Happy New Year and just around the corner... Happy Valentine's Day!

Let's get together for fun and fundraising to celebrate!

What: Bahia Mantanchen Animal Bling Fling!

Where: Casa Manana

When: Noon, Thursday, Feb 9, 2023

Ticket: 500 pesos

Lunch served to you a la carte and is extra

Start the new year by sorting through your closet, pulling those things you don't wear anymore:

jewelry, clothes, shoes, handbags - you know, girl-bling! 

 

Bundle it up and deliver it to Amaranth at the Sunday Market in Aticama 

or Sandra at the San Blas Social Club, 

and voila! 

 

We'll create a boutique of bling things. 

 

Each attendee can choose one thing to keep and can shop for more. 

 

All the proceeds will benefit the dogs and cats of Bahia Matanchen and San Blas - 100% for sterilization. 

Your donations and purchases support a heroic and compassionate cause so you can be beautiful inside and out! 

 

Some people get wet in the rain and others keep moving. We kept moving, moving the kennels under the staircase and recovering dogs and cats under the portico. Did it dampen our spirits? In the sun or in the rain, it's all the same for us...

We treated 23.

A big thanks to Christina for lunch and for our volunteers: Minerva, Margit, Berna, Emily, Jenny, Bill, Anne, Barb, Amaranth and our director, Sandra. OMG, do we have fun!

BMA June Clinic: understaffed, overcast - perfection!

No two clinics are the same. Each one is unpredictable no matter how organized we are. Honestly! Is it just here or is it true everywhere? Everyday the unexpected rearranges even our best laid plans!

12 hours before the clinic, 4 volunteers messaged to say they couldn't come. Our clinic director also had a sudden emergency... I asked Jenny to confirm our appointments by phone and went to bed. Ten hours later as the sun was coming up, I arrived to find the lights on, the cages lined along the swept courtyard, the surgery sparkling clean and a pleasant man putting up shade cloth like an expert. It was barely daylight and looked like rain but the readiness and the activity felt like sunshine! 

There are so many people to thank for stepping up without being asked. There is an amazing gathering of goodness that supports every clinic. Today was a perfect synchronization of willingness from many fronts - it made for a very sweet day.

We treated lots of street dogs. Berna, who put up the shade cloth drove to El Llano to pick up two homeless dogs from the Pemex, two were brought in by Erika from San Blas and two from Trilby and Donna. A new volunteer, Diana, age 14, was a quick study in dog in recovery. Jenny is an excellent teacher. Thanks to everyone who pitched in today! A lot of good was accomplished because of you.

You are the BEST!

April's Clinic, 2022

 

April's clinic got off to a great start: the museum grounds were immaculate and ready to be transformed into an operating spay and neuter clinic. The courtyard double duties as an animal hospital one day a month at the community museum in Aticama. It's been the home of our surgery for a number of years and is perfect for us to spread out kennels, mats, tables and equipment. Thank you to the angels that went before us. There is so much behind-the-scenes support in this community by people you never see to thank... I'm thinking too of someone else who helped hang the shade cloth... all unsung heroes deserving of recognition!

We treated 28 animals on Saturday. A deep bow to all the volunteers. Check out these beautiful people! They are the engine that keeps BMA moving ahead!

 

 

March Clinic, 2022

How many volunteers does it take to run a clinic? 3 to put up the shade cloth, one to check in animals, 2 for cat recovery, 4 for dog recovery, 1 to make lunch, 3 to clean instruments, cages, take out the garbage and launder...did I forget anything? oh yeah, 3 to make and install new signs. Thank you for helping to make life with animals and with one another a very good way to spend a Saturday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kenny

Kenny has been BMA's Most Valuable Player for many years. This year he completes his degree in chemical pharmacy and so we must bid adieu for now. There is no one like him and we will miss him sorely but at the same time we are immensely proud of his accomplishment and wish him the best of everything. With hearts full of gratitude and love, thank you, Kenny for making BMA strong. We celebrate YOU!

February Clinic

 Aticama's Museum is a place of international and inter-species exchange! We had volunteers from 5 countries helping BMA for our monthly sterilization clinic on Saturday! A total of 39 dogs and cats of every size and color from El Llano to San Blas were the recipients of their loving care - a worthy and satisfying effort toward world peace -

			8

 

January Clinic

New Year, a new clinic...

This year, 2022, BMA started with a new protocol. We are using a team of four and operating on cats and dogs at the same time. At this rate it follows that we can do twice the amount of animals. Our first clinic of the year was an exercise in recovering animals double time! It worked well! There were plenty of volunteers to insure a success. We treated 43 animals and were headed to our siestas by 2:30. That's decent! Thank you to everyone who helped with loving care, food, financial assistance and positivity. We are 100% supported by you, our community near and far.  

I don't know of any local organization that has more volunteer support and participation than BMA! Every clinic is made possible by donations from supporters but beyond the monetary support there are volunteers who help in countless ways. They get up in the dark to set up. Someone sweeps and cleans the clinic grounds, Someone bakes homemade goodies for mid morning. Someone takes the garbage, washes the laundry, prepares a lunch, buys supplies, cleans the bathroom, fixes the electricity, coordinates the appointments, arranges rides for animals, and clients, scrubs cages, sterilizes instruments, and then there are those who clean ears, remove ticks, cut toenails and trim hair. All of this compassionate care comes from our community. Let that sink in, folks...people give their time, resources and energy to come together each month for the dirty work of sterilization. They do it from their own impulse to help make things better where we live. This is the best part of BMA - the togetherness, the shared willingness to do something for the love of animals and the love of our home.
 

