It Takes a Pueblo...

We've all heard the saying It takes a village to raise a child. Well, in the Yucatan, it takes a pueblo to handle a clinic.

SPAY conducted a spay/neuter/vaccination clinic in March 2006 in Chemuyil. Located about 20 minutes south of Akumal, halfway to Tulum, Chemuyil is a quaint little pueblo - the kind that makes you think that this is what Mexico is really like. People pass the time on the sidewalks chatting, or swinging in hammocks. Children can be heard playing in the park. And on almost every street, you see dogs roaming, prancing jauntily to their next destination, without seemingly a care in the world. Cats laze in doorways and meow loudly if you dare to step over them. All in all, a very tranquil existence.

But for most of the animals, existence is the word of the day. They wake up, trying to figure out where their next meal will come from, and they hone their skills at begging and getting attention.

A large part of our mission is education and outreach. The week before our clinics, we go into the neighborhood schools, and educate the children about the necessity of spaying or neutering their pets, not only as a means of population reduction and control, but also for the health benefits: a neutered pet is less likely to roam, meaning less chance of being hit by a car. A neutered pet is also less likely to act aggressively toward other animals, which results in less chance of bites and wounds and the infections that go with them. We also teach them the importance of proactive health care for their pets, including vaccinations, flea, tick, and heartworm prevention. The children are eager learners, and take the information home to their parents, many of whom have never learned to read.

At the clinic in March 2006, we had a number or volunteers from the neighboring communities turn out to assist with registration and administration and in the recovery room. We also had a group of students who showed up early in the morning on Saturday to help with the clinic. They had been anxiously awaiting this big moment for the entire week. They went to work, making posters, petting the pets as they were brought in, writing registration numbers on the tape collars used on the animals, and basically acting as gophers for the entire clinic crew. If someone needed a pen, the kids would run and get one and take it to them. If one of the operating room crew needed a bottle of water, the kids would take it to them. They helped recover animals and answered questions from some of the village residents that were a little shy about speaking with "gringos." They made beautiful, colorful posters, and then went and hung them up on every street corner in the pueblo. A group of young boys had a blast cleaning out the crates, thinking that they were running a doggy carwash. They got themselves pretty well cleaned in the process too! They delighted in learning about the animals and how to care for them, and took that information home with them to their parents. And they entertained us, teaching us colors in Spanish and them learning in English (using crayons as a teaching tool - they have colors listed on them in English, French and Spanish) and then teaching us colors in Maya, their native language. Many of them learn Maya first, then Spanish and then English - all before the age of about 10 years old.

Education is the key to the eradication of many things, including pet overpopulation, diseases, abuse and mistreatment. The children of Mexico are so eager to learn, and are like sponges when receiving information. They so want to be like the US and strive very hard to emulate our ideals and practices. The parents really look up to the children, because many of the parents have not received much of an education. Men have usually only made it to the eighth grade, and women have only gone through elementary school, until they were needed to go to work to help support the family. Many of the adults in the small pueblos throughout Mexico aren't able to read, and don't understand English. For their children to accomplish these feats is remarkable to them.

Our outreach and education programs are working, slowly but surely. As the word spreads, and more of the local residents become aware of the health risks and issues facing their pets and the means to prevent and avoid these, and with affordable and easily accessible services offered to them, such as the clinics, more and more pets will receive the services that they need to ensure long, happy and loving lives with their people. And perhaps, in twenty years or so, we will just be a long lost memory, of some crazy gringos that came to town and helped the animals and played with the kids for a weekend. A vet somewhere in the Yucatan will remember long ago cleaning out dog crates and making posters and teaching some women how to say "blue" in Spanish and Maya as they go about their business of spaying, neutering, vaccinating and educating. That's our goal. That's their dream.

Oh, and blue in Spanish is azul and in Maya is ch'ooh.