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| ABOUT HELPING HANDS FOR HOUNDS OF HONDURAS |
| Some say Pilar works magic on these dogs. But Pilar will attribute it to the good vet care and the love and security they feel at HHHH’s Nereida Montes de Oca Refuge. Sometimes it’s hard to believe the before and after pictures are the same dog—it’s amazing what some patience, love, and regular care can do! |
| Some Before and After Photos |
| Please click on a photo below for a before and after photo some of Pilar's dogs. You will understand after viewing these photos the importance of the work she does. |
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Bu- Pilar found this older dog, very emaciated, near a fried chicken shack, but the people wanted to get rid of him because he bothered their customers. He stayed at Pilar's sanctuary for three years. He was fearful of everyone except Pilar. He died of natural causes. |
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Boni - found near a maquila where she looked for food, but was mistreated by all who saw her. Pilar rescued Boni after leaving her food for a week and getting the dog used to her. Boni loved children and lived for about three and a half years at the santuary, where she died of natural causes. |
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Vida was abandoned at the university. She had mange, was thin and scared. She improved with just food and lots of TLC, and she was adopted by a nice family. |
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Winston is being treated for a venereal tumor. Pilar sees many dogs with these cancers. They are highly treatable, and we expect Winston to make a full recovery. |
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Guapa - Pilar found this big dog, very emaciated and with a fungus/bacterial infection of her skin and two large breast tumors. She was very weak when rescued and took about three months to recover her fur and fatten up. She was adopted and became a wonderful pet and very trustful. |
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| At the Nereida Montes de Oca Refuge, the Helping Hands for Hounds of Honduras animal sanctuary, Pilar usually cares for over 20 dogs (there are also birds, cats, and often a couple wild animals she is rehabilitating). Some of the dogs at the refuge are permanent residents—it is unlikely they’ll find other homes because of the intensive care they need, their age, or their injuries. But some of the dogs are available for adoption, and before they are adopted, Pilar makes sure that they are spayed or neutered, have all their vaccinations, and that the adoptive home is the best possible place for the dog. Pilar also checks on the dogs regularly to make sure they are doing well in their adoptive homes.
Pilar named the sanctuary after her niece, who accompanied Pilar on many animal rescues, but died prematurely. The Nereida Montes de Oca Refuge is a fitting tribute to Pilar’s niece, who not only loved animals very much, but who also rescued so many.
Pilar is a retired UNAH ornithology professor. She has given courses at the university on first aid for animals, and many of her students now help her with animal rescues, and spread the word of humane care to their family, friends, and community.
Two veterinarians, Dr. Ramon Villeda Bermudez (son of one of the most famous Honduran presidents) and Dr. Orlando Ordonez, help HHHH with vaccinations and heath checks, de-parasitizing, sterilization, chemotherapy, amputation, and adoption of many of the Refuge’s animals.
Pilar used to coordinate many rescues with Malcolm Alexander at the Episcopal Mission in Honduras, but in 2011, Malcolm left Honduras to retire in the US. He is sorely missed! Over the 18 years that Malcolm lived in Honduras, he used his own finances to save many dogs. In November of 2008, he was able to obtain the services of three veterinarians from the U.S. and New Zealand to treat over 80 dogs and cats of people living in the Red Cross Colony of Altos de Santa Rosa near Tegucigalpa. All of the dogs and cats treated were evaluated, treated for parasites, and vaccinated. Twenty dogs and 4 cats were spayed and neutered. All of these services were provided at minimal cost. Click here to see a photo of the clinic day.
Pilar also works with school children and others in her community. In March 2010, ten 11th graders from a bilingual school came over, all girls with about 3 moms. Only four would come through the fence though—they weren’t used to being around dogs. But they took lots of pictures and bought four Montes de Oca Refuge t-shirts.
Several times, children from Malcolm’s Episcopal center have come over to the Montes de Oca Refuge to help with feeding and grooming the dogs and helping to clean up the shelter. Click here to see pictures of a dog shampooing day.
