Hello Fellow Travelers,

It’s time for a Humane Advisor featured story about an animal rescue. After the hardships many of us have faced lately as we try to survive the current global economic woes, I hope you will all appreciate a story about the struggle to survive that takes place in one of the tropical resorts that we love to visit as tourists. It is the story of Alux, a stray dog near Cancun, MX, and also the story of how each of us can make a difference in a suffering animal’s life.

Sweet Alux—A Special Girl

Sweet Alux

In a part of Cancun away from the luxury resorts, in a neighborhood called Leona Vicario, the sun was beating mercilessly down on a tiny white dog. She was too tired and sick to move out of the sun to find shade or fight the flies that gathered around her face. She was thirsty beyond belief, starving beyond hunger, and because she didn’t have the strength to fight anymore, she was waiting to die.

It was while on a mission to save another dog that had been hit by a car that two local animal rescuers happened upon the little white dog. Seeing her from their truck, Ricardo Pimentel and Lisa Edwards, both sighed, thinking the little dog was dead. As they pulled up to where she lay on the sidewalk, they could see that she was completely emaciated, a bag of bones covered here and there with what was left of her fur. Lisa could barely look, she was too horrified by what she thought was yet another dead dog on the streets of Cancun.

As Ricardo approached, he saw something protruding from the little dog’s mouth and as he came closer, he quickly realized the little dog was alive. He gently touched her face and saw that the object protruding from her mouth was a chicken bone that was embedded in the bottom of her mouth, obviously lodged there for some time. A sad relic of a starving little dog scavenging for food in garbage, Ricardo knew. Lisa and Ricardo carefully picked her up and placed her in the backseat of the truck, handling her tenderly as she had large open sores on each hip from lying on the hard concrete of the sidewalk for so long and she was crawling with ticks and fleas.

Too tired to lift her head but safe in the loving arms of Ricardo and Lisa

Barely conscious, the little white dog had no energy even to lift her head to see where she was or who these kind humans were. She could only lie perfectly still and quiet. The truck ride was bumpy over the pot-holed filled streets but all she could feel was the coolness of being out of the hot sun and the gentle touch of the rescuers’ hands as they lifted her head to give her food. After countless days of trying to find even a drop of water to quench her thirst and the smallest scrap of food to fill her stomach, and endless nights of trying to find a safe place to rest, for the first time ever in her short life, she felt safe.

Home at Tierra de Animales (TdA) (www.tierradeanimales.org), the animal sanctuary that Ricardo Pimentel, along with Lisa Edwards, founded near Cancun, it was touch and go at first for the little white dog, now named Alux. But she ate well and gained strength, even venturing out to play in the sun a few times as she became more active—all signs that she was on the road to recovery. Through the network of tourists that support TdA, a permanent home was found for Alux with a loving family once she was strong enough to travel to the U.S.

But life on the streets of Cancun had taken its toll on the little white dog. She fought hard to get back to 100% but it was not to be. About 3 weeks after she was found on the street, Alux began showing signs of distemper. No medications, nutritional supplements, or the love of her many supporters on Facebook who had been cheering her on from day one could stop this deadly disease. Ricardo broke the heartbreaking news to her new adoptive mom, Trish Bennett, and the rest of Alux’s fans learned shortly thereafter that her immune system was no match for the distemper and the sweet little white dog was gone.

Alux with a full belly with Ricardo Pimentel at Tierra de Animales

There were tears in many parts of the world that day. From Ricardo and Lisa who had found her, loved her, and worked to save her, to Trish Bennett in the U.S. who had opened her heart and home to Alux, to tourists from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico who supported Alux’s care with donations every week from their paychecks to TdA. We all cried but we were all grateful for one thing—that she left the earth surrounded by love and not alone, hopeless, and scared on that hot sidewalk where Ricardo and Lisa found her.

But her story doesn’t end there. Even though this little white dog named Alux was so special and loved, there is another dog just like her down every street and alleyway at resort destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean, and other international cities. Sick, hungry, and thirsty, these animals suffer without any chance of survival. That is, unless we as tourists, give them hope by leveraging the power of our passion for travel. One person can make a difference.

