Isla Animals Rescue or Tourist Attraction?

Did you know?!

80% of our animals -or more- come from the mainland (we could probably just work on the 20% and do exclusively Isla dogs, however… we know how much more good we can do, thanks to you!!!… we couldn’t live with ourselves knowing we can help more animals and discriminating cause “they are not from the island”)
Land on Isla is very expensive. Building in Cancun, like the whole project of Oasis, is cheaper than buying the smallest piece of land on Isla. Additionally, we would probably have to bribe an army of people for the weirdest reasons to make it happen. It’s Mexico after all.
We can’t justify spending such a huge amount of money, which we are not able to fundraise, on a piece of land when we could save thousands of animals with that. If space wasn’t available at all, Isla Animals would have either dissolved or we would have found other ways to do rescue.
We will continue working on Isla (regardless of what many say online).
The local and foreign community here must get involved to make it happen (it’s easy to blame a tiny non profit for a situation they were forced into, but not that easy to actually do something about it).
We are lifelong friends with vets here on Isla and have always worked together… this seems to be a fact many are unaware of!

It was a happy accident that a tiny animal rescue became a tourist attraction. Even before, but back in 2015 when we were graciously offered the space in Mundaca (which now has been reclaimed – leaving us homeless and the island with no alternative government animal welfare program), we were able to rescue and involve the tourists in our work, showing firsthand what we were doing and becoming (somewhat accidentally) a tourist attraction. And that is one of the pillars that made Isla Animals into what it is today. It allowed us to expand our base of adopters, flight angels, and followers, allowing us in turn to do a lot more rescue work!

Yes, it’s been great. But we don’t have that anymore. For now, you can still come visit us on Isla… but we lost a huge chunk of the people who would just stop by and find us by chance. Plus so much misinformation has been going around, with people claiming we are not on Isla, we are not functioning… Here we are and never stopped!

In a way, Isla Animals is a rescue and a tourist attraction. We will continue to be that, but in a different way. We will never stop rescuing. And we are very proud that we were able to find options when we were evicted, as it truly put the existence of Isla Animals at risk.

Isla Animals Oasis will again be a tourist attraction, just not on Isla… however, we will remain a place that can be visited, where we accept volunteers, we are even planning to have free vans once or twice a week bringing people from Puerto Juarez to us. And we do have a lot of interest as many people come to Isla exclusively to see us!

Isla Animals the RESCUE will continue working on Isla, just like now we work in Cancun or in places like Tulum or even Merida. It takes people getting involved, but we don’t foresee much of a change in that sense.

We know many people will be disappointed Isla Animals (the tourist attraction) is not going to be on Isla anymore, and we are sorry! But, please understand that it was most definitely not our choice!!! Everything happens for a reason, and through these months, still rescuing, building, and working harder than we have ever before, we have been shown to have made the right decision!

Sadly, we have noticed certain projects taking advantage of the situation we were forced into, and while we support other rescuers on the island and mainland, we make sure they work up to certain standards, make sure you do the same! Social media can be used for good, and can be abused too, anyone who has the face to ask for donations online should also be able to prove the animals they rescue are cared for and living in decent conditions. We know for a fact some are not and it truly hurts to see how many are falling in the scam. You’re welcome to message us for more information and proof.

So, if you love animals, know that we are still doing our best as always, and yes, you will still be able to come visit, work with the dogs, and even participate in our “rescue volunteering holiday” experiences… we love having you involved in what we do!! Just give us the time to set it up, it’s hard when we never took a breather from rescuing, spaying and neutering, and working with the community for the well-being of their animals.

THANK YOU!!!

We are forever grateful to anyone who has donated towards our dogs’ care, the building of Oasis (still very much in progress), and everyone who has brought medical donations, collars, leashes, food, and cleaning supplies. We are thankful to our monthly donors and anyone who in whatever big or small way decided to make our cause their cause. We are not able to name each of you but know your time and donation has made a change in the world!