It would be an understatement to call Sunny Benedict a dog and cat lover. She’s actually Baja California’s premier pet activist. Anyone who travels in Mexico can’t help but notice the large number of dogs lying dead on the side of the road, or the mangy, skinny strays wandering around—often females with drooping teats and downcast eyes.

In 1992, the first year Sunny lived in Rosarito and worked as a realtor, everyone she met complained about the stray dogs. However, no one seemed to have the time or energy to do anything about them. The situation disturbed her greatly, so she began to investigate. What she learned changed her life. Back in 1993 there were no animal shelters in northern Baja. There were (and still are) two perreras or dog pounds—one in Tijuana and another in Ensenada. An average of 60 dogs per day were (and are) put down at the Tijuana perrera. According to Sunny, this can be attributed to the low number of veterinarians cooperating with the perrera’s low cost neuter and spay program, as well as the area’s large population of unwanted animals.

Historically, dogs at the perreras have been electrocuted. Sunny has been encouraging them to use Phenobarbital instead. She said, "Fifteen dollars-worth of Phenobarbital would painlessly euthanize 30 large dogs. Although the Tijuana perrera does not have the budget to afford this, they’re considering it and currently looking for funding." Lately she has been able to save four or five dogs a week in Tijuana—desirable dogs like Poodles, Beagles and Shih Tzus—and bring them to her shelter ... but that’s not enough.

Flash back to 1996. After she learned all this, she put an ad in the Baja Sun, the local Rosarito newspaper, asking anyone interested in helping save strays to meet with her. Eighteen people showed up one night, chipped in $10 apiece and did some brainstorming. They had a fund-raiser the following month, which netted $1000. "After that," she said, "it was like a fast-moving train." It took a year to get the paperwork filed in Mexico City. In March of 1997 she received her nonprofit license in Mexico. She found a piece of land to rent for $300 a month in the hills behind Rosarito and began taking in strays. On any given day you can find 300 to 350 dogs and cats at her shelter. Last summer she had over 400. Of the 4000 pets she’s rescued, about 2000 have been adopted—98% of these in the United States. However, some obviously didn’t make it. A Chihuahua puppy we met named Pitufas, came in a few weeks ago with her mom and four siblings. They’d all been living on the streets, were weak, starving and dehydrated. All died but Pitufas, who wasn’t out of the woods yet when we visited. While we were there, Sunny fed her vitamins to bolster her immune system, and cough medicine for a respiratory infection.

Sunny has a tight, dedicated network of volunteers on this side of the border. Petsmart in Vista and Petco at Friars Road help her with adoptions. On August 11th and 12th of this year, Walmart in Santee is hosting a two-day event to find homes for some of her dogs. She plans to take 10 adult dogs and 15 to 20 puppies across the border for this event. When I asked if she’d be taking some of the 30 kittens and 34 adult cats in her shelter, she told me, "Probably not. It’s going to be an outdoor event and in August it will be too hot for them in those tiny cages."

Any pets that aren’t adopted at the U.S. events are placed in foster care up here, where they stay until they find a home. Recently, two of Sunny’s benefactors from Solana Beach, bought her a five-acre parcel of raw land in Bonsall to use as an adoption facility. She hopes to build a facility that will house 20 dogs and up to 20 cats. This will eliminate the need for foster care. Her volunteers can pick up the animals and take them to adoption events. The public will be able to walk in, look at and visit with pets they’re looking to adopt. She envisions also caretaker quarters, a small clinic to provide minor treatments, as soon as she finds volunteers who can help with the funding, design and construction.

The Sanctuary asks for an adoption donation of $75 for a dog, $85 for a kitten and $75 for an adult cat. Sunny explains, "Every dog and cat comes with a name and a health record. I work with two separate vet clinics in Rosarito. We make sure all animals are vaccinated, wormed and neutered or spayed. Puppies and kittens are fixed at three months old. We don’t send any animal north of the border to be adopted until it’s healthy. We have a seven-day guarantee period too. If an adoption doesn’t work out within a week or so, the family can call our foster care people. They’ll come pick up the pet and refund the money.

