The city of Soledad de Graciano Sanchez in Mexico is home to an estimated 300,000 stray dogs.
Life is tough for these street dogs—they’re never sure where they’re going to get food to eat, and it can be difficult for them to get help if they’re hurt. But now, Soledad de Graciano Sanchez is making life a little easier for these pups. In January 2019, the city began two new programs to help street dogs.
One of these programs is called ComeDog. This program is designed to help make it easier for pups to find food.
The program is run jointly by Soledad de Graciano Sanchez’s City Hall and citizens’ response group Respuesta Ciudadana. Volunteers placed 15 PVC pipes on utility poles all around the city. They transformed these PVC pipes into food dispensers, and they filled the dispensers with dog food donated by good Samaritans. Volunteers regularly go out and refill the pipes.
The program has already been a success—the city’s stray dogs are so excited when they come across one of these food dispensers!
Soledad de Graciano Sanchez has also started to program to help keep the city’s animals healthy, ‘Ambudog.’
Ambudog is Mexico’s first ambulance that’s used solely for caring for animals. Veterinarians working with Ambudog are offering free healthcare for both stray animals and pets. Some of the services provided including spaying and neutering and vaccinations.
Everyone is excited about this new program—people have been lining up outside the ambulance with their pets!
“Today I realize how many people appreciate this program, we have been congratulated by different means and, well, I am going to ask you to participate and help us to have a very successful refuge,” Mayor Gilberto Hernandez Villafuente told CN13.
The Director of Municipal Services in Soledad de Graciano Sanchez, Dolores Elisa García Román, said she hopes vaccinating stray puppies when they’re born will help prevent diseases from spreading:
“There is an infectious picture when the puppy is born and if a month and a half is not vaccinated mainly by distemper or parvovirus, there is a contagion, both in people and animals, then this ambulance will be taken to all the colonies to attend to all the puppies.”
So far, both of these programs have been very successful. Tons of stray dogs have started eating from ComeDog’s food dispensers, and AmbuDog has been able to vaccinate and treat lots of pups.
Soledad de Graciano Sanchez is doing an amazing job caring for their stray dog population. Hopefully, other cities will take note of what this city is doing and implement their own programs to help stray animals!
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