PACK LEADERS
Michael Seattle, WA |
Like so many animal lovers who travel to Mexico, I was astonished and saddened by the number of dogs and cats roaming the streets of La Paz, which we began visiting in 1999. Early on, we would feed strays, but were disappointed by the lack of options there were for us to help these animals more substantially. That changed when we discovered that it was relatively simple to transport dogs back to the U.S. In 2004, our first rescue dog, La Pacena (Lapi) showed up at our hotel, where she had been abandoned. She was living in a tree-covered area for a few days and would emerge occasionally where we would feed her hot dogs by the swimming pool. When I heard that the hotel owner was going to dispose of her, we decided to take her home to Tacoma. Lapi was a sweet, loving dog who was a big sister to many rescued dogs and cats. We still miss her and are thankful that she wandered into our lives and turned us into Baja Dog rescuers. Since that time, we have brought three more dogs to live in our home—Millie (who we had been advised to euthanize for distemper), Latte, and Rocket. They continue to bless us with their presence in our lives and have inspired us to support rescue efforts in La Paz for several years. In addition to rescue organizations, I had always heard about individual “rescatistas” living in La Paz who open their homes to stray animals purely out of compassion and at great personal cost, caring for upwards of 20 dogs. I was introduced to an amazing rescatista, Ceci, about a year ago and since that time I have become more involved in supporting her amazing rescue efforts. Desiring to make a more substantial contribution to Ceci’s labor of love, I am partnering with like-minded friends to form Mila’s Mutts so that we can support Ceci’s work in rescuing Mexican dogs and finding homes for them in the Pacific Northwest. |
Madii Battle Ground, WA |
Mel Battle Ground, WA |
We live in Battle Ground, Wa about 25 minutes from Portland, OR. We both have always loved dogs, together we have rescued 4 dogs (Willow, Avery, Milagros, Gena) with permanent beds in our home and decided our journey to save more dogs couldn’t stop there. Growing up Madii’s Mom was an avid dog lover. On lunch break she would walk dogs at the shelter and brought home a few of the dogs no one else would adopt. This ignited Madii’s passion. Mel has grown up with rescue dogs her whole life and had always wanted to help in some way. We were given the opportunity to start fostering dogs, which is how we met Ceci in early 2018. She saved a severely malnourished pup, whom had recently had puppies. Her name was Milagros (miracle), she survived a broken jaw and many cuts across her neck from a machete. We had no idea we would adopt Mila, we had only signed up to foster her. The day Mel met Mila she knew this was going to be her dog, even though we had a strict black dog only household. The rest is history and from that moment forward it kick started our passion for fostering and helping Ceci in anyway we could. We fostered 11 dogs last year, each one took a piece of us with them and we cant wait to fill our hearts and home with more!