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Salutations Dear Friend of Friends of Culebra Animals! Hope that this Summer Solicitation finds you well and we want to share what we have been up to. The monthly visiting veterinary clinics continue successfully, some compelling statistics from our 2016 data is that we had 18 clinic days with 260 people using services, 548 pets & 106 ferals seen, 162 sterilizations of which 69 were Trap, Neuter & Return (TNR) ferals. We offered summertime special sterilizations that were half priced, underwrote 24 pet appointments, and loaned (with payback) 15 pet appointments. Michelle Cintron of PR Alliance for Companion Animals has been working with Abbie’s school on humane & compassionate animal care, in January FCA joined in when Lucky Dog Rescue from Arlington VA came to talk about various careers in animal rescue and then again in February when folks from Helen Woodward Animal Center from San Diego CA visited to meet with FCA, and continue Abbie’s School participation of ‘Remember Me Thursday”, a global awareness campaign uniting individuals and pet adoption organizations.  Click for a larger view The Annual Spring Auction was held in February at the Cancha (the basketball court behind El Batey), with lots of wonderful items donated & bid upon, delightful buffet, beautiful music, a great community event & a robust fundraiser for us. With support of Will Keyworth the FCA webpage has a fresher look & a new domain; friendsofculebraanimals.org please check it out! We are also now on Instagram. Our TNR mastermind, Jenny Stark devised a plan with Dr. Cruz to facilitate a more efficient feral cat sterilization routine. This work is arduous, it involves the Cruz van arriving from Fajardo on the dawn ferry to pick up trapped feral cats which our stealthy trappers have collected the evening prior, they are then brought to Cruz’s Fajardo clinic for sterilizing, check ups, vaccinations, and the cats are returned to Culebra the following dawn for placement in their original cat colony. This streamlines the whole process making it more cost effective for FCA. We also approached Mayor Ivan Solis for assistance in providing the municipality’s ferry space for the veterinary van, realizing the importance of this service he wholeheartedly agreed.  Click for a larger view Since inception in February of this year, 7 TNR trip/clinics have taken place with 132 cats trapped to date. A formidable task choreographed elegantly by Jenny spotlighting various areas around the island needing attention, it is a noble beginning to help curb the feral cat population. We are very proud to announce that we have a new partnership with North Shore Animal League America (NSALA)! NSALA is the world's largest no kill animal rescue & adoption organization, located in Port Washington, NY (Long Island). They will now begin to accept some of our Culebra animals that we cannot place into homes elsewhere. FCA is very happy to have Nadeen DeCiccio’s Ford Ranger Truck, which she so generously donated. It sure makes trips around the island easier! Spring brought lots of fresh kitties & puppies, which meant lots of fostering, many have been adopted, and we still have some available. Our dream of having a building that could house these critters and provide local employment in caring for them, and even possibly house the visiting vets, is still just that, we are working on a business operations plan to hopefully turn it into a reality. Our FCA volunteers are a dedicated, hardworking lot that has an attitude of gratitude for your financial assistance in allowing us to do what we can do to help the animals of Culebra; we hope to inspire you to allow us to continue our work here. Tax-deductible donations can be made by check sent to FCA, P.O.Box 527 Culebra, PR 00775 or via PayPal at [email protected]. With heartfelt thanks, The Volunteers at FCA “Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind.” Albert Schweitzer
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