Puntarenas is a province in Costa Rica that incorporates many of the coastal towns on the Pacific side. It is also a canton and a district. We have been volunteering in the district of Puntarenas since January 2021 since we discovered a very high need in terms of animal care.

The community of the district of Puntarenas is very poor with lower education levels. They have very limited access to resources and the vet clinics in the area are slightly more expensive than in most of the rest of Costa Rica, catering to the upper end of the community who can pay for their services. The pet owners in this area simply cannot afford preventative care such as vaccines, flea or tick products or castrations, never mind treatment or hospitalisation.

We have been focusing on one particular home, the home of Yesenia Rodriguez, who is an incredible lady, exceptionally resourceful, creative and industrial, who has a love for animals, but who also had the misfortune of being born into a life where she had little or no resources.

Yesenia adopted Gato and Zafira from me. After helping her to comply with the requirements by enclosing her yard, I went to go and drop off the dogs. This was the day I met Yesenia. She assured me she had no other dogs but when I arrived I found that there were 5 dogs tied up in the back and one had puppies. She assured me they belonged to her neighbour. Yesenia has not always been honest with me, but the longer our association, the more she has learnt that it is the best policy.

Yesenia was in a stage of acquiring more dogs, many of whom were in need of help, such as Coco. She was also acquiring pets for her grand daughter. By the time I met her she had already acquired 3 puppies and a rabbit for Jacky. Recently, a mother cat who had given birth to 4 kittens was taken in by the two of them. Yesenia's neighbour, Alfredo, said they will be helpful for getting rid of mice and rats.

Yessenia, through no fault of her own, is not very educated. She has had a tough life and in the last few years found herself constructing a home out of the scraps she found on borrowed land. She doesn't have an income. So looking at the situation the goals are as follows:

• Take the dogs that we can and find homes for them so that Yesenia has lower expenses.
• Educate Yesenia on the importance of castrating, vaccinating and using flea medications and then helping her to get access to these products.
• Show her that these things cost money and being a responsible dog owner means spending money on these things. She cannot always rely on others to bring her dog food or vaccinate a dog she can't afford to have.
• Help Yesenia find a source of income
• Help Yesenia secure her yard so that all the dogs can be free without being tied up.

While Yesenia is still learning about dog rescue, she is very interested in helping. Thanks to Yesenia we were able to get word of 3 little dogs that had been abandoned in a house by the previous tenants. Two of them needed urgent vet care. Within 48 hours Dely was put to sleep and her sister Sally was sent home. Harriet and Sally came to live with us 2 days later.

As we get more resources the plan is to reach out to the community and look for more dogs that need help. We plan to start vaccination campaigns and then move onto castration campaigns.

When it comes to animal care the community has many issues. After an assessment we were able to determine that:

• They do not have access to affordable vet care.
• There are very few rescuers in the area who are also not given access to better prices for bulk patients.
• There is a severe lack of knowledge, low levels of vaccination, castration, many dogs and cats wander free or are tied up under a tree. High levels of abandonment.

. While we cannot save all dogs from suffering, we can't find new homes for all of them and we can't make huge changes over night. But we can make a small difference today. These are things that YOU can do to get involved. We aim to:

• Be a consistent presence going to the area once a week. Join us for an eye opening experience.
• Take the dogs that are tied up for a walk on the beach
• Take donations of dog food each time we go
• Provide de-worming, vaccinations or tick and flea products
• Take building materials such as nails, bags of cement, chicken wire
• Take small things that are needed such ad chargers, cables, sometimes cans of tuna and sardines or other foodstuffs.