(more or less, depending on weather, traffic, bandits, etc.) From Dogtown, Best Friends Animal Society, in Kanab, Utah, to San José, Costa Rica to benefit the McKee Project and raise funds to promote spay & neuter in developing nations.
Sure, everyone knows a pet lover who will go that extra mile for a furry friend. But Davide Ulivieri is cycling roughly 4,000 miles — on a moped scooter, no less — to raise awareness about the need to spay and neuter animals.
The Italian native left from the Nebraska Humane Society in Omaha on his Vespa (which means “wasp” in Italian). Ushering him out of town to Lincoln will be members of the Omaha Scooter Club. “Like one of those stubborn wasps that doesn't leave you alone, I will remind anybody willing to listen that if we don't spay and neuter, we will never overcome the tragedy of homeless pets,” said Ulivieri, 47. It's just the latest animal rescue adventure for the former kayak and fitness instructor who is in Omaha visiting supporters.
He biked around Central America to raise money to protect homeless animals in Costa Rica.
He cared for abandoned dogs in remote woods of California, and worked at another sanctuary in Utah.
This latest project will take him back to the shelter in Kanab, Utah. On the way there and back, taking nonfreeway and back roads, Ulivieri plans to tout (it's not a fundraising effort) his message. In Utah, he'll meet with animal advocates interested in promoting population control methods that Ulivieri applied in Costa Rica.
So what possesses a man to ditch a cushy career to protect strays?
Ulivieri wanted a change after a decade catering to wealthy folks in Miami. He simplified his lifestyle and camped around the country with his three dogs before winding up at the Utah and California sanctuaries.
When his last pet died, he volunteered in rural Costa Rica for the McKee Foundation, which aims to solve the problem of homeless animals without resorting to building shelters or mass euthanasia.
Funds from the 500-kilometer charity bike ride helped put on a series of mobile clinics to spay and neuter dogs and cats. It was a first for that impoverished area, where rural families struggle to feed children, let alone wandering animals.
Pet ownership was a mostly foreign concept there, Ulivieri said. Dogs and cats typically roam and have multiple care-givers.
The clinic itself was crude: operations on animals were done on top of a desk in a school.
But Ulivieri said the effort produced immediate results. People began to ask about post-surgical care. They took an interest in the animals as pets.
Ulivieri plans to return to Omaha to stay with friends and plan his next project. He wants to create additional “No shelter, no kill” clinics in Costa Rica and other developing nations.
If you wish to donate to the C4S Fund for Haiti, go to the donation page and earmark your donation "For the Furry Wanderers of Haiti" in the comment section. C4S will then route your funds to the outreach effort. Thank you for caring and for all your offers to help.
The 2010 edition of C4S aims to raise $20,000 to fund spay and neuter in developing nations and contribute to ending the tragedy of homeless companion animals.
Forward this message to all your animal loving friends: with as little as $10 we can spay/neuter an animal!
Help us make the ultimate difference in the communities where it is needed the most!
The first Cycle 4 Strays was born in early 2009 during a ride throughout southern Costa Rica, as Skylere and I pedaled on a badly graded gravel road on our way from Playa Zancudo to the surfing paradise of Punta Banco, near the village of Pavones on the border with Panama. As we debated the conditions of stray animals in developing nations, I thought about turning our passion for cycling and exploring exotic locales into a fund raising effort to benefit local advocacy groups.
That night, working with a lap top computer and an internet connection best described as "sketchy", I networked with animal advocates throughout the United States and Europe and the founder and managers of the McKee Foundation, a US non profit that focuses on promoting spay & neuter of companion animals in Central America and the Caribbean. A plan of action started taking shape, I quickly threw together a web page to collect donations and it was on!
Less than 2 weeks later, Skylere and I left Zancudo and cycled north to the town of Sarchí bringing much needed funds and a message of hope to the community.
At the end of the 500km ride, we had raised 261% of the projected fund raising goal!
Stoked, I vowed to continue my cooperation with the McKee Foundation and decided that
Cycle 4 Strays would become an annual event to promote the importance of spay and neuter as a humane method of population control and to support animal advocacy groups that operate in nations that lack basic infrastructure and the means to help their own strays.
Thanks to this first effort and the sustainable community outreach programs of the McKee Foundation, terms like spay & neuter are slowly becoming part of the family lexicon. As more doctors in veterinary medicine learn the Small Incision Spay & Neuter Method, attending one of the free clinics organized by McKee throughout Central America, more animals undergo this innovative, minimally invasive procedure and, slowly, but surely, the number of stray animals roaming the neighborhoods decline.
Whether across town or across the border, if we can help a community help its strays, we have a moral obligation to do so.
Please consider sponsoring us with a donation that will help the McKee Foundation help more animals. 100% of all donated funds will go to support desperately needed community outreach programs as well as spay & neuter clinics.