Your support to AKI helps feed and provide veterinary care for the dogs at Helping Hands for Hounds of Honduras. A 66 lb. bag of Pro-pet costs $30. Pilar uses 7 to 8 bags a month (about 450-500 lbs. a month). Please donate by “adopting” one of the dogs to the right or by sending your donation through Paypal or by check, and earmarking it for HHHH. Your support helps Pilar care for the wonderful dogs and cats at the Nereida Montes de Oca Refuge.
We received this news about how some of the sutures AKI donates to HHHH have been used: Pilar donates the sutures to the vets she works with, and she gets significant discounts on veterinary services, and the vets use the sutures for her sanctuary animals. Now our sutures are also helping to spay cats from the poorest neighborhoods of Tegucigalpa. Dona Isabel, a Honduran woman, goes into these neighborhoods and convinces people that their cats should be spayed. She covers the full cost of surgery. The vet gives Dona Isabel an 80% discount on surgeries because he’s using the sutures donated by AKI! Instead of about US$100, he charges US$20 for each cat! So Dona Isabel can afford to bring him three to four cats a month to be fixed!
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Pilar sent the following information (November 2011) of the new dogs and cats at the Refuge: |
| Galip: In February 2011 Pilar’s neighbor found puppy Galip in front of an abandoned yard, in the street. He was full of internal parasites, cuts and scrapes all over his body. Pilar’s neighbor presented the puppy to Pilar and asked “Can you do something?” Pilar treated him for parasites, had him vaccinated, and cared for him for 6 months. He was then adopted by a family with two children, a 9-year old boy and a 6-year old girl. The dad goes running with Galip every morning before work. The family sends Pilar photos of Galip almost every week! |
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| Galip as a puppy -- after some recovery time at Pilar's |
This is Galip at his new home. |
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Lito: Rescued by a woman who brought the dog to Pilar in horrible condition. Lito’s jaw was broken (his tongue sticks out) and he had really bad skin, but his tail wagged like crazy. Now that he’s feeling better, it’s still wagging. He’s feeling so good now, he barks at strangers-he thinks he’s a tough guy. |
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Lucho: This black and white kitten was thrown behind the Natural History Museum at the university where Pilar works. A maid saw the kitten and called Pilar for help. He had a broken leg, skin was scraped off between his front and back legs, and he had a skin infection on his face and neck. Pilar wasn’t sure if this happened from a dog attack or if he had been cut on razor wire or what his sad story was. He was unable to move, but Pilar had him on antibiotics, nutria-plus gel, and canned food. He’s still unable to eat any dry food (or maybe that’s what he’d like Pilar to believe!). |
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Dapper: Two university students brought this cat to Pilar. They had found him dying on the side of the road, starving, filthy, and with dermatitis on his face, neck, and back. His eyes were mostly closed, his skin was dry and flakey, all stuck together. It took about 3 months for the skin to clear up with antibiotics and creams. He went from 2 lbs to 8 lbs. with Pilar’s good nutrition. We’re hoping a woman from the Japanese embassy will adopt him. |
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Mitch: The abscess on Mitch is now all healed, and the only memory of it is a big scar on his back. Although Mitch had a family, he essentially lived on the streets for about 8 years. His owners put old tortillas and chicken skin out for him. He was a walking skeleton and very afraid of people, so Pilar could never catch him. But when he finally collapsed on the street, she rescued him. He is now a sweet cat and lives at Pilar’s sanctuary. We never found out how he got that wound; we’re just glad that Mitch’s memory of it is probably as faded as the wound. |
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| UPDATE ON THE DOGS AT THE NEREIDA MONTES DE OCA REFUGE, HONDURAS |
| In 2010, the following dogs have been adopted out: Keanu, Galan/Guapo, Niko, Lorna, Sara, Ambar, Liberty Bell, and Burbujas. |
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Malcolm sent us this note about Liberty Bell: On the 4th of July, driving down a street in Tegucigalpa, we (Pilar and Malcolm) came across this puppy. I know she's hard to look at. I see this every day. She was just standing on the side of the road like she didn't know what to do. I think she had just been dumped, as there weren't any homes around. We pulled up beside her. I told Pilar to go around to the back of the car to distract her while I grabbed her. I grabbed her gently, as she didn't seem to pose any threat of injury to me. She tried to bite me, but didn't have the strength to succeed. I held her to my chest and stroked her head and ears as she continued to try to bite me. She quickly settled for being held and stroked, and we continued on our way. We decided to name her Liberty Bell, Bell for short. Pilar would take her home, as she had the experience and medications to treat her.
