When the dog day of summer rolls around, its time for Costa Ricas Zaguate Festival. For the past nine years, the first Sunday in March has seen dogs of all types – from tiny, hand-held poodles to giant mastiffs- flock to Roosevelt Plaza (behind the Outlet Mall in San Pedro de Montes de Oca, just east of San José). Of course, no festival dedicated to zaguates would be complete without mixed- breeds (or “mutts”) in attendance. Sponsored by the National Animal Protection Association (ANPA), the party is designed to raise funds for the associations education and spay/ neuter programs.
Dog training exhibitions highlight professionals putting the pups through their lessons, demonstrating that all dogs can learn new tricks. A fly ball competition shows that zaguates too, can run as obstacle course and retrieve a tennis ball. Owner – pet look – alike contests mainly means matching wardrobes- a srlinky black outfit to match a slinky black dachshund, a man and his best friend in campesino hats and bandannas, or a pair in Saprissa soccer team T-shirts.
The talent contest showcases dogs who can bark out sums or roll over six times in a row, but the king and queen contest attracts a lineup of mixed breeds hoping to win a crown and a bag of dog food. For the human guests, there are booths with doggy duds, furniture , grooming products and pet food, a rummage sale with books, clothes and toys, and a cafeteria for appeasing appetites. This being a day gone to the dogs, there are water dishes at ground level and a mini clinic for check ups and inoculations. By far, the most popular part of this annual event is the corral, where 30 or more dogs wait to be adopted and a team of volunteers match them up with new owners.
On another sunny day, an otherwise ordinary parking lot turns into something resembling a circus: dogs, cats and even a rabbit or guinea pig get dressed up in ribbons and hats for Ciudad Mascota, an event sponsored by Pets yMás magazine. “Pet City”events are held for enjoyment and education, and include demonstrations of dogs who help the Red Cross and the disabled, pet training and grooming and a cat parade. Here, too, is an opportunity to choose a cat or dog for adoption. For the animal loving public, it’s a fun way to spend a day outdoors and to contribute to one of the many programs to help animals in Costa Rica. Pet Café, located in San Antonio de Belén, besides being a small restaurant where you can dine with your dog or cat at your side, also holds adoption parties and veterinary clinics.
These, too, are festive events with crowds coming to see the dogs and cats, meet other animal people and lend support. At an adoption festival in November, 25 dogs and cats were adopted.
Three main groups work for animal welfare in Costa Rica, mainly through education, spay-neuter programs, and adoptions. In addition to ANPA ( the oldest animal welfare group in the country), the Humanitarian Association for the Protection of Animals (AHPPA) runs as animal shelter (commonly referred to as the refugio) and veterinary clinic in Heredia. The Mckee Program does spaying, neutering and vaccinating. All three reach out to communities throughout Costa Rica with low cost spay-neuter clinics.
Gisela Vico, the current president of ANPA, began volunteering with the group in 1991 when she was 16. At the time, ANPAs only function was as a shelter housing more tha 400 stray and abandoned dogs. Few dogs were ever adopted because the shelter in Coronado was hard to find and nobody was willing to go that distance when thousands of dogs roamed the streets. Vico joined ANPAs board in 1995 and pushed for education and population control as an answer to overcrowded animal refuges. The annual zaguate festival is one way of reaching out to the public, but ANPA also has school programs (called “Happy Tail”), a radio show (10: 45 on Saturday mornings on 101.5 FM), and a magazine (Guaus y Miaus) to spread the message.
Vico, now a lawyer who specializes in animal mistreatment cases, has become a national spokesperson for the animal population, speaking out against animal circus acts (now banned in the country), street sales of puppies and kittens ( now banned in some areas), cock fights (which are illegal but still exist), and the importance of spaying and neutering. ANPAs most prominent activities today are their spay- neuter clinics held each weekend around the country and handling complaints of animals abuse. In some areas, where there is support from the municipality, such as in Pavas, ANPAs clinics are a permanent fixture. In other areas, volunteers do a study of the pet population, find a location and call in ANPA to provide the veterinary team.
They have done clinics from Limón to Puntarenas, but most of their work is in the San José area. “Our biggest campaing to date was the Carpio, a marginal area on the west side of San José, where we operated on 188 dogs and cats in one day.”said Vico, smiling at the memory. “We had three veterinarians and they operated until 6:30 p.m. They kept saying “no more, no more” We were exhausted.” And happy at the results. The operation microlaparatomy is simple and fast. A small incision is made and a hook is used to pull out the “tubes” for cutting and suturing. The animals are then laid out on blankets to recover; about 45 minutes after the surgery and after a check by the vet, they can go home in the arms of grateful owners.
