Last Thursday, July 8, our Canadian partner rescue organization sent us a charter plane to pick up the MOST PRECIOUS cargo Costa Rica has EVER exported: 88 homeless dogs were flown out and landed in Toronto yesterday morning.
It was an indescribable feeling to see each and every adult dog depart from our rescue center.
Some of these dogs had been with us for a very long time, they were a part of our lives and they all have a very special place in our hearts.
During all the stress and hustle and bustle of getting them on their way, we had to shed a few tears (and still do…) It was and is very emotional for us… A combination of sadness and gratitude to see them all go.
Knowing that they would all be fostered and/or adopted out by Save Our Scruff , who we have worked with for three years and trust blindly in finding the best homes for our angels, made the whole process of letting go much easier.
After weeks of intense planning and hard work, we managed to get all the dogs on the flight. They landed safely on the other side early yesterday morning.
We are currently receiving updates via Whatsapp and social media about all of the dogs, and it’s absolutely blissful to see them already curled up on couches and in fluffy dog beds, on beautiful walks in parks or along lakes, or playing with their new furry siblings.
All of this makes us so happy and reinforces that it was worth the stress and sweat of the last few weeks.
Charlie’s Angels – Animal Rescue – Costa Rica orchestrated the entire operation hand-in-hand with the team at Save Our Scruff, who were extremely dedicated to the whole thing. We can’t thank Laura Bye and Jenna Bye, the two sisters who are the heart and soul of SOS, for putting their trust in us and working with us throughout the operation.
And I especially want to thank Janice, the transportation manager, who I dealt with 24/7 and who guided me through the whole journey. Janice, you are just AMAZING!
I would also like to thank the six participating rescue organizations: El Refugio, DWAG, Osa Rescue, Half Way Home (Jessica Mundo & Dr. Cavallini), Yo Sere Su Voz – Guanacaste and Adopciones Chinita.
It was such a pleasure to work with all the organizations, everyone was very professional, flexible, forthcoming and genuine.
Everyone went to great lengths to ensure that the dogs were in perfect health, that all paperwork was in order, and that the adoption managers in Canada were able to find the best matches for their foster and adoptive families by providing very accurate profiles of each dog.
And in fact… Congratulations to the SOS adoption managers for a remarkable job!
50% of all dogs went directly to their adoptive parents and the other 50% to hand-picked foster families. Each foster and adoptive family has a councilor to support with the dog’s adjustment. The shy and skittish dogs were equipment with GPS trackers and every dog has to wear a special security collar and harness to make sure nobody would get lost during the adjustment period.
We have already received so much positive feedback about our dogs’ state of health…and that’s partly because of the really great medical care they’ve all received from our vet, Dra Adriana Chacón, at SantiVet in San Isidro.
Dr. Adriana is an angel and has always been there to get “JUST ONE MORE DOG” ready for Canada and the list of Charles Angels was VERY long…. Our organization alone sent 45 dogs to be adopted in Toronto, all under Dr. Adriana’s medical supervision!
Thank you to everyone who donated to this…it would never have been possible without the financial help. Thank you to Laura Deeley Bren for encouraging me to start the GoFundMe campaign and offering to match all donations until we reach our goal, which we did!
And I don’t want to miss giving a shout out to Alejandro Villalobos who runs the fabulous animal shipping company Pets on Move in San Jose, who we have worked with several times in the past to get our rescue dogs out of the country.
I immediately approached him when SOS offered us this unique opportunity to send so many dogs to Canada.
Alejandro did not think twice and offered his expertise and services for free because he was so touched by this cause.
Without Alejandro, this whole operation might not have been accomplished. He was so supportive throughout the entire procedure, we really can’t thank him enough. If you ever need to ship your pets, please look no further and contact Alejandro.
He speaks fluent English and is very dedicated and kind to animals!
Pets on Move www.petsonmove.com.
Last but not least, I would like to give a special thank you to a woman who has been nothing but stellar throughout the process.
Federica Fedele, the manager of our shelter, worked extremely hard every day and hardly had a day off to make sure all the dogs were well taken care of.
She was the one who always encouraged me when I had second thoughts about whether I could really pull this off….
“I have absolutely no doubt, Tania, that we can do this, and I’ll be by your side until the end…”
And it wasn’t easy, because when the flight was postponed, we had no volunteers left, because they all had other plans. So at the last minute we had to recruit a whole new team to help takeíng care of the 45 dogs we had been left with, all of whom had to be in perfect health and condition to fly to Canada.
Luckily, the universe was looking out for us and sent us some of the best volunteers we’ve ever had, Milvia, Andrea, Danielle and Arron, who were a tremendous help. THANK YOU CREW! You know how grateful we are…
Now we are preparing for our spay/neuter clinic, which will take place tomorrow with already 60 animals registered….
Please follow Charlie’s Angels Costa Rica and Save Our Scuff on Instagram as most of the Canada updates can be found in “Stories” and “Reels”.
We are in the process of editing a video about the whole charter flight adventure, so please be on the lookout for it!
Pura Vida and so much gratitude!
