Sanctuary for Sick and Abandoned Dogs
When Annette Bodier adopted a puppy she found on the street in Tepoztlán in 2006, she thought she had found a traveling companion. But the bus ride from Cuernavaca to Puerto Escondido totally unnerved the poor dog and so Annette realized that her traveling days were over.
Annette had come to Mexico after a stay in Cuba, before that she had spent 6 months as a volunteer in the Galapagos islands, and before that she had been a science teacher in New Zealand. In fact, she left her native Germany when she was 19; you can read her story on the Perrosenpuerto.org website.
Running a dog shelter in Puerto Escondido was not the plan, but now it is her life’s work. First she started taking in street dogs at her house in Tamarindos. In 2008, she formed Perros en Puerto AC, a registered non-profit, whose mission is to help the abandoned, maltreated and injured dogs of Puerto Escondido. The first shelters were in Tamarindos; last year, however, she was given a hectare in La Nopalera, a rural community north of Colonia Marinero. She lives there now with around 120 dogs and a horse.
Annette Bodier has also entered into partnerships with a number of different dog shelters in Canada. Volunteers fly with the dogs from Huatulco to Windsor, Edmonton and Calgary where they quickly find new homes.
The 40-or-so puppies are kept in a separate area next to Annette’s small house. Both the adults and pups can be adopted. There are eighteen 5x10-meter enclosures, each housing three to six adult dogs. Adults eat twice a day and the pups are fed up to 6 times a day.
Perros en Puerto counts on volunteers. From left to right, Anja from Germany, and Fabianne and Sabine from Switzerland.
