Animal Welfare Peru Project #6038

Spay & Neuter street dogs of Huanchaco, Peru

by The Perros Project

Project Report | Jan 6, 2026
2025 Wrap-Up: You'll Wanna Read This!

By Matt Webber & Courtney Dillard | Co-Directors

Dra. Ingrid and Dr. Jose Chu with Tomasa

Hello and happy new year to our wonderful supporters! We are so sorry that this report is coming to you later than usual, but we had many family and work obligations over the last several months and have only been able to turn our attention to this today. That said, we’re happy to report that our partners on the ground have been busy at work over the last quarter.

From the Huanchaco al Recate team:

Ursula continues to work with Dr. Manuel, who gives many of his services at a reduced cost for her shelter dogs. Specifically, he has helped her with the most recent sterilizing campaign as it is puppy season in the Southern hemisphere. When puppies are surrendered to the shelter, she works with Dr. Manual to have them dewormed and given their first round of vaccinations. Additionally, Ursula reported that a small dog was attacked by some other dogs and she was able to work with Dr. Manuel to provide treatment.

In addition to the veterinary services, Ursula has used donations to continue providing food, as well as make much needed repairs after the collapse of a wall at her shelter. While she had an additional worker covering many shifts at the shelter, that person recently left for family reasons, and Ursula returned to relying on volunteers and doing most of the work herself - a heavy lift. We admire her determination and persistence immensely and feel so lucky to work with her to protect the street dogs of Huanchaco.

From the Amigo Fiel team:

We recently received an extremely detailed report from Bertha, highlighting some of her favorite stories from this year, which were made possible by your financial support (check out the full report at: XXXXX). In total, Bertha tells us that in 2025, the Amigo Fiel team spayed and neutered approximately 600 dogs and cats, with a higher percentage being dogs.

One of those cases is the sweet Galilea, who is approximately 6yrs old and lives in a housing construction area near the Huanchaco roundabout. She has no family but is looked after by the construction workers. Galilea has had two litters of puppies before but most all of them died. The same thing happened on the last occasion, when 12 puppies were born, but only two females survived. After surgery and care from Amigo Fiel, she's been spayed, had a fully recovery, and now she and her two puppies will wait until they find their forever home.

Bertha also reported that one of the achievements she is most proud of this year was bringing new veterinarians onto their team, while simultaneously strengthening their relationships with the veterinarians they’ve worked with previously which has allowed them to work more efficiently.

In Closing:

There’s a lot going on inthe world at this moment, so much that it feels at times that one can’t make a noticeable difference. We’re so grateful to you (our supporters), and our wonderful teammates on the ground in Peru, for making a difference in each and every of these dogs.

With gratitude,

Matt & Courtney

Puppy Season in Peru

Galilea

Lala

Kira

Attachments:

Bertha's 2025 Report Highlights (PDF)

6 Attachments

Permalink

Aug 20, 2025
Updates from Ursula's Shelter in Huanchaco

By Matt Webber | Co-Director

Greetings from beautiful Portland, Oregon. We hope that all of you have enjoyed your summer as much as we have. For this report, we only have an update from one of our two partners on the ground, Huanchaco al Rescate. That said, it's very comprehensive and we are grateful for Ursula who took a lot of time to share her recent experiences working with the street dogs of the area.

Huanchaco al Rescate's New Location

Over the past few months, Ursula has faced several difficult challenges, but also made progress in her work to care for the street dogs of Huancahco. As she reports, thanks to the continued support of the Perros Project, she has been able to keep 40 dogs safe, healthy, and loved during a time of transition.

Earlier this summer, Ursula relocated the shelter closer to her house in Huanchaco after searching extensively for a safe and affordable place. This move helps reduce transportation costs and allows her to focus more of her limited resources directly on the dogs. Ursula reports that all of the dogs are doing well. They are warm, vaccinated, and have never gone without food. At one point, even local schoolchildren stepped in with donations to help sustain the shelter’s food supply—a testament to the community’s care for these animals.

Medical Care

Ursula continues to prioritize medical care. Just this past week she coordinated three surgeries: Valiente received treatment for amn injured eye, the final unspayed female at the shelter was sterilize and a dog rescued from an abandoned shelter had three tumors successfully removed. She also supported an elderly dog through an emergency spay, which was a complete success. Together with Dr. Alex and volunteer Sele, Ursula continues to respond to urgent cases whenever possible.

Community Education

Beyond direct care, Ursula remains committed to education. She continues to give talks at a school in Trujillo, raising awareness about animal welfare. On one occasion, a visiting volunteer helped translate her story into English, extending the message even further.

Two New Bright Spots

A new ally, Manuel, has joined Ursula in spay/neuter efforts and is eager to help launch sterilization campaigns. This is a crucial next step, as the number of dogs in heat and abandoned puppies remains overwhelming.
Just last week, Ursula rescued two puppies. One has already found a loving home—a reminder of the hope and joy that still shines through the hardships.

We hope this report has given you a succinct, but intimate look into the efforts of one of our longtime partners and serves as a strong reminder for why your support continues to make a real difference for the street dogs of Huanchaco, Peru.

Best,

Matt & Courtney

Permalink

Apr 14, 2025
Springtim Report 2025

By Courtney Dillard | Co-Director

We hope this quarterly report finds you well and enjoying the spring! We have a short and compelling update on our work with our partners on the ground in Huanchaco, Peru.

The animalistas with Amigo Fiel shared several photos, a few of which we have included here, to illustrate their activities. First, they have rescued and rehabilitated several puppies from busy streets in the area. You can see one of these adorable creatures in the photos attached. Oftentimes, these young dogs are in quite poor health as their systems are weak and they are exposed to many diseases on the street. Volunteer vets work to get them healthy enough to be adopted by administering fluids and antibiotics to help their recovery. Second, there are photos of two female street dogs who the team was able to capture and spay. Their efforts will reduce the number of puppies on the streets of Trujillo and Huanchaco this year. As the photos demonstrate, it was no easy task!

Ursula with Huanchaco al Rescate has also been hard at work. Her focus continues to be on the shelter that she is providing to dogs in the Huanchaco area. Not only is she the sole provider of their food and water, she also needs to be very industrious and clever as she sources affordable medicines for common ailments like diarrhea and fleas. As you can see in the picture, this spring also found her working with some others to make sure the dogs in the shelter had appropriate shade.

In both cases, there is much work to do and while there are changes and more and more people are sterilizing their animals and not abandoning dogs after they reach adulthood, the work is still quite taxing. We celebrate their perseverance and persistence in this important fight.

Thank you for all you do to support their efforts.

All the best,

Courtney and Matt

Permalink

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ... 18 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.