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Puerto Rico is known for its temperate climate, beautiful beaches, amazing rainforests and many outdoor activities. Visitors can go horseback riding, snorkel, golf, hike, go fishing, scuba diving and much more. One thing you don’t hear much about through the tourism channels are the street dogs of Puerto Rico.
Satos, The Street Dogs of Puerto Rico
Known as satos, these street dogs hang out in public places in Puerto Rican cities like San Juan waiting to be noticed by the people there, hoping for a free hand-out that will serve as breakfast, lunch or dinner. They stake out the tourists, knowing that if they make a good impression, a treat may be forth-coming. They are known for being able to “work the crowd.”
Rescuing Puerto Rican Street Dogs
Debbie Jacobs, who some of you may know as the author of A Guide to Living With and Training a Fearful Dogs and blogger at Fearful Dogs Blog, has been active in rescuing these Puerto Rican street dogs.
Targeting small dogs, typically less than 20 pounds, Debbie has successfully transported many of these dogs back to her home in Vermont, where she works with local rescues to place the dogs in forever homes. She has chosen to concentrate on small dogs because of a shortage of small dogs in the area available for adoption and the ease with which she is able to locate new homes for these dogs.
This shortage of homeless small dogs in the New England area came as a surprise to me. Living in Rhode Island, I had not realized that such a shortage exists. But Debbie’s results are hard to question or criticize. Of the nearly 100 dogs that she has rescued and returned to New England, the longest she has had to keep one of these dogs in her home before locating a new forever home has been two weeks.
This week at Animal Cafe, Debbie joins our animal welfare correspondent Mary Haight, to talk about her rescue work with these Puerto Rican satos, or street dogs. Please listen to the interview to learn more. The interview provides more information about these satos and Debbie’s experiences with them as well as the human population of Vieques Island. You’ll also learn the disturbing truth about why other Puerto Rican locations, such as Culebra, do not have a large population of street dogs. And, of course, you’ll learn what you can do to help, if you are so inclined.
So please, pull up a comfortable chair, sit back and listen. And don’t forget to join us each Monday at Animal Cafe for another great interview with a knowledgeable and informative guest.
Photo Courtesy of underwhelmer/Flickr.com
About Lorie Huston, DVM
Lorie Huston is a veterinarian, pet health and pet care expert, professional writer, blogger, social media and blogging consultant, and SEO strategist.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I adopted a SATO 4 years ago (through a local rescue), and she is the most well-behaved dog I have ever met. Except for getting skunked at least 3 times a year, she does nothing wrong. She gets along with other gentle dogs, cats, and kids. She is intimidated by big dogs, probably because of her history on the streets of PR. Clearly she was somebody’s indoor pet at one time. It’s really sad to see what goes on with pets in the Caribbean in general. Unfortunately, CT just passed a stupid law that is going to make it cost prohibitive for animals to be brought in from out of state for adoption. I guess our genius governor thinks he can force people to adopt the pit bulls that fill our shelters. Or perhaps he wants to support backyard breeders and puppy mills. In any case, Save a Sato is always looking for people to escort dogs to rescues in the Northeast. It requires almost no work-just a plane ticket. I urge people to consider rescuing one of these terrific dogs.
Hey Lorie, nice write up! Funny that so many are unaware that there’s a shortage of certain kinds of dogs that people want across the country. Today Virgin America (Branson only has a small stake in this airline and it’s US owned and operated) announced the Operation Chihuahua flight to take place on Aug 30. They will be flying all the Chihuahuas being given up in that area to NY were small dogs are rare. Best Friends and NSAL in NY transport dogs across the country so surplus can be taken up in areas where there is a need. Many coops and condos in cities won’t allow a dog over 25 lbs.
Hi Mary.
That’s awesome!