When rescue volunteers with the Animal Pad arrived at a shelter in Baja, California they had a huge task ahead of them. Almost 400 dogs were trapped and living in horrendous conditions in the Mexican “shelter” that exploited the dogs to get money. One dog, a Boxer called Iris, caught the eye of Lauren Botticelli, Executive Director of TAP.
With all the sadness Lauren saw around her over the week she and rescuers worked to help the hundreds of dogs she couldn’t get Iris out of her mind and wanted to make sure the Boxer dog with the sweet face ended up in foster care. Thankfully, she did.
Iris not only found a foster family with two young children and time with the family did her a world of good. She could be a puppy again as she healed until she found her forever home which she did!
It should be noted that the “dog rescue” from which Iris was rescued had been operating for years in Mexico called Ellos Son La Razon. It was finally shut down after it was discovered that the operators were misappropriating funds and not treating the sick and injured dogs that came into “their care.”
Over the years, The Animal Pad (TAP), had assisted the shelter in order to help the dogs but they stopped after it became clear that they and their supporters were being lied to.
Lauren issued a statement about Ellos Son La Razon, and what unfolded in June 2023 on TAP’s website. She describes how they entered the shelter upon the request of the Mexican government and with the support of the Mexican police to help rescue the dogs.
What they found was a horror show. For six days volunteers worked tirelessly to help the hundreds of dogs, the hundreds of dogs who were the heartbreaking reasons for why the shelter not only needed to get shut down but “come to a screeching halt.”
@theanimalpad
Botticelli wrote on the The Animal Pad website, “We, like so many others, wanted to believe in the shelter formerly known as Ellos Son La Razon. We wanted to believe that the dogs were, in fact, the reason for everything. But over the course of 3 years of working there and taking in nearly 600 of these dogs, it became more and more clear that the reason was actually greed and ego, and the dogs were the ones who paid the price.”
@theanimalpad They are the reason that we do what we do. Help us bust these dogs out of this horrible situation and get them into safe, warm, loving homes #ensenada #mexico #mexicorescuedog #ellossonlarazon #theanimalpad #sandiegorescue #rescue #allbreedrescue #meximutt ♬ Shelter from the Storm – Bob Dylan
Ellos Son La Razon was finally forcibly shut down. If they hadn’t been they would have continued exploiting the dogs suffering in their care. Thank goodness TAPs never gave up on the dogs. They ended up being the lifeline not only for Iris but for the hundreds of other dogs being abused and neglected there. TAP’s full statement is here.
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