One Thursday in June, a number of animal welfare groups and volunteers converged in the Zapotec pueblo of Ixtlán de Juárez, high in the Sierra Norte mountains, to help the municipality there contend with an overpopulation of dogs and cats.

Over four days the teams of Huellas de Ayuda Oaxaca with Tanya Lapierre, Atrapa Gatos Oaxaca, Manchitas Andariego A.C., (three of its members featured in photo above) and the Municipio of Ixtlán  devoted their time and energy to the ambitious project that involved trapping and sterilizing cats at four colonies and capturing and sterilizing dogs at several sites, including the area dump.

The project concluded with a free sterilization campaign over the weekend for the Ixtlán community.  By the time the project wrapped Sunday night, 280 cats and dogs had been sterilized and numerous families helped.

The project began when the Municipio of Ixtlán reached out to Huellas de Ayuda Oaxaca. The organization had worked in the area before providing sterilization campaigns, but at a cost in order to pay its vets. This time, the problem of the animals at the dump proved financially challenging for the leadership of the district of Ixtlán that includes eleven different towns and about 8,000 inhabitants.

Huellas de Ayuda, knowing how quickly dogs and cats can procreate (a female dog can have two litters a year), asked Furry Tails if it could fund sterilizations for as many as 300 animals. The municipality, for its part, would supply meals and housing for the team as well as provide a community hall and support staff.

Furry Tails sent an immediate plea to its community of supporters and to the larger world via social media stating the need to raise $2,250. The response was quick. Through an outpouring of generosity, $3,595 was raised within weeks.

Over the first two days the teams addressed the street dogs and cat colonies. Huellas de Ayuda team members who are trained to deliver anesthesia via dart guns, safely sedated and captured roaming dogs and secured them in specially built pens before and after their surgeries (performed in makeshift surgery areas constructed and dismantled as the group moved around.)

At the same time, Sandra and Jazmin who operate Atrapa Gatos Oaxaca, positioned their cat traps and captured feral cats that were also sterilized.

Community sterilization began Saturday afternoon in the cavernous community center located in Ixtlán’s centro. By evening 50 animals were sterilized. At 7 am Sunday morning, area residents began streaming again into the hall. They brought dogs on leashes, in carriers and boxes. As instructed, residents transported cats securely enclosed within pillow cases.

All day the hall bustled with activity as volunteers, both from the municipality as well as many who traveled from Oaxaca City, helped to register animals, assist the vets, monitor animals in recovery, and provide post-surgery information. By Sunday evening, 280 cats and dogs were spayed and neutered and a multitide of families and residents benefited from the  inspired collaboration.