Humane Society of Puerto Rico: $20,000
Like the rest of the island, the Guaynabo-based shelter serving the greater San Juan area was severely damaged by Hurricane Maria. “We lost a component to our power generator, components for our surgical table, our refrigerator to store vaccinations, and our van has died,” says Executive Director Maritza Rodriguez. “We sustained significant water damage. We need help making these repairs so we can become fully functional again and reopen our medical clinic, which provides low-cost services to thousands of animals every year. We imagine that many animals have been injured by Maria and, in the long term, we want to be able to offer them care — from basic vaccinations and testing, to surgeries for broken bones, and sterilizations.
“This will be an ongoing project, as we imagine the fallout from Maria will go on for months and months, if not years. We believe our generator repairs would be about $2,000, our surgical table about $500, a new refrigerator $1,500, and a new (second-hand) van $5000. We would put the rest of the grant money into animal medical services to allow us to reduce our prices even more for animals affected by Maria. After Irma hit, we saw a very high incidence of animals that had been run over by vehicles, and we imagine the same will be true here. We would like to be able to help them, and also provide DHLPP [distemper, hepatitis, leptospirosis, parainfluenza and parvovirus], rabies, and bordetella vaccinations, as well as fecal tests and treatment, and spay/neuter services.
“Given the severity of the situation on the ground in Puerto Rico, it is very hard to know when supplies will once again reach the island. Ideally, we would like to fix our generator and surgical table immediately. But communications are very compromised and transportation is difficult. There is also a gas shortage. We would like to purchase a new refrigerator ASAP so we can store vaccines, but most of the stores are closed now. We hope to be able to make these repairs and purchases in the next couple of weeks; same with the van. As for providing care to the animals, we would keep this going as long as we have funding.”
