safely into the<br />
arms of their forever homes. Every volunteer I came into contact with was incredibly kind<br />
and well educated about <strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong> <strong>Project</strong>, informative and easy to work with. <strong>The</strong>y are<br />
absolutely the best. I will be forever grateful that they helped me turn my house back into<br />
a home and brought me back to smiling again.<br />
- Heather S., Adopter<br />
<strong>The</strong> Spayathon for<br />
Puerto Rico: Year One<br />
26 organizations. Four week-long clinics.<br />
34,344 lives changed forever.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong> <strong>Project</strong> team has always recognized that no<br />
matter how many dogs we rescue from the streets of<br />
Puerto Rico and fly to the mainland, we will never be<br />
able to fully solve the island’s systemic stray animal<br />
crisis without addressing its root cause: the lack of<br />
spaying/neutering. We started a subsidized spay/neuter<br />
and vaccine community voucher program in 2016<br />
serving the Humacao and Yabucoa communities, but<br />
we have been eager to expand this outreach to reach a<br />
greater population of pet owners. So when the Humane<br />
Society of the United States (HSUS) approached us<br />
about partnering with them for <strong>The</strong> Spayathon for<br />
Puerto Rico last year, we jumped at the opportunity to<br />
contribute to this historic and bold initiative.<br />
It is truly an honor to be a member of the Spayathon<br />
Coalition. Spearheaded by the HSUS, the Spayathon is a<br />
collaborative effort of over 26 national and international<br />
organizations, plus the government of Puerto Rico. We<br />
have all come together for a single cause: to help Puerto<br />
Ricans access vital veterinary care for their pets and<br />
curb the growth of the stray animal population.<br />
Through four rounds of week-long clinics in different<br />
locations across the island, pet owners have had the<br />
opportunity to spay/neuter and vaccinate their cat or<br />
dog at no cost.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong> <strong>Project</strong> was assigned as the Ground Team for<br />
the southeast sector of the island. For our four clinics,<br />
we were in charge of all logistics, community outreach,<br />
and registration.<br />
7
In <strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong> <strong>Project</strong>’s almost eight year history, we have rescued nearly<br />
3,500 dogs and flown them off the island. But there are still an estimated<br />
500,000 stray dogs roaming Puerto Rico’s streets and beaches. <strong>The</strong>re is<br />
only one way to stop the rising street dog population from getting any<br />
bigger: we must stop the suffering before it begins and spay/neuter as<br />
many dogs as we possibly can.<br />
Every single morning of our Spayathon clinics during<br />
Rounds 1, 2, 3, and 4, our team arrived before dawn to a<br />
line of pet owners already waiting for us. Many of them<br />
started lining up as early as midnight the night before<br />
to ensure that they could get in. Nearly every day our<br />
clinic reached its full capacity. We still have a long way<br />
to go to combat Puerto Rico’s stray animal population,<br />
but the impact of these 34,334 changed lives is going to<br />
be felt far and wide all across the island for many years<br />
to come.<br />
By the end of Round 4, our team<br />
was responsible for facilitating the<br />
spaying/neutering and vaccination<br />
of 4,138 dogs and cats in a single<br />
year. <strong>The</strong> entire 26-member<br />
Spayathon Coalition all together<br />
treated 34,334 animals.<br />
8<br />
Photo by Will Ferman<br />
THE SATO PROJECT PROGRAM UPDATE | SEPTEMBER <strong>2019</strong>
In only 6 years, one unspayed<br />
female dog and her unsterilized<br />
offspring can produce up to<br />
67,000 puppies. <strong>The</strong> Spayathon<br />
for Puerto Rico is preventing<br />
millions of unwanted animals<br />
from being born and living lives<br />
of suffering in the streets.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Spayathon is truly a dream come true for the animals<br />
and people of Puerto Rico. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong> <strong>Project</strong> is extremely<br />
proud to be a part of it. <strong>The</strong> initiative was originally set<br />
to conclude at the end of Round 4 in May <strong>2019</strong>. But there<br />
has been such a high demand for these services that the<br />
initiative was extended for an additional six rounds over<br />
the next two years. Given the current political shift on<br />
the island, the future of the Spayathon is not entirely<br />
clear as of the publication of this report. But regardless<br />
of the broader coalition effort, <strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong> <strong>Project</strong> is<br />
determined to build on the experience we have gained<br />
through the Spayathon and to continue to offer largescale<br />
clinics in the southeast sector of the island, and to<br />
turn the tides of the stray population.<br />
9
Spayathon Success Stories<br />
Our team has learned many valuable lessons through<br />
our participation in <strong>The</strong> Spayathon Initiative, but one<br />
has become abundantly clear: Puerto Ricans truly love<br />
their animals. During every day of <strong>The</strong> Spayathon<br />
clinics, thousands of pet owners line up before dawn<br />
and wait all day for their pets to be treated. Even<br />
though many of these pet owners are struggling to<br />
provide for themselves after Hurricane Maria, they are<br />
still doing everything they can to care for their pets.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se are just a few of the lives that your support has<br />
