On the highway towards Caguas I saw today a dog hanging her head out of the window, sitting on the co-driver’s seat… turns out her name is Luna and if I understood the driver correctly (from driver to driver in moving vehicles), she is a Perro de Presa Mallorquin. If not, please send me the real name of the breed to petstories@satitopr.com.
Mathilde is a Chinese Char Pai and lives in San Juan. She is very sweet and obedient, hardly ever barks, great with kids and loves to play fetch. She loves to read GCity Magazine!
Name: Matilde Rodríguez
Breed: Chineese Char Pei
Birthday: June 11
Sex: Female
Mother: Akira
Father: Ruban’s Cervantino
Send us a photo and a short description of your pet to petstories@satitopr.com!
Aqui mando una foto de la ultima perra que adoptamos. Es preciosa y cuando la cogimos pesaba 75 libras ahora mas de pesa 100 y es lo mas dulce y noble que hay en este planeta. Su nombre es Nina Estrella de la Sierra pero yo le llamo Minina; ( que significa en portugues mi niña ). Tambien mando una de Brando, un golden retriever que encontre caminando solito y sucio por la calle, bello y chulo y ahora vive en un buen hogar donde le aman muchisimo.
Please send us a picture of your pet(s) with some lines of how you got it or what you like most, funny happenings, etc. so that we can publish it here on satitopr.com. Send your text and pictures to petstories@satitopr.com.
Today I am introducing to you: Emma, or Anasthasia vom Riesrand. She is a 6 years old Newfoundland or “Terra Nova.” She was born in Germany and moved to San Juan two years ago. She got used to the warm climate over time, but obviously didn’t get adjusted to the food and for a while we were a regular guest at our veterinary Ernesto Casta. After having changed her food to the holistic brand “Eagle Pack”, which we get in the Pawtisserie in Santurce, the whole dog changed literally within a month. No more skin problems, no problems with Frontline anymore and not one more tick.
About every month or so we bring her to Petzone in Guaynabo, where she gets shaved, washed and all polished.
You can see Emma’s father, Hannibal di Borgoleonardo here and more pictures of her breeder’s kennel here.
Emma goes frequently to El Morro and out to other outside places in Puerto Rico, when the most common words heard are: “Mira, un oso…” - she is extremely friendly and just great with kids. And always when she hears the friendly voices of kids and people, her tail starts moving. In Italy, in about 10 schools throughout the country, the Newfies are trained as rescue swimmers and jump into the sea from helicopters; here is a short article about that on BBC. Newfies, like other giant breeds, descend in part from the Tibetan Mastiff but is more laid-back in its protectiveness as compared to other breeds and is is less likely to put on a show of barking & growling, relying instead on his size and concerned watchfullness to send a message to an unwanted intruder. It is very typical that a Newf will stand physically between his family and any stranger. He will not threaten nor growl, merely remain in a position which indicates that he is on duty. He will not hesitate to act, however, if his family is physically threatened. People with children and pools find that the Newf watches the children every second they are in the water.
Having a Newfoundland is like having an additional person in the family. They behave and expect to be treated much like persons and care for “muuuucho carino” - as they are made for colder temperatures, I wouldn’t suggest to bring one to the island; Emma is only here because she was our dog before we came here.
Through the following links you can send emails to Officials in Puerto Rico regarding the terrible tragedy in Barceloneta.
These are emails that already have a pre-written text, all you have to do is fill out your name and info on each of the 3 separate webpages to reach different officials - and the emails will be automatically sent to the various officials. If you wish, you can alter the pre-written subject line, and/or the pre-written text.
It is often better to at least change the subject line, since government officials getting tons of emails with the same subject line probably just do a massive DELETE. I usually change the subject line to something like A REQUEST, but it is entirely up to you.
Thanks for your caring.
The 3 different emails, each going to different officials, are at:
http://ga0.org/campaign/prjd for Attorney General Roberto J. Sanchez-Ramos
http://ga0.org/campaign/prgov for Governor Anibal Acevedo-Vila, Presidente Camara de Representantes de Puerto Rico Jose F. Aponte Hernandez, Senator Kenneth McClintock Hernandez and Vivian Nieves
http://ga0.org/campaign/prtc for D. Diaz and Tourism Company Executive Director Terestella Gonzalez Denton..
Leilani
As Associated Press reported, and subsequently major publications around the world, Animal Control workers seized dozens of dogs and cats from housing projects in Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, and threw them from a bridge to death. It took me a while to realize what those people did, so just read that again: living animals were thrown over the edge of a bridge to die.
To read the full story, please click here.
Disgust is the most polite word I can find for describing what I feel about what has happened there and the people who did it.
How can somebody do something like that?
But are we really only looking at exceptions? Is the problem really only the misconduct of some emotionally and mentally underdeveloped or totally mislead guys, who threw living creatures over a bridge?
In no way do I mean to belittle what has happened there. The death and the whole course of action over there is more than tragic and I feel sorry for every animal that found its death there. The responsible persons have to be identified and punished to the full extent of the law! But what I want to say is that there is more behind that: I think that the general attitude of people towards animals needs improvement in huge parts of the island´s residents!
Everyday and everywhere in Puerto Rico, there happen and exist substantial mistreatments and agony for cats and dogs.
Animals that were domesticated to be the companions of man are living in huge numbers spread all over the island, all day long searching and fighting for at best mediocre food, if they are not lying around dead on the streets, where it can take days or weeks until they are being picked up. And the worst: they are constantly reproducing themselves and are still growing in numbers because people who bought a pet as a toy or gift and got bored or frustrated, just let them go.
As far as I know, it is even forbidden to sell dogs like it is done, on the streets, yet whenever I drive around on a saturday, I see those people on parkings, under bridges selling cute little puppies. What I also see is police cars simply passing by, not being interested at all and the several times I stopped to say that this is not right, I heard comments that were somewhere between uncivilized and threatening.
Abraham Cohen writes in his book ´Everyman´s Talmud´ that “indeed, the way a man treats animals is an index to his character.” He explains in the following paragraph that God made Moses the shepherd of his flock, Israel, because he showed mercy in the way he treated his sheep. And I am asking myself:
What would God say about how animals are being treated in Puerto Rico? When he sees them dead on the street or looking for food somewhere on the cement of Isla Verde?
We need a long term concept, that contains three aspects:
1. Education and attitude
We need to understand again that pets are our friends and have been domesticated to live with people and being treated well as we would treat other people well. We need to educate, starting with the children, so they understand that. We need to educate also the women and men of the police so that they know and make use of the existing legislation.
2. Stop uncontrolled reproduction
It is possible to spay (sterilize) the animals on the streets to prevent them from reproducing them in the wilderness in huge numbers. This will help on the medium term already to significantly lower the number of animals on the streets.
3. Emergency Service
The creation of a humane task force is overdue. Dead animals need to be picked up from the streets quickly and the task force can be utilized for control purposes, too.
As far as I know, Satito PR has this concept not only in the drawer but so far unsuccessfully presented to mayors and other officials. If I remember correctly, the common excuse was that there are more pressing issues.
On the care2.com website it is possible to file online petitions that people can support with signing it. Somebody did and I am glad to see that within only 5 days of its existence, a petition calling the Governor of Puerto Rico to action, has been signed by more than 7,485 people.
There is nothing stronger than an idea, whose time has come.
To sign the petition, click here.
Let´s change the circumstances for animals here in Puerto Rico!
