Rescued pups from Mexico up for adoption in Sudbury

Volunteers at a Sudbury animal shelter are looking for homes for 15 street dogs rescued from Mexico.

This is the first time Pet Save has tried such an operation.

The project started in February when a shelter volunteer came back from Mexico, said Pet Save director Jill Pessot.

"She said to me, 'I brought you something from Mexico.'," she said.

"We thought it was maybe a t-shirt or a keychain ... [but] she showed me a little Chihuahua and she said, 'do you think we might be able to find him a home?' I said, 'absolutely. I could probably adopt him in 15 minutes'."

The volunteer does charity work in Mexico and met up with a woman who runs Barb's Dog Rescue in Puerto Peñasco. 

The dogs are in good condition and were taken care of by the Mexican shelter. But some of their before pictures were "pretty horrific," said Pessot.

"There are hundreds dying on the streets daily."

Small dogs are in demand here, she added.

"In northern Ontario, we could adopt hundreds, hundreds."

So Pet Save partnered with shelters in Mexico and the United States and developed a plan to drive the dogs through three countries and two borders. Since arriving in Sudbury, all 15 dogs have been checked over by a vet.

People have questioned the shelter about why it's helping dogs from other countries instead of those abandoned here in northern Ontario.

"We take hundred and hundreds of dogs every year, but again, it's a size issue. The person who is looking for an 8 pound dog is not going to turn around and take my 80 pound lab, because I don't have the 10 pound dog."

Pet Save already has a waiting list for the dogs and plans to bring more of the animals from Mexico to Sudbury in August.