Our Team consists of eager volunteers, local residents, capable medical staff, concerned visitors, involved city officials, and so many more. We are everyone who cares about our animal population and are striving to make a positive difference.

Isla Animals started informally in the year 2000.  There was already a group on the island, Amigos de Animales, that was taking in and adopting out puppies. With Alison’s help they did the very first Spay and Neuter clinic on Isla Mujeres, sterilizing over 200 animals.

As tourism grew the wild dog population was viewed as a threat to vacationers so Isla Animals instigated a system of trap, sterilize and release. This program WORKED! Within a few years, the wild street dog population was ELIMINATED. However there was still an overpopulation of strays and unwanted litters of puppies. Alison’s house became the unofficial humane society for Isla Mujeres from 2000 to 2013. She registered the rescue as a non-profit in Colorado in 2009.

In 2023, the local government of Isla Mujeres reclaimed the space they had given us for a shelter in 2015. By evicting us, they started a process that has forced us to make some hard decisions. First, we had to find an adequate space to house our animals, with the very limited space on Isla, and the extravagant increase of prices of property and rentals, there was nowhere for Isla Animals to go.

When one of our directors proposed donating a piece of land in Cancun, there was not much to think. It was that or nothing. And then a whole new dream was born, and Isla Animals, instead of dying to the ignorance and indifference of the local govt, was reborn stronger than ever.

Second, the lack of empathy towards the animals that the local govt shown, not to mention the complete ingratitude towards 24 years of Alison doing their work (which wasn’t surprising as they had been claiming credit for her work for many years), has left the island with limited or unexistent animal welfare services for almost 2 years now. The real reason behind the eviction was to eliminate Isla Animals and build a pound, somewhat hoping to inherit our reputation, and take advantage of our labor. But, a pound is very different to what we do and until that’s built, 2 years have passed…

The only reason the island hasn’t yet been overrrun by stray animals, is that the work of Isla Animlas not only hasn’t stopped on Isla Mujeres, but also everything we have done, from regular sterilizations, to education campaigns, deworming events, and simply getting involved with the community, has paid off in the long term.

Alison’s legacy will live on, the changes she singlehanded made in this tiny island, will stick. And we’ll make sure to remind people that the pound on Isla Mujeres is NOT Isla Animals.

Alison won the Doris Day Kindred Spirit award for her work with the animals. She has also been featured in Good Housekeeping Magazine, People Magazine, and many well-published animal magazines, and has also been interviewed for several radio and television programs.

Our Mission

To provide free spay/neuter clinics to help control the animal population

To provide free or reduced cost veterinary services and vaccinations

To offer animal foster care and promote adoptions in Mexico, USA and Canada

To educate pet owners about humane animal treatment, care and responsibility

And to do all of the above in the most humane, compassionate way possible