When Yesenia Montiel and her husband relocated from California to Mexico in 2022 to be closer to her aging in-laws, she couldn’t believe what she saw.
“I was shocked at how many stray dogs there were,” says Yesenia, a Strategic Account Manager at OnFulfillment for the past six years. “Too many.”
It didn’t take long for this situation to land on their doorstep. Within a week of arriving at their new home slightly north of Veracruz, Yesenia and her husband were awakened by a dog crying outside their door. “I got up and saw the dog, who was shivering,” she recalls. “She had very little hair, which it turns out was caused by scabies, so she was very sick.” To make matters worse, someone had poured burnt motor oil on the animal, believing it would help with the scabies.
“I started crying,” says Yesenia. “We knew we had to do something, so we brought her into the garage, called a vet, and got her into treatment right away. After about three weeks, she was in pretty good shape—we were astonished at how quickly she recovered with the appropriate treatment.”
This event marked the beginning of an unlikely but rewarding journey for Yesenia.
Initially, “I didn’t really like dogs—I was afraid of them,” Yesenia admits. That all changed a few years ago when her sister asked Yesenia and her husband to watch a rescue dog she was fostering while her apartment was being remodeled. “My sister found the dog eating from a trash can and felt sorry for her, so she took her in,” Yesenia says. “When she asked us to watch the dog for a month, we didn’t have any pets at the time and we had the room, so we agreed. That’s when I fell in love with dogs.”.png?width=1000&height=500&name=yesenia%20montiel%20with%20dogs%20she%20rescued%20in%20mexico%20(1).png)
Learning to Love
Shortly after the first encounter with the scabies-ridden dog, Yesenia spotted another stray wandering past their house. “It looked like he had never had any contact with people,” she says. “He was so skinny, and you could see he was starting to eat himself.
“It broke my heart to see what horrible condition he was in. We soon learned that he belonged to a local family who had kept him chained up in the yard for years with little food or water. His name was Toby, and you could tell he was a fighter. I told my husband we had to help, so we took care of him.”
After that, Yesenia couldn’t ignore the problem—one that was in desperate need of a solution. Her new-found affection for dogs had found an outlet in Mexico.
The Beginning of UnPerroAlaVez
Yesenia and her husband began putting out food and water in the street for the ever-present strays. Little by little, the couple started taking in dogs and doing what they could to help. “We had to do something—we couldn’t just walk away,” she says. Within six months, they had 16 dogs in their -home. It was time to take a more official stand.
That’s when Yesenia established UnPerroAlavez (One Dog at a Time), a charity dedicated to helping strays in their area get the food and medical attention they deserved. She started a Facebook page and Tik Tok account and, in her spare time, set out to assist dogs that needed help. It hasn’t been easy.
“It’s a sad situation,” she says. “There are no governmental resources for dogs, particularly in rural areas like ours. There is simply no funding available.”
As a result, the financial burden so far has fallen squarely on Yesenia and her husband. The first thing the couple did was launch a spay and neutering campaign to reduce the number of unwanted and unclaimed dogs. The procedure costs between 1200 and 1500 pesos—approximately $65 to $80.
“Fortunately, we became acquainted with a local vet, known as ‘Mincho,’ who generously gave us a deal for our charity,” says Yesenia. “He uses a different technique that is minimally invasive, reducing the surgery time and materials required. That brought the cost of the procedure down to between 300 and 500 pesos (between $16 and $27, depending on the exchange rate), and he also agreed to provide us with the post-surgery medicine at a lower cost. In total, the new reduced cost is in the $25 to $40 range, including medicine, depending on the dog or cat”.
Over the next couple years, UnPerroalavez spayed or neutered approximately 150 dogs and found homes for nearly 100 of the animals. The adoptions are handled in a very business-like manner, with the charity providing all the necessary documentation to ensure ownership is recorded and formalized. A neighbor volunteer, Dalia, is helping with the paperwork and interacting with the vets as needed to relieve the burden on Yesenia.
Education is Key
In addition to providing medical services, Yesenia also dedicates a good part of her time to education and outreach in an effort to reduce the amount of abuse and abandonment she has seen.
“We see a real lack of empathy towards the animals,” Yesenia says. “Dogs are left out in the heat with no water, or the water gets hot and is undrinkable. Others are abandoned on the roads in the middle of nowhere and others suffer abuse from their owners.
“A lot of it has to do with a lack of education too,” she explains. “They want dogs, and many are very good with them. But other owners find that, as the dogs get older or get sick, they can’t afford to keep them. So they just stop taking care of them, some abandon them in an area away from their home, or they tie them to a tree and forget about them. There are even some who tie their dogs from when they are puppies, 24 hours a day. I don’t understand that at all.”
Yesenia is working with local authorities to address these issues. “There are laws and regulations against animal abuse and neglect, but it has to be reported in writing and signed by a community leader before these laws can be enforced,” says Yesenia. “Fortunately, we have the support of the local Director of Ecology. We have also enlisted the help of residents and officials, and we now have a committee dedicated to animal protection.”
These efforts are paying dividends.
“I’m starting to see some traction,” says Yesenia. “More people are reporting abuse when they see it, and the authorities are responding and getting those issues resolved. We have gone from having up to 50 cases in our neighborhood before to virtually none today. But there is still a lot of work to do in the other communities.”
Scaling Back Services
Unfortunately, the economic reality of their situation has forced the charity to adjust its strategy. As word spread, the project grew considerably. However, despite receiving modest contributions from family and friends, and through some modest fund-raising activities, Yesenia and her husband were still essentially paying for the entire charity out of their own pocket.
“Initially we wanted to take in every dog we encountered, but there were too many of them,” says Yesenia. “It just got too big and too expensive, and we don’t have the resources to do any more. We’ve had to scale back and look for help.
“Now, we will only help dogs that are injured, very sick, or recently born. We will get them spayed or neutered, get them the medical attention they need, and then either return them to their habitat or, if possible, find them a new forever home. But the sad truth is, any dog over one year old is hard to adopt out.”
Thanks to the ongoing education and outreach, Yesenia is finding that many families are more receptive to taking their animals back once they have been medically treated. They have also donated mesh fencing material to help families contain the dogs in their yard rather than tie them to a tree or abandon them. This is part of their new strategy, which she is hoping will help many dogs.
Rewarding Work
Today, Yesenia splits her time between Mexico and the U.S., where she has kids in college. Two years in, with 18 dogs and some cats still in her direct care, she says all the hard work has been worth it.
“I would do it all over again, despite the pain of seeing what I have seen,” she says. “It’s worth the fight, and I’m proud to be the voice not only for these dogs, but also for some cats and even a rooster. There’s a reason for me to be here and do this. I feel like we are making a real difference. When the community comes together, we can really see the impact we are having on these animals.”
Help UnPerroAlavez
If you would like to help Yesenia and contribute to UnPerroAlavez, visit the group’s fundraiser page and donate what you can.