"The Baja Animal Sanctuary does not use euthanasia as a means of population control," Sunny assured me. "The only animals we put down are the ones who are too sick or injured to have a decent quality of life. I have about 20 dogs at my shelter that will never be adopted. They’re just here. They hang out." I saw them. They have good lives.
"How much does it cost to run an operation like this?" I asked. Well, the dogs eat 300 pounds of food per day in the summer, and about 400 pounds per day in the winter. Sunny spends about $110 each day on pet food. Her shelter has 10 full-time employees, two of whom stay overnight. There’s no electricity, so when the sun goes down they have to fire up the generator. Water is trucked in daily and costs her $450 a month. The cost to neuter and spay is about $28 per animal. Fortunately, several U.S.-based vets donate medications, because the monthly expense for drugs runs approximately $400. Sunny’s annual budget is $60,000.

It’s not easy. The entire operation runs on donations. "I remember one nasty winter day," she told me. "There was no food. No money in the bank. It was cold. I sat down in the dirt and 20 dogs circled me, licking me. I looked up to the sky and cried out, ‘God, where’s the food?!’ All of a sudden, a bright red jeep with Arizona plates drove up. They’d heard about me, they said. They wanted to help. So they loaded up their vehicle with dog food and drove here." She smiled. "Every time I get discouraged something surprising and wonderful happens."

I first learned of Sunny on an Internet bulletin board. I have a second home in Punta Banda, just south of Ensenada. There’s a huge problem with stray dogs down there too. Unwanted animals (particularly pregnant females and newborn puppies) are regularly ditched at the dump. Sunny has accepted over 20 dogs this year from the Ensenada-La Bufadora area. "I can’t take anymore," she said. "I have the ability to open animal shelters all over Mexico. Other communities need to get together and build their own shelters, otherwise all the dogs will end up in the perreras. I can help them get started, but I can only run this one. It’s a seven-day-a-week job."

Apparently, in 1997 the Mexican government passed laws requiring every municipality to have its own animal shelter. "There are volumes of laws protecting animals in Mexico," she said.

Sunny is a hero. There’s no doubt about it. But she’s only one person trying to solve a huge problem. There are only two humane societies in all of Baja that I’m aware of. Hers is one. The other is in Cabo San Lucas. I’m sure there are other quiet heroes around who are dedicated to saving Mexican dogs. I know of another one, anyway. His name is Chris Tatum and he owns Solana Beach Do-It-Yourself Dog Wash. He works with a man , Alex Ynigo, who has a ranch near Tijuana, and has been active in dog rescues for almost 30 years. They have 180 dogs there. Once they’re healthy and neutered/spayed he brings them north and adopts them out of his store. In June we took our dog Gonzo (who we adopted off the beach in Todos Santos, near Cabo) into the Dog Wash for a summer trim. We came out with Cassie. She was the 158th dog Chris has found a home for. By the way ... you can trust me ... Mexican dogs make wonderful pets. They’re the most grateful dogs you can imagine.

Sunny needs volunteers to help with the dogs. She needs people with construction expertise to help with the proposed adoption center in Bonsall. She dreams of finding a plot of land to buy in Mexico too. She needs money … pet food ... medications. So does Chris. "Even half-empty bags of dog food help a lot," he told me. "Old medicine too." If you want to help, visit Sunny on the web at www.bajadogs.org, email her at Bajadogs@aol.com, call her at 011-52-663-13249. Mail donations to Baja Dog Sanctuary, PMB 626, P.O. Box 439060, San Diego, CA 92143. If you want to help Chris, call the Dog Wash at 858-755-7778, or stop by. He’s located on Lomas Santa Fe Drive just south of Highway 101.

Other dedicated souls on both sides of the border need to come forward and help establish more animal sanctuaries in Mexico. More low cost spay and neutering programs are needed. Awareness is the first step. For us. For the Mexicans too. Then comes activism … and cooperation.

Ann is the author of Cooking With Baja Magic and Cartwheels in the Sand—two books about Baja. She’s also written numerous articles sharing her fondness for Mexico. Ann’s new book, Agave Sunsets—Baja Love Stories will be out next year.