Liberty Bell turned into a happy, healthy puppy, and was adopted by a woman who lives in Tegucigalpa. |
| Pilar sent AKI the following update about the male dogs at the sanctuary at the end of 2010: click here. |
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| Pilar sent AKI the following update about the female dogs at the sanctuary at the end of 2010: click here. |
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| Although Pilar and the vets she works with try their best, some of the dogs come in in such bad states, they don’t make it. Others stay at the sanctuary living out their normal life and die of old age of other natural causes. Julio, Matilda (both were patients of one of the vets and stayed at the Refuge for over a month while they were going through vet treatments), Chalo, Felipe, Tammy (euthanized after nervous system problems became too advanced, she was left tied to a tree in front of Pilar’s house), Tina, Dulce, Blackie, and Puppy have died. Pilar told us the following about some of these dogs:
Blackie was a 10 or 11 year old mixed breed that looked a little like a Papillon, and weighed only about 10 lbs. He was blind in one eye. About 9 years ago, I rescued him from a trash can at the university. He was very thin and covered with ticks (the fat female ticks, they call patacones here). Three students and I worked on him for about 2 hours, pulling off these big ticks—they were in bunches all over him, and looked more like tumors than ticks! We all miss his funny face and bat ears and grouchy personality. Felipe had five major surgeries for cancer, and he was ready to say goodbye. He was content and had a good life even with his troubles.
Puppy was the puppy of Charamusca, who was found as a stray in a deplorable state. She smelled terrible with infected mange and she was pregnant. Once she had her puppies and was healthy, I had her spayed. She died of natural causes in December 2010. |
| Pilar also has some kitties at her refuge. This photo is of a three-week old kitten that fell off a roof and was brought to Pilar’s by neighborhood kids. She’s doing fine now! |
Some of Pilar’s 2009 Adoptions:
Pascual, the three-legged French Poodle, weighs only 9 lbs. I still miss him. I had him about a year.
Tunco is an all black mixed breed with a piece of a tail. He had been hit by a car and was laying down on the median when I rescued him. He was here 6 months or so and then a friend of a friend whose house was robbed a couple of times adopted him. He’s much more of a pet than a guard dog though. But he’s very intelligent and full of energy, very friendly with people but an alpha dog with dogs. |
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| Pilar, Marvin, Fernando, and Gerardo, after a long day of work, laying concrete for the Helping Hands for Hounds of Honduras shelter. |
| A huge thank you to Fabrizia, a US Agency for International Development staff member, who was linked to Pilar and HHHH through Animal-Kind International. Fabrizia organized her friends to help Pilar with shelter improvements, and she donated construction material. Fabrizia also regularly donates food to the shelter and helps Pilar with various tasks. |
| News And Updates From HHHH |
| Read about Pilar’s work with VIDA, an organization that sends teams of medical and veterinary specialists to under-served areas. Click here to read more and view photos. |
Get To Know Pilar – We at Animal-Kind International think that once you get to know about Pilar and her dedication to the welfare of all animals, you will think her work deserves support. We have compiled some email correspondence that we get regularly from Pilar so you can see the kind of work she does in Honduras, the challenges she faces, and why she needs our support. Click here to read. |
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Tegucigapla, Honduras, woman with her dogs |
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