We sterilized 25 animals: 9 cats and 16 dogs on Saturday - one of the hottest clinics ever. Thank you Team BMA - you are all mighty special people!

Heroes for animals and for BMA - Clinic Sept 18, 2021

Lately it feels like the earth is wobbling on its axis...

September's clinic was fraught with challenges. It was postponed by a week and August was canceled too because of COVID so because of that we had a full roster. Everyone held up and performed well with a positive attitude but the day was long and it rained hard. It was 8:30 at night when all was finished. Ana and Shunashi began at 5:30 to set up so their day was exceedingly long.  Bill carried dogs all day. Sandra managed smoothly,powered by her genuine love for animals. Medico never took a break but worked calm and steady setting the pace for everyone. Minerva, beautiful, loving as ever. Super volunteers, Jenny, Hiromi and Minerva carried us through the recovery of 24 animals. It felt like more.

We hold one another up, whether we realize it or not. Each worker holds in a way that is vital and unites us together. Each person is an essential part of the whole effort.

I don't know how the others experienced the day, but that's how I saw it. I know everyone was exhausted. I hope they felt proud and not abused. They are the heroes of Aticama. 

Hazy, Hot BMA Clinic - July 10, 2021

 

We see animals arrive at the clinic via many modes of transportation. Saturday's clinic had a caravan of cats in birdcages.  All said and done, 7 cats and 12 dogs. It was a long, hot day for 19 total but maybe that's best. Animals don't like the heat any more than we do. 

We have a new clinic director at the helm of BMA - Sandra Diaz has been volunteering for more than a year and when she's at home in San Blas she does the same. She has been caring for street dogs and organizing sterilization clinics on her own initiative just because...how can you beat that! She's got a powerful good heart and we feel proud and strengthened to have her on our team. If you haven't met her stop in at the next clinic and say hello.

BMA - June 12 Clinic 2021

 

A balmy, grey day for June... a nice change from the summer sun.

26 animals total - 17 dogs and 9 cats

Friends came by to see how we are in action. One surprised us with a donation. Another with sweet breads, a client brought ceviche, and Liz and Henriette prepared lunch - such sweet and generous impulses made our day bright.

Thank you friends of BMA - you make the difference!

May Clinic - May 8, 2021

Feels like summer and it is May! The brightness of the day was our constant at BMA's May clinic! Our total for the day was 21 - 6 cats and 15 dogs. 

We have sent our clients home in various modes of transportation: wheel barrows, boxes, wagons, pillowcases, motorbikes but yesterday a full size pick up drove up to our gate with no one at the wheel. The door opened and a 9 yr old boy slid out of the driver's seat to our astonishment - his mother was the passenger.  Anyway, they claimed their dog and off they went...and so another awesome, never a boring moment-day for BMA.

April showers... BMA Clinic April 2021

A pelican walked casually by the clinic gates. That's not the usual traffic. Later, Wally saved the pedestrian pelican from boys who were trying to herd her/him? with rocks toward a boy with a lasso...ay Dios mio! He brought him to the clinic and put him in the brand new plastic dog kennel that Lorraine donated. Hiromi contacted Mark Stackhouse our local bird expert and he recommended Susane Casas, a pelican rehabilitator and vet in Tepic. Sandra talked to her and arranged a meeting. We took Peli home and fed him 5 whole fish over the weekend. The chickens were nonplussed by the guest. On Monday, Miguel Dibildox and Susane performed the surgery to repair the wing and Peli went home with Susane to recover. Prognosis: excellent! A beautiful orchestration of many helpful animal lovers along the way...thank you everyone!

So, the April clinic rained cats and dogs and a pelican!

9 cats (3 males)

17 dogs (3 males)

1 pelicano ?

BMA Clinic March 2021

 Enjoy these scenes from the March clinic...

BMA treated 6 cats, 16 dogs and terminated 2 pregnancies (12).

Poor Medico was recovering from a sprained ankle. Despite bruising and swelling he stood all day to operate with his lovely wife, Michela assisting.

New friends of BMA, Maite and David, provided a special lunch of paella. They are professional chefs and animal lovers. Maite is from Spain and that's where we were transported while enjoying their delicious meal. Thank you for reviving our tired, hungry bodies with your culinary art.

Earlier in the week Ana performed a feat by delivering puppies from their poor dead mother. She has to feed them round the clock so she brought them to the clinic. We all took turns bottle feeding these hungry newborns.

Our volunteer Leslie is moving. This was her final clinic with BMA and we will miss her sorely... Best to you and Pumpkin in your new life.

Thank you, Suzanne and Phil for coming by and gifting BMA with a donation. We are 100% dependent on this community to do what we do. Please consider supporting this much needed service.

February Clinic for BMA - A Day to celebrate LOVE

A modified lockdown won't stop us from doing the needed work of sterilizing dogs and cats...or from having fun and sharing love.

We sterilized 21 in total yesterday:  7 cats and 14 dogs. We worked steady starting at 6:30. Our friend Max Jackson came and recorded our day. You can see what a beautiful team we are! Thank you, Max - you captured our spirt!

Midday we stopped to eat, laugh and revive. Shunashi planned a Valentine gift exchange with many yummy goodies coming from Henriette, Hiromi, Christina and Nena. Of course, there was chocolate... off again on a food tangent! Ana showed off her new prosthesis and burst into spontaneous and heart-felt gratitude uniting us in love. 

We want to thank all of our friends who helped give Ana mobility. It's incredible to think how much has been accomplished in the last year. To all who support this work, in big and small ways, you are our beloved friends. Thank you for helping to make Bahia Matanchen a hub of LOVE.