Aug15
PETA Pals in Peru
Posted at 02:40 PM | Permalink
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When some people go on vacation, they send postcards of landmark buildings or landscapes with the message "Having a great time! Wish you were here!" Longtime PETA booster Maru Vigo, however, sends postcards of animals—like silly-looking llamas—with a different message: "Having a great time—saving the animals!"
When Maru goes to Peru, she doesn't just get off the plane, see the sights, and hop back on. Instead, she takes the time to organize volunteers, who go out onto the streets to promote spaying and neutering in Lima and throughout the country. Check out Maru's great team of volunteers in their PETA T-shirts:
Maru is a great example of a committed activist who makes a difference for animals no matter where she goes. We all look out for stray dogs and cats in our hometowns, so why not in another city or country—or continent? The next time you're on vacation, pay attention to the skinny mama dog outside the hotel or the sad cat foraging at the ruins—you could help save their lives. Wouldn't that make for a much better vacation story than the time you got sunburned at the theme park?
To see how PETA has helped dogs and cats around the world and to learn how you can help, too, check out HelpingAnimals.com.
Posted by Amanda Schinke
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I think what Maru Vigo is doing is both honorable and something we as activists should emulate. No matter how little difference you think you could make, expecially in unfamiliar territory, a little bit of effort really can change the world.
Posted by: Kim | August 18, 2008 02:40 AM
I was in the Dominican about 3 years ago and I did not enjoy it at all. The first thing I saw when on the bus to my hotel was a dog run over in the middle of the road and just left there.
Animals are not cared for or about at all. The dogs, they call them "island dogs" run free and breed and have hellish lives. People kick them out of the way and think nothing of running them over if they are on the road.
I used to sneak away from the motel early in the morning to water a little donkey that was just left tied to a stake.
I believe that education is huge necessary in a country like this. People that depends on animals, as these people depend on their domestic livestock, need to be taught proper care of their animals, if only to optimize their usefulness.
Somewhere, somehow, could we please bring a spay/neuter program into these carribbean countries!!!???? Please anyone let me know how this can be done (vets without borders) maybe? I would do whatever necessary to assist in efforts.
Posted by: Nadine Griffith | August 18, 2008 11:44 AM
Lovely folks, great to hear about them. Please keep us updated on their efforts!!! Blessings to all of them.
Nadine, I am also bothered by this situation but sadly until the poverty and troubles of the country are addressed, people will be too distracted to care for animals.
Changing attitudes will come by reaching out to people and making them realize the benefit of caring, but in the meantime they need vets who will provide free animal care for those areas.
Getting a public campaign on tv on how to properly care for animals would be a good start.
Posted by: Maya, CVT | August 18, 2008 03:05 PM
OMG!. when i saw the article about peru, how peta was helping animals there, i could not have been more thrilled. i have a young gray male chinchilla, and i KNOW, do not just believe, KNOW, that they are cuddly, social, and playful animals. They are intelligent, resourceful, and pretty dang cute. ;). But people are will to kill 100 of them to make a freaking COAT. are 100 lives equal to a stupid COAT? i dont think so.
Posted by: ania | August 20, 2008 08:44 AM