The AHPPA in Heredia is known mainly for its animal shelter, but it, too, has an extensive spray-neuter program both at its location and in communities. In some communities, volunteers hold spay days on a regular schedule and the shelter sends a truck with carries to transport the animals to the shelter and return them after the recover. Alternatively, anyone may arrange a castration clinic in their community and call AHPPA to send a veterinary team. One such clinic was held in a former chicken barn that is now used for Sunday Mass. Two old dining tables (one of which servers as the altar for the church) were set up and newspapers and a wastebasket provided. Electricity and running water were available and benches for anxious pet guardians were set out for a waiting room. The veterinary team brought the rest of the equipment and operated on 12 dogs and cats in two hours.
An energtic Lillian Schnog, who directs the shelter and its programs, says they vaccinate, neuter and spay all cats and dogs at their shelter so that when you adopt a pet its ready to go. However, she advises that you take time to observe the dog or cat you want to see how it reacts. “They all look cute at first but then later when behavior problems arise we get the unwanted animal black.” About 80 dogs and 50 cats a month are adopted from their shelter. AHPPA also has an educational program at their shelter where school groups come to learn that to really take care of pets means more than just food and a blanket to sleep. The Mckee program is fairly new here, beginning in 2000. The community based organization depends on volunteer veterinarians and an interest public.
Currently, over 70 Mckee groups and veterinarians function in Costa Rica. They include individuals like Seidy Díaz Díaz in Alajuella, who scouts clinic locations, puts up flyers and makes radio announcements, and then contacts one of the Mckee veterinarians who may do 35 operations in the kitchen of a private house or a community hall. The veterinary team in Puntarenas at the El Tropico Veterinary Clinic holds “Mckee days” every Tuesday, when they operate on between ten and 20 animals “We get mostly cats”, explains veterinarian Vilma Soto. “Puntarenas has a port and a fishing industry, so over 60% of our work is with cats.” The first year of the program, the team got only four calls for sapying; today they average 20 a day.
The team also has an outreach program, taking a mobile clinic to Barranca (a marginal area east of the city) to operate and educate. This team counts on support from two special groups: students at the University of Costa Ricas western campus who help with transportation, publicity, maintaining a web page and other odd jobs; and the prison, where a group of inmates cares for abandoned kittens and post operative cats. They also trap feral cats that hang around the prison looking for food and shelter; the cats are later sterilized and released. Although prisoners can not have “personal pets”, there are some cats and dogs who are right at home in the prison.
One man, Gerardo González, who has befriended and trained two street dogs, says he plans to take them home with him when he is released next year. Prison director Danilo Mesén Salas enjoys the program as much as the prisoners do, and finds it beneficial for both the men and the animals.
Spay – neuter programs are seeing an increase in the dogs and cats brought in, especially when the clinic is in the neighborhood and owners can walk, carry, or a wheelbarrow to transport a dog or cat. In many areas, cars are still a luxury and so are veterinary visits. Not so when ANPA, AHPPA or McKee comes (almost) to the door. Five years ago people were hesitant about sterilizing pets. “They are just animals and breeding is natural,” was the excuse.
“Now as soon as one clinic is over people ask when th next one will be. Even on the bus someone will ask me,” a Mckee volunteer reported. Animal welfare has made great strides in the past five years. There are fewer dogs and cats roaming the streets and fewer dead animals along the roadsides. In rural areas, where formerly it was common to abandon dogs and cats, the numbers have diminished. More owners use leashes to exercise their pets. The number of events and the people who attend them show that there is more awareness of animal welfare. But there are still big gaps. Male dogs and cats are rarely neutered. Since they do not get pregnant many people consider it a waste of money, even at low cost. They are not aware of the dangers to males who roam in packs, fight over territory or run away to seek adventure.
“We need to continue educating the public about population control, sanitation, and not chaining dogs or confining cats to cages,” says Gisela Vico. “We also need regulations for breeders. We need to enforce laws that protect animals and teach the public how to make a legal complaint against animal neglect or abuse. People want to call ANPA and let us do the work.” There are also the problems of funding and finding locations to hold spay- neuter clinics. Donations from individuals, sales of T-shirts, rummage sales, bingo games and social events and caring patrons keep the programs running. The low price of the operations barely covers costs, but even this is too much for some families. Volunteers often pay out of their own pockets to help “Castromobiles” are another dream for the futur a van set up for operating that can be taken into any area or neighborhood is the goal of every group working in animal welfare. It can hard to find places to hold a clinic, but dedicated groups will go on, “Until every dog and cat is taken care of,” as one volunteer Mckee worker expressed it.
Ecotourism and Nature 