As your Humane Advisor, I propose that we, each and every one of us, take the enormous power of our travel dollars and use it to help the stray dogs, cats, and other animals that are suffering at this very moment around resorts.

Here are just a few ideas on how you–one person–can help dogs like Alux:

1. Support international animal welfare organizations like CANDi (www.candiinternational.org), a unique nonprofit that works with tourists and the tourism industry to address the problem of stray animals at resort destinations through sterilization campaigns, raising awareness for travelers, and educating the local population on humane animal treatment. 100% of all donations to CANDi go to the animals. CANDi believes sterilization is the answer to preventing the births of puppies and kittens into lives of suffering and only $20 U.S. will sterilize a puppy or kitten.
2. Raise awareness of the problem with your own network of fellow tourists, friends, co-workers, and family and get involved, maybe even volunteering while on vacation.
3. Choose a travel company–tour operator, hotel, airline, and/or travel agency–that supports the humane treatment of animals at the destinations they serve. If they are not part of the solution, they are part of the problem. The larger travel providers have enormous clout with local destination travel companies and governments. Ask them to use this power to help support the humane treatment of animals.
4. Support local animal rescue organizations at your favorite destinations. Ricardo Pimentel was just one person who had a dream to save dogs. Through his efforts, he created Tierra de Animales (TdA) and has saved thousands of dogs like Alux. Currently, there are over 157 dogs at TdA and they need at least three bags of dog food a day. It’s easy and safe to donate using Paypal: donate@helpmexicandogs.org. Or contact Lisa Edwards at:  helpmexicandogs@hotmail.com about adopting one of TdA’s dogs. Check out the dogs available for adoption at www.tierradeanimales.org. Again, 100% of your donation goes to these deserving dogs.
5. Share the story of Alux with your network at Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
6. And NEVER UNDERESTIMATE WHAT ONE PERSON CAN DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN A CAT OR DOG’S LIFE.

Focus on Tourism and International Animal Welfare in Central America.

Last week in San Jose, Costa Rica, a group of dedicated organizations met to discuss how the tourism industry can promote animal welfare at the I Foro de Bienstar Animal y Turismo Sostenible. Hosted and sponsored by WSPA-World Society for the Protection of Animals, Ms. Humane Advisor (wearing her CANDi hat) was a featured presenter at the Forum. As CANDi’s Vice President, Project Development, I gave a presentation on CANDi’s (www.candiinternational.org)  innovative animal welfare programs such as partnering with travel corporations like  Air Transat, Royal Resorts, and CEO Mexico, to conduct dog/cat large-scale sterilization clinics and educational programs.

Ms. Humane Advisor and Maximiliano Brandt, WSPA Latin America

An exciting development at the Forum was the newly created consortium of animal welfare groups, the Latin American Institute of Responsible and Sustainable Tourism (ITLSA). This organization intends to bring together  animal welfare groups who are working to integrate the humane treatment of animals with sustainable tourism.

Ms. Humane Advisor was inspired and impressed by the many programs going on in this corner of the globe to help animals—dogs, cats, whales, turtles, etc.

Among the organizations developing creative and resourceful ways to protect animals were:

FAADA-Fundacion Para La Adopcion, Apadrinamiento Y Defensa de los Animales, www.faada.org; www.turismo-responsable.com, Barcelona, Spain

This organization works with travel agents and travelers in Spain to provide alternative ethical options to the tourist industry for animal attractions such as elephant rides.

FAADA

Organización para la Conservación de Cetáceos (OCC) de Uruguay, www.occ.org.uy, Uruguay.

OCC develops coastal marine responsible tourism educational programs and public policy, and conducts research on responsible whale watching practices. This organization has constructed whale watching towers (replacing tour boats) to mitigate the effects of tourism on whale migration.

Organización para la Conservación de Cetáceos (OCC) de Uruguay

Funzel-Fundacion Zoologica de El Salavador