Celebrating 10 Years of The Sato Project

SNV VOUCHERS
SPRINKOLINA - 2021
While The Sato Project does not rescue cats directly, we do
include cats in our Freedom Flight operations (when helping
other organizations transport their animals), our No Dog Left
Behind program, and all of our spay/neuter community outreach
programs. 1 year old Sprinkolina was found abandoned in the
streets. However, the people who found her were not in a
position to adopt her and could not find her another home. Not
wanting to abandon her again or see her suffer, they took her
to one of our partner veterinary clinics to have her euthanized.
Fortunately, the clinic staff stepped in and were able to find
a family for her instead. They also informed her new mom,
Rosemily, of our voucher program and she jumped at the
chance to get Sprinkolina spayed/neutered and vaccinated
for free. Rosemily says, “there is such an overpopulation of
pets in Puerto Rico, in part because so many people are not
educated about the importance of sterilization and/or do not
have the resources to treat their pets.” She really appreciates
how our program addresses both issues and would love to see
even more such programs across the island so that more cats
like Sprinkolina don’t end up unwanted and abandoned.
Our spay/neuter efforts are continuing to evolve and expand. As of spring
2021, thanks to the support of Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Henry Friedman of
@KeepingFinn (our sato Instagram star), our community voucher program has
gone from being low-cost to completely free so that we can reach even more
pet owners who need it the most.
Yet another health emergency has surfaced in 2021:
outbreaks of deadly distemper have been reported all over
the island this year. We even experienced an outbreak in
one of our own veterinary clinics. Distemper is a highly
contagious disease and there is a routine vaccine given to
all dogs who are lucky enough to receive regular veterinary
care. So for most dog owners, it is never a serious concern
they have to face. However, in Puerto Rico, where there
are thousands of stray dogs trying to survive in the streets
and many families who cannot afford routine veterinary
care for their pets - distemper is a harsh reality. As soon
as this disease surfaced among some of our intakes, we
knew we needed to take action quickly. In the spring we
held two completely free drive-up vaccination clinics in
Humacao, Puerto Rico. Through these two no-cost clinics
we vaccinated 1,210 dogs for distemper, parvovirus,
leptospirosis, and rabies. We plan to hold additional clinics
in the fall and/or winter of 2021.
28
The Sato Project has
spayed/neutered 7,500
dogs and cats across all
of our combined spay/
neuter and vaccine
outreach programs over
10 years.