Isla Animals is building a shelter for abandoned and street dogs and cats!! After 22 years of work in Isla Mujeres, we were evicted from our much-appreciated and very efficiently ran shelter space, right after breaking all records and working harder than ever before!

2023 – (Jan to May)

• • Intake 🐶: over 160 dogs (and a few cats!)
• • Adoptions 🏡: 125 dogs adopted (beaten all records with 112 dogs adopted in 112 days starting on Jan 1st)
• • Sterilizations 💉: over 500 between our weekly campaigns and sponsorship on the mainland

Having started 2023 in such a high, meant that when the whole world came crashing down we just couldn’t give up, retire, live a normal life. We are passionate and committed and we know how much of a difference we can make in these dogs lives and how many more are out there waiting for a helping paw!

Isla Animals is 100% based on donations, we are a registered 503c1 in the US and an Asociacion Civil in Mexico. We depend on your generosity to do this work, to rescue, sterilize, nurse back to health and adopt out dogs and cats! We don’t have government support, nor the support of big companies (if you know how to get them involved, please do let us know!)

Each dog taken from the streets costs us on vetting about 250 US dollars to get ready up to international standards (vaccines, deworming, preventatives, tests, sterilization, treatments) to over 1000 US dollars when they come sick -which obviously is often the case- .

With our new circumstances, we went from having 60/80 dogs at any time, to having 25/30. Dogs in our care may spend 3 weeks to maximum of 3 months (except for some more complicated medical cases) and 100% of our dogs get adopted! While our vetting costs have been somewhat reduced given the fact that we have fewer animals in our care, we lost 90% of our visibility and most of the donations in cash. And, sadly, the number of animals in need has not magically reduced either…

And, on top of everything, we are building a shelter… and while we started and are excited to see the progress (and additionally we are doing everything ourselves to reduce costs), we are still far from the total sum needed to finish building. We hope that once you see this is going to happen, you want to be part of this passion project… 

Check our GoFundMe Campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-save-isla-animals-rescue

We are trying very hard to make sure we use your donations in the best possible way. We are doing everything ourselves, from buying materials to finding local workers and supervising the work. We even designed the space exactly as we need it (and with 22 years of experience, we know exactly what we need for our animals, spay and neuter campaigns, welcoming visitors and volunteers…). 

We are hoping to make it a lot more than just a covered shelter. We are going to have a visitors’ center, and welcome volunteers (with a live-in volunteering program), we have designed a big surgery room where we can do our free spay and neuter campaigns, work with other rescues in the area, and do a lot more outreach. We are hoping to even offer free transportation and have events on the property to have our following and supporters come to experience the amazing love rescue dogs know how to give and enjoy endless puppy kisses! 

We have also designed much-needed (and currently very hard to do) isolation areas where we can have sick puppies/dogs/cats, as well as nursing mommies, and make sure, as always, our general population is safe (which is very important considering the number of serious contagious illnesses).

Consider visiting us and see our work firsthand, get involved, be part of the change, and follow us on social media (Instagram(@islaanimals), Tik Tok (@islaanimalsrescue), YouTube (@islaanimalsrescue) and please lend a paw to the voiceless animals of Mexico! 💙