I was able to connect with an animal rescue group while on holidays in Punta Cana this past spring. Their name is Rescatame and through generous donations and great working relationships with the public and vets - they are able to vaccinate, spay & neuter, feed and facilitate adoptions both local and overseas. Sylvia and Viviana were kind enough to bring me out to show me what a typical morning can consist of. This particular morning involved helping some community dogs with food and treating a new arrival with a dewormer. Often the locals vets can manage with treatments but sometimes they need to travel to Santo Domingo for more complicated procedures.

There are many stories of dogs showing up at businesses. Some are lucky and taken care of, some are chased away ... some are poisoned. It's a tough life for any roaming dog. Rescatame see the local problem and work to try to improve their lives. Education, spay & neutering, vaccinations and encourage adoptions. Please check out their Facebook page for more up to date news.

As many readers may know, about 5 years ago I adopted a once homeless dog from India. It wasn't planned, expected or truly thought out. I already had 1 dog, Jorja. She was my first dog as an 'adult' and she was already a handful.

I frequent a blog called Are you a Pariah Dog Fan? which talks about indigenous breeds in India, worldwide pariah breeds, canine evolution, pictures of dogs with their family from all over the world and the odd adoption plea. Well .. as it turned out that fateful day .. a fellow Canadian woman had found a puppy on the side of the road - bad shape - and brought him home to nurse him back to health. Her hope was to find someone to adopt him. Sadly, in India and in many developing countries .. for those that are fortunate enough to feed themselves .. let alone a dog, they often dismiss the dog they see scavenging for food on the side of the road. They want dogs that are often are far removed physically from anything that resembles a local canine. Siberian Huskies in India? You bet. Bulldog? You name them. India's class/caste system extends beyond human tribes.

I saw a video Lisa posted on YouTube and I immediately fell in love and wanted to help. With some local help finding a transportation crate, some expedited paper work and some $ .. this little dog found his way flying from Ahmedabad to Mumbai, onwards to Frankfurt and then a final trip to Toronto. We drove roundtrip from Ottawa to pick him up that day at Pearson Airport.

When I hear stories of people adopting dogs from foreign countries .. it's usually a pup they found while traveling. I had never met this dog, now called Pete, but I felt this overwhelming sense of helplessness and knew I could give him a loving home. This is actually a big concern for me as I truly want to travel to India one day .. I feel I will get too emotional when seeing all the street dogs.

Pete arrived in Canada with all his vaccinations and paperwork and he's been here for almost 5 years.

One Green Planet posted a story authored by Erika Abrams that I wanted to share. Erika's family runs Animal Aid Unlimited in Udaipur. They have a sanctuary where they treat everything from dogs to cows to donkeys, all animals. I was told that Erika actually met Pete when he was with Lisa at the airport in Mumbai (on his way to Toronto). Sometimes it really is a small world. :)