These are the types of pet owners we are serving in Puerto Rico for The Spayathon. We heard so many of stories of people rescuing dogs themselves: rescuing satos from being abused, poisoned, starving, or taking in pregnant moms full of puppies. Each one of these stories was a reminder of why we do this work. There are thousands of loving pet owners in Puerto Rico who want to do whatever they can for their pets. Every morning we arrived to our clinic in Fajardo at 6am to a long line of people and pets who had started lining up not long after midnight. By the end of the week, our Round Two clinic, alongside The Humane Society of the United States and our amazing veterinary team partner, Helping Paws Across Borders, performed 1,113 spay/neuter surgeries in only seven days, surpassing our record of 899 surgeries during Round One. 

The entire 26 member Spayathon Coalition all together completed over 8,000 surgeries all across the island. That's over 8,000 animals who have gone on to healthier lives, thousands of owners who don't have to worry about their pets producing unwanted liters, and even thousands upon thousands of more animals who will never have to know a life of suffering in the streets.

To be able to make such a giant impact on the animal population of this island is a huge dream come true for all of us at The Sato Project. While we will always continue to rescue as many of the islands tens of thousands of homeless dogs as we can, the success of the Spayathon helps us imagine that maybe, just maybe some day in the future, Puerto Rico won't have many strays dogs at all. 

We would like to express an immense amount of gratitude to our incredible team of volunteers who made the Spayathon possible. Every morning last week many of them started their days before dawn and didn't end them until long after the sun went down. For every hour in between, we watched them handle dogs and cats and talk to owners with such incredible compassion, love, and patience. We truly cannot imagine a better team. And to everyone who had our back from afar, whether you donated blankets, towels or other supplies, spread news of The Spayathon on social media, or contributed financially: THANK YOU. Thank you for helping to change over 1,000 lives last week. All of your hard work and support will continue to echo across the island for many years and for many lives to come. 

You can see more photos of Round Two and read more stories of some of the pet owners we served at thesatoproject.org/spayathon-round-2. Otherwise, stay tuned as we continue to make a historic impact: Spayathon Round Three is only three months away! 

Clockwise from top left corner: pet owners wait in line at the Spayathon, volunteers Michaela and Janette register a puppy to get treated, volunteer Megan from Foster Dogs NYC comforts Mia, a dog who got stressed while waiting in line, Luz and her rescue dog Chanel wait in line for their turn to get treated, and volunteer Casey comforts a dog recovering from her surgery who was put into a TSP t-shirt to prevent her from licking her post-surgery stitches.

Left: Abe as a tiny puppy shortly after arriving in NYC. Center: Abe gives a big smile while enjoying a weekend in September. Right: Abe shows some love to his mom, Julie.

Introducing one of our latest sato superstar ambassadors - meet Abe!  Abe's pregnant mom was found on Dead Dog Beach shortly after Hurricane Maria. We brought her into our care and she was able to give birth to her pups in safety. After being born in our clinic, Abe flew to NY last January, where he was adopted by his mom, Julie. Since then, it has been nothing but joy and stardom for this lucky little sato. He made a short appearance on last year's Puppy Bowl and has continued to gather love wherever he goes - including over 11K followers on his own Instagram account ( @abe_the_sato). But now, Abe is excited to share that he is giving back! He is also the spokesdog for his mom's comedy podcast, Personal Disclosures and TODAY Personal Disclosures is launching an episode all about pets, which will include Abe's story of being rescued from Dead Dog Beach. For every full listen of the podcast, the producers of Personal Disclosures will donate $1 to The Sato Project to help us save more dogs like Abe. To listen to the podcast and help raise a $1 for our rescue efforts, please visit www.personaldisclosures.com/podcast to listen to the episode titled " WO(MAN's) Best friend" And please share with your friends to help Abe raise as much as possible for his sato cousins. Thank you for being such a great sato ambassador Abe!