Dear Sato Supporter,

It is hard to believe that The Sato Project has now completed five rounds of the historic Spayathon for Puerto Rico Initiative. When we wrapped up Round 5 last week and my team and I realized that we had reached over 5,000 lives through this historic effort, I was left a little speechless. There are still thousands more animals to reach, but I am truly astounded by the amount of change these numbers have already brought to the future of Puerto Rico. This is a dream come true, not only for us and our satos, but for people and animals all across the island. Together, we have prevented untold millions of lives from being born in unwanted circumstances and from ever knowing a life of suffering. Systemic change is coming. And we are bringing it. 

Simultaneously this month, my mighty team and I have still been rescuing as many dogs as we can and flying them to the mainland. This month we even had a very special arrival who became very close to our hearts. Read more about this super sato and the success of our most recent Spayathon clinic below. 

In gratitude,

-- Chrissy Beckles, President and Founder

Spayathon Initiative Reaches 43,195 Dogs and Cats Across the Island
Every morning of the Spayathon last week, our team arrived to a long line of pet owners already waiting for us at our clinic in Humacao. By the end of the week, our team had spayed/neutered and vaccinated over 864 dogs and cats .
November 2-7 marked the fifth round of the historic Spayathon for Puerto Rico Initiative, a collaborative effort of 28 organizations to offer free spay/neuter and vaccination services to pet owners across the island who are still struggling to rebuild their lives after Hurricane Maria. T he Sato Project team could not be more proud to be a part of this initiative that is bringing permanent change to the plight of our beloved satos. By spaying/neutering thousands of animals, we are preventing millions more from being born in unwanted circumstances and contributing to the stray animal epidemic. After four successful rounds, we were thrilled when the initiative was extended for another six rounds over the next two years. 

After every round, it feels as though our team not only gets stronger and more efficient as we refine our process, but we become even more inspired and determined to continue offering these services. The severe need and demand for them is as apparent as ever and there are still thousands of more animals to reach.  As our team was packing up to go home at the end of a very long Day 1 last week, we looked out the front gate around 9:30pm to see people already lining up. They brought chairs, blankets, and coolers and had settled themselves in to camp out until the next morning when we would open our doors at 6am. 

At the very beginning of The Spayathon Initiative in 2018, we had no idea what the public response or the demand for these services would be. On an island where spaying/neutering pets is not the norm, would people actually take advantage of this opportunity? But after all five rounds, as people and their pets have lined up by the thousands every day across the island, the answer continually gets clearer. The demand is so high that every round we completely reach our clinic’s capacity and every round people start lining up the night before in order to confirm their pet’s place in the line. It brings us so much joy to know that ‘if you build it, they will come.’ 

At the conclusion of Round 5, along with our veterinary team partner Helping Paws Across Borders, our clinic had spayed/neutered and vaccinated 864 dogs and cats in only one week. This brings our new total across all five rounds of our participation in The Spayathon Initiative to 5,002 animals. Across the entire 28-member Spayathon Coalition, the initiative has now reached 43,195 animals.
The Sato Project's efforts in this initiative would not be possible without the hard work of our dedicated volunteers and our community of supporters. Thank you for helping us change thousands of lives and prevent suffering. You can see more photos and read stories of the lives you helped change during Round 5 of the Spayathon by clicking here.
We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our entire #satostrong community for making this work possible. The Sato Project team could not participate in this initiative without your support. We would also like to give a special thank you to our Spayathon volunteers: thank you for being our boots on the ground, for your dedication, and for being our small but mighty army of compassionate animal-lovers. We are honored to have you on our team and you inspire us every day. 

Round 6 of the Spayathon is scheduled for the end of February. So, stay tuned! But until then, here’s to over 5,000 lives being changed forever thanks to the support and hard work of this community. 
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Tammy's Howling Success
Left: Tammy gets some love from Chrissy at the clinic in Puerto Rico while her leg is in a cast. Right: An x-ray shows the extent of Tammy's badly dislocated hip after being hit by a car.
Over a year ago, during the summer of 2018, our vet Dr. Feliciano found Tammy in the middle of a road. She had been hit by a car and left to die, unable to move from her severe injuries. She had two badly broken legs and a dislocated hip. To top it off, she also had heartworm. But Dr. Feliciano was her guardian angel who picked her up off the street and took her to the clinic. Tammy was so full of love that even through her all her pain and suffering, her constantly wagging tail told us that she knew we were doing our best to help her. She clearly had an incredible will to live and a heart of gold still beating strongly in her badly broken body. We all agreed that we had to fight for her. 

It has been a very long road of recovery for this special sato. But now we are extremely proud to share that after a year and a half of several surgeries and treatments, she made a full recovery and took her Freedom Flight to New York last month. And on November 1st, her story finally found the new beginning that this community worked so hard to achieve: this happy girl went home to her forever family. 

Tammy now lives in Connecticut with two parents and two siblings, one small six year old human and a nine year old fellow canine. After only a few days together, they all fell completely in love. Her parents had recently traveled to Puerto Rico and witnessed all of the stray dogs firsthand, and left with a strong desire to help. What better way to get started than by welcoming a special sato like Tammy into their home and spoiling her like she deserves. Happy life, sweet Tammy. You’ve earned it.  
Left: Tammy sits in her own special bed for the first time in her life. Right: She snuggles with her new mom on the couch.
The Sato Project is dedicated to rescuing abused and abandoned dogs in Puerto Rico, where there are an estimated 500,000 stray dogs. With only nine shelters on the island with over a 90% euthanasia rate, we have rescued over 3,500 dogs, rehabilitated them with the highest standards of veterinary care, and found them loving homes on the mainland U.S.. We are also working to make permanent change on the island through community outreach and a Spay, Neuter, Vaccinate and Microchip Program.
"We fight so the dogs of Puerto Rico don't have to."