Mérida veterinarian and U.S. volunteers treat over 300 dogs in El Salvador

Planned Pethood Yucatán
Dr. Tony Rios at Planned Pethood’s roving vet clinic in Progreso, Yucatán, in 2017. Photo: Animal Planet

Dr. Tony Ríos, the Mérida-based veterinarian who leads Planned Pethood Mexico and its well-known spay and neuter campaigns, aided an effort to treat over 300 dogs in El Salvador.

Ríos visited the city of El Espino to evaluate the feasibility of carrying out a spay and neuter campaign in that community.

His trip was reported by The Sentinel, based in Grand Junction, Colo., which is the sister city to the Central American city.

Ríos told a reporter that each trip carries the concern that locals will cooperate.

“There’s always a tiny, tiny doubt about it,” Dr. Rios Perez said. Many people in rural communities are suspicious of spay/neuter procedures or simply do not understand their benefits.

Planned Pethood Mexico offers 10 to 15 campaigns annually in the Yucatán region.

He traveled to El Espino at the invitation of volunteers at the Grand Junction-based Foundation for Cultural Exchange and began an awareness campaign in the community. The Foundation has inroads in El Espino because it facilitates the sister-city relationship.

A bus with 11 Grand Valley residents, three Salvadoran veterinarians and Ríos later arrived with supplies and set up the weekend clinic.

The campaign in El Espino was offered for free and included antibiotics, pain medication, and vaccines for dogs. The goal was to treat 300 dogs, and they exceeded that number.

Source: Grand Junction Sentinel.

Yucatán Magazine
Yucatán Magazine
Yucatán Magazine has the inside scoop on living here. Sign up to get our top headlines delivered to your inbox every week.
- Advertisement -spot_img
AVAILABLE NOWspot_img
ADVERTISEMENTspot_img
Verified by ExactMetrics