On behalf of all the furry wanderers of this world I sincerely thank you!
`Davide
The Ride!
"As soon as I step off the plane in St. George, Utah, I realize that, perhaps, this was not such a good idea. The usually balmy southern Utah town is covered in snow and my puny cycling gear is by no means cold weather rated. Yet, as I breath in the frigid, snowy air, I can´t stop smiling: I am on my way to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, to start a long bicycle ride that will connect Best Friends to the McKee Foundation, a Costa Rican non profit that focuses on teaching advanced surgical protocols for spay and neutering of companion animals to vets in developing nations. Along the 3,000 plus mile route I will stop in many different communities all over Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and, finally, Costa Rica, to bring a message of hope to the animal advocacy groups that, often with very limited resources, are attempting to make a difference where it is needed the most: developing nations. Neglected and slighted, the homeless pets of developing nations exist in an almost parallel universe, present yet invisible to the vast majority of the population.
By agreeing to let me begin from its Sanctuary, Best Friends is sending its own message to the impoverished communities I will visit, reassuring them that in the USA we see and appreciate their efforts to improve animal welfare and that we, somehow, wish to extend a helping hand.
A few days later, the ride well on its way, I find myself cycling through the barren landscapes of Arizona and have the Mexican border in my cross hairs.
As I enter Mexico for my very first time, I am not sure what to expect. My head is full of CNN reports of narcotrafficking, kidnapping and violence, with border towns, such as the one I just approached, being the most celebrated ones. I am also aware that I will probably witness some very sad situations as far as homeless pets are concerned, so, as I hand my passport to the Mexican immigration officer, I brace myself for an intense experience to say the least.
"Bienvenido a Mexico", the official says as he stamps my passport with a 180 day visa before asking me if he can come out and take a look at my bike. We chat for a while discussing bicycles and street dogs then with a final "Buena suerte!" he slaps me on the back and I am on my way. Mexico, like many other Central and Latin American nations, is best described as "Kiosk country", a place where life is lived out on the street more than indoors and where vendors of all sorts line the sidewalks in a crowded, messy, yet irresistibly charming sort of mayhem that instantly captivates the wanderer in me. Traffic flows at neck breaking speed with the honk being the most utilized accessory of any motor vehicle, while pedestrians dart in and out of traffic with consummate ease. Then there are the dogs. Ah, the dogs... scruffy and weather worn, timid or outgoing, the "Callejeros" of developing nations are at home on the busy streets, crossing in front of an eighteen wheeler, missing the front bumper of a car by mere inches, getting side swept by a scooter. They hang out in front of markets and outside of small restaurants with open air seating, begging with such class and dignity that brings a smile to my face one end and breaks my heart on the other. As far as companion animals are concerned there are 3 classes of citizens here: in the ritzy neighborhoods of the main cities such as Guadalajara, Monterrey, Vera Cruz and the capital city of Ciudad de Mexico, well dressed owners stroll elegantly down the sidewalk, a beautifully groomed pure bred on an expensive leather lead, tiny cell phone glued to their ear, an exotic blend of coffee and milk in a take out cup. This is the upper class of the doggie world, where pets enjoy indoor sleeping, routine veterinary care, regular meals prepared with actual dog food and are generally regarded as part of the family. Then there are the mutts, often used for security purposes, living in enclosed patios or on rooftops, chained in back yards and junk yards, fed a mix of table scraps, garbage and dirty water. These are the dogs that almost never see a vet or that easily go years without a bath and yet, fiercely loyal, they greet the owners with joyful expressions begging for attention and love that are seldom administered. Finally, the street dogs. Either born on the street or abandoned after their cute puppy phase has expired, the homeless dogs of Mexico spend their entire day looking for food, avoiding danger, searching for shelter during storms and cold nights, existing, but not living.
These are the animals I am most drawn to, the ones that seem almost resigned to a fate of misery, disease and, ultimately, what is often a painfully violent death.
In a country where animals are property that can be used and abused at the owner's will, the methods for controlling the stray population when it comes to dogs and cats are horribly primitive. The "Antirabico", or Animal Control, prowls the neighborhoods collecting animals that will be then put to death with electrocution or other inhumane methods of euthanasia. "People are often unaware or in denial of what happens to an animal once it is released on the street", says Ana Karla Pérez of GEPDA (Gente por la Defensa Animal), a non profit that is active with outreach education, spay and neutering, adoption and advocacy for both companion animals and wildlife. "Here, they ignore the dogs just like people in wealthier nations ignore the homeless, pretending not to see or hear."
It is estimated that in the capital city of Ciudad de Mexico alone there are more than 5 million stray dogs roaming the streets at any given time. Puppies, coming from mills that house animals in despicable conditions, are routinely sold on street corners, bought on impulse because of the "Cute factor" then abandoned once the novelty has worn off or behavioral problems stemming from lack of training and owner's ignorance start to arise.