helped us change.<br />
We are honored to help<br />
these pet owners access vital<br />
veterinary care for the pets<br />
they love, while also actively<br />
addressing Puerto Rico’s<br />
systemic stray animal crisis.<br />
Jesus & Snowy<br />
Jesus & Snowy<br />
Jesus has been on active military duty for 18 years,<br />
serving tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. After<br />
Hurricane Maria, he was deployed to his native Puerto<br />
Rico to assist in the recovery effort. At the end of last<br />
summer, he was patrolling a beach with several other<br />
soldiers when they saw a box floating in the ocean.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y thought they heard crying coming from it, so<br />
they pulled the box out of the water. Inside they found<br />
three tiny white puppies. An animal lover with two<br />
dogs already, Jesus decided to take one of the little balls<br />
of fur home to his daughter, where he was promptly<br />
named Snowy. Snowy’s two siblings went home with<br />
two other soldiers as well. It was an honor for us to<br />
treat little Snowy during Round 4 of <strong>The</strong> Spayathon.<br />
10<br />
Ramón & Ruby<br />
Ramon was in line at a food truck one day when he<br />
a saw a group of young adults kicking and hitting a<br />
small dog. Outraged, he marched right into the middle<br />
of them and made them stop. He grabbed the dog and<br />
took her to safety and ultimately, back home with him,<br />
where his other two dogs and wife embraced sweet<br />
Ruby as a new member of their family. Ramon brought<br />
Ruby to Round 2 of <strong>The</strong> Spayathon last November. He<br />
told us that he sees a lot of stray dogs around the island<br />
and felt that the Spayathon was a great way to help cut<br />
down on the large number of dogs like Ruby, who, by<br />
no fault of their own are subject to needless abuse and<br />
suffering in the streets.
Jocelyn & Milagro<br />
Omar, Kilo & Kimbo<br />
Omar rescued Kilo and Kimbo’s very pregnant mom<br />
during Hurricane Maria. He took her in so she could<br />
have her puppies in safety. But then two weeks after<br />
giving birth to eight puppies, she suddenly died. Omar<br />
had no idea what to do with such tiny newborn pups,<br />
but then his uncle had an idea. He had a goat and<br />
started bringing its milk over every day to help Omar<br />
feed them. Sure enough, they all grew into beautiful,<br />
healthy puppies. Omar found homes for all of them<br />
except for Kilo, whom he decided to keep. But then<br />
Kimbo’s family could no longer keep him, so Omar<br />
took him back. Now the two brothers are a pair who<br />
both got treated during Round 2 of <strong>The</strong> Spayathon.<br />
Jocelyn & Milagro<br />
Milagro was a dog who lived in Jocelyn’s neighborhood,<br />
which is unfortunately not a very dog-friendly area.<br />
Jocelyn often witnessed people mistreating her,<br />
including throwing hot water on her to scare her away<br />
from their yards. Jocelyn is an animal-lover who does<br />
everything she can to feed stray animals whenever<br />
she sees them. It made her very upset to witness this<br />
cruelty to Milagro, but with one dog and three cats<br />
already, she did not feel ready to take another dog<br />
into her home. But then in a horrible act of cruelty,<br />
someone poisoned Milagro. Jocelyn could not stand by<br />
and watch her suffer. She brought her to her house and<br />
nursed her back to health herself. Now, Milagro (which<br />
means “Miracle” in Spanish) is officially a member of<br />
her pack of two dogs and six cats, who are all animals<br />
that Jocelyn and her family have rescued. She was very<br />
grateful to be able get Milagro spayed and vaccinated<br />
during Round 2 of <strong>The</strong> Spayathon.<br />
Omar, Kilo & Kimbo<br />
Ramón & Ruby<br />
Photo by Estefania Rodriguez<br />
11
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong> <strong>Project</strong> team would like to extend a heartfelt<br />
“Thank You” to everyone who has generously supported our rescue<br />
and community outreach efforts over the last year. During an<br />
especially trying time in Puerto Rico’s history, your donations have<br />
helped us save lives, end suffering, and build permanent change for<br />
the dogs and people on the island.<br />
THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS WORK POSSIBLE<br />
Due to a combination of economic hardship, infrequent spaying and neutering,<br />
and the mass exodus of residents since the devastation of Hurricane Maria, an<br />
estimated 500,000 stray dogs are a sad reality of life on Puerto Rico. Many of these<br />
dogs are suffering and struggling to survive. Founded in 2011 by Chrissy Beckles,<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong> <strong>Project</strong> is dedicated to ending this suffering and helping as many of<br />
these satos (“stray dogs”) as possible find the safe, loving lives they deserve.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Sato</strong> <strong>Project</strong> is working to make permanent change in Puerto Rico through a<br />
threefold mission: 1. rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming abandoned and abused<br />
dogs; 2. addressing the underlying causes of overpopulation, abandonment,<br />
and abuse through community outreach and low-cost spay, neuter, and vaccine<br />
programs; 3. bringing international attention to the problem of abandoned and<br />
abused dogs in Puerto Rico.<br />
For more information about our work visit www.thesatoproject.org<br />
Facebook.com/thedeaddogbeachproject<br />
Instagram.com/thesatoproject<br />
Twitter.com/thesatoproject<br />
130 Water St.<br />
Brooklyn, NY 11201<br />
www.thesatoproject.org/donate