The puppies that become ill or do not show well enough to be sold are often discarded alive at the dump, where volunteers for animal groups collect them in a desperate effort to save a life.
As I pedal deeper and deeper into Mexico on my way to the Guatemalan border I meet countless "Heroes" who tell stories of neglect and abuse, eager to be heard, starving for recognition of the problem and for national and international support, both financial and emotional. Amongst the long list of horrors there is always one happy ending, one story that renews the hope, one tale of a former stray now living in a loving home and enjoying the quality of life that any pet deserves. The story of Jonas, for example, a 10 year old Golden Retriever/Yellow Lab mix, neglected in a junk yard for his entire life, living in his own waste, now placed for adoption by GEPDA and starting to adjust to what his new life is. Or the story of Matilde, a young, white fluffy Poodle mix, abandoned in miserable conditions and in urgent need of emergency medical care, now happy and healthy in the home of one of GEPDA's volunteers in Mexico City.
As I weave in and out of traffic on my bike, cringing every time I spot a stray on the side of the road, I reflect on the dedication and accomplishments of some of the groups of "Animaleros" that I have had the honor of meeting during my ride.
Take Aliac, for example. Started by Geraldine Leclerk in Guadalajara, Aliac runs the Archivio Latinoamericano de Identificacion Animal, a database designed to reunite lost animals with their rightful owners. Aliac vets tattoo an ID number on the belly of pets, which is then entered in the database along with the owner's information. This not only helps with lost pets, but also limits the theft of purebreds, a tragedy in itself in this neck of the woods. The cost of tattoing your pet is about 90 Pesos or $8, but it is free if done during one of the spay and neutering clinics sponsored by the Ministry of Health. Aliac is also extremely active in promoting spay and neutering as well as adoption and responsible ownership. Run by minimal staff out of Geraldine's home in Rancho Contento in the suburbs of the city, Aliac does wonders with extremely limited resources. In Mexico City, a huge metropolitan areas that is called home by about 20 million people, it is GEPDA that leads the charge to stop animal abuse. I spent a couple of days roaming the streets with GEPDA's volunteers after my arrival in the capital and witnessed first hand the dedication and professionalism used to evaluate each animal, its living conditions, health, adoption chances. I met the vets that volunteer their time and forego payment for their services, staying late at the clinics waiting for an injured dog just pulled off the street or working on the week ends to staff mass spay and neutering clinics during which hundreds of dogs and cats are treated, vaccinated, sterilized. Gepda is also active in the wild life arena and, on a beautiful sunny afternoon, the GEPDA girls and I sneak in the back of a restaurant to check on the conditions of Pippo the lion, who whithers away in a small enclosure for the entertainment of the patrons. A ghost of the proud animal he used to be, Pippo is a classic example of all that is wrong in a nation that does not have and enforce adequate laws to protect both companion animals and wildlife. From snakes to birds, to turtles, to cubs and puppies, animals are toys ready to be used and abused by owners often simply unaware of what reponsible ownership is. So, as GEPDA shows me more sad cases of abuse and neglect, we vow to cooperate in the future to continue attempting to make a difference.
Such difference, in Mexico as well as in other developing nations, hinges on promoting a cultural change, lobbying local and federal governments into passing and enforcing more modern regulations and launching aggressive outreach educational programs aimed at children in order to raise a new generation with awareness and respect for animals.
These objective are best described as "Titanic" in nations where the culture of "Machismo" is still very much alive, and where men often use animals to project the tough image they believe they are supposed to project. Here, big crowds still gather to cheer Matadores dressed in ridiculously outdated outfits as they torture an innocent bull before putting him out of his misery in front of a delirious arena. On the other hand, vegetarian restaurants are starting to sprout in the most upscale neighborhoods and terms like spay and neutering, adoption and positive reinforcement training are slowly becoming part of the family lexicon, a testament to the great work that organizations like Aliac and GEPDA are doing, even without a paid staff, real equipment or financial backing. These are people that love animals so much, they are incapable of sitting back and ignoring the problem, often paying a huge personal price for their advocacy work. It is not unusual for a dog lover to be told to mind his own business or else, when he or she knocks on a door to talk about the puppy kept in a crate all day long or calls the authorities to denounce a blatant case of abuse that violates city, state or federal ordinances.
As Mexico struggles to feed it's poor, improve infrastructure, fight narcotrafficking, strengthen the peace process with the Chiapas rebels and raise as a nation to 1st world levels, the homeless pets continue their quest for survival. In a nation where dozens of millions of people live in conditions of extreme poverty, the issue of animal welfare has yet to be brought to the forefront. Still, the advocacy groups I met plow ahead undeterred: staying positive they believe they can change their world, one stray at a time."
Cycle 4 Strays
