Rio Corazon Street Dogs of Argentina

16/12/2022

Negrita was found on the main road leading into Rio Ceballos. She had been knocked down and her bag leg had been dislocated. I collected her from the side of the road and took her to the vet. The vet offered me two options - one major surgery to cut off the head of the femur and reinstate the leg, and two to use a form of sling to tie up the leg to see if it would reintroduce itself. Finally, the vet tried something less invasive. He put her to sleep and then gently managed to manipulate the ball of the femur to enter the socket. She limps but look at her now! She is an old lady and we believe must have an owner but no-one has appeared. She is currently in a foster home.

16/12/2022

This is Mora. She is tied up all day every day. She chases the hens her owner told me. I managed to get permission from the owner to have Mora castrated. She enjoyed 10 days of freedom post her op, in the garden of the clinic. She returns to this. I have contacted the council but no-one responds.

16/12/2022

This is Fran and me. Fran was a street dog and has now been in a private kennel for nearly a year. He costs me about £120 per month to keep him there. He needs a home but he is adult, independent and clever. He is also a fabulous dog but getting that across to folks here is hard. I love Fran.

16/12/2022

She/he is a stray and won't let anyone catch her/him. It is 35 degrees here and the dog needs a haircut. Just another challenge for Rio Corazon.

16/12/2022

She was castrated and her pups aborted because she was abandoned and nobody was going to look after her. What a price for the careless and cruel approach to many of the dogs here. She will hopefully be found a home either temporary or final, but it won't be easy. In the meantime, there are funds for her to have a few days in a private guarderia.

12/11/2022

These pups need homes. They are undernourished and need medical care. There is a cost for this and few can afford it in parts of Rio Ceballos where there is much personal poverty. Rio Corazon asks for collaboration in terms of temporary home till we find a permanent home for each and food. They are all from the same litter.

03/11/2022

03/11/2022

This poor girl is called Blanqui, she was found tied up with no food or access to water. This has led to the poor girl loosing use of her legs and renal failure. She is now with a wonderful lady who is showing Blanqui love and care that she has probably never had. The lady is just a member of the public and desperately needs help to provide vital items like nappies for Blanqui. I know times are hard at the minute but any amount you can donate can make a huge difference. Our bank details can be found in the post that shows what your donations can pay for. Please help if you can 🙏💗🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

15/10/2022

More photos of Fran today. This is nearly a success story. He was saved off the streets and is being cared for albeit he is incarcerated most of the time. Once he is homed, that will be the perfect ending.

15/10/2022

Arrived in Argentina a week ago and went to visit Fran. He was the street dog who has for the past nine months been in a form of kennels, looked after by Gaston who is a dog trainer. Fran doesn't get out much but he has grown to love Gaston and his character which was always strong with a big personality had changed only in the sense that he appears more calm, just as playful, more trusting of people and just great fun. My sincere hope is that this summer we can find him a home.

30/09/2022

Just found abandoned in the street in Rio Ceballos.

29/09/2022

29/09/2022

Meet me and my group. All rescue and Miel in the foreground. She came already castrated but the wound would not heal and we had to have the wound reopened and redone twice more. The dark dog is Brewster who we first met as a young dog in 2012. He is blind in one eye and totally deaf due to an injury to one ear which was not tended quickly enough and the maggots did their job well. But this group is a happy group. See Miel enjoying what was my sun lounger!

29/09/2022

Meet Fran again. The sad thing about Fran is that he had three years on the street and survived so well he is not good with other dogs. Finding an owner who is prepared to have Fran as his sole companion, is very hard. In the meantime, Fran is in a school for rehabilitation. He is not unhappy and is fond of the owner of the school, but he needs a home to give him the opportunity to love and be loved, to protect and be rewarded. It is also expensive to keep him there. So far, we cope!

29/09/2022

Meet Dalton. I met him just before I left Argentina in March. He belongs to a neighbour. He is a big dog and very underfed. His owner is not cruel. She just doesn't have much and so he gets even less. I provided food before I left and look forward in a week's time, being able to catch up with him and am hoping for progress.

28/09/2022

Notification of a dog seen on the main road with two chains round its neck was made to Rio Corazon. No photos yet. We have asked if whoever sees it would they please try to catch it and Rio Corazon will organise for its safety. A case like this is reported to the Local Authority but they have little interest and the hope is therefore that when the dog is found, we can publish a photo and hope that the owner will turn up.

27/09/2022

These are the remaining pups out of sixteen which were brought to the attention of Rio Corazon recently. The owner's dogs had not been neutered and she ended up with 16 pups. The others died. These need homes. We have castrated the adult dogs. The pups we are supporting but it's not easy. Homes are needed for these survivors.

16/08/2022

Just a few of the dogs Rio Corazon have helped. There are so many neglected pets and street dogs in Argentina. The need is constant.

Rio Corazon is currently funded by its volunteers. We receive no funding other than kind donations. We are simply a group of like minded people who want to help ease the suffering of the dogs in Rio Ceballos. Please let us know if you can offer anything to help these beautiful dogs.

16/08/2022

Every pound Sterling is worth just over 300 pesos today, this changes daily but rarely falls.
To give you an idea of how much things cost we have compiled a brief guide below.
A 21kg bag of good quality dog food is roughly 6500 pesos = £21
Castration and Neutering costs vary from 6000 to 10,000 pesos =£ 35
A stay in the clinic is 600 pesos per day = £2
So every single £1 makes a huge difference.
If you could consider helping that would be super. Account Name Account Number 350702379 Sort Code 60-83-71 Reference Street Dogs. Thank you.

16/08/2022

Rio Corazon is made up of a handful of people who live in a small town called Rio Ceballos, in central Argentina. The group was created to help the plight of the street dogs in the town, although the problem exists throughout Argentina. I am the latest recruit and the only English person - Scottish actually! I live in England six months of the year and Argentina, the balance.

On my first visit to Argentina more than ten years ago with my now husband Steve, I had my first encounter with a group of street dogs living at an abandoned house. They were starving; were of different ages; looked related and were in poor health. This group started my journey. Of this group of six, one died of wounds due to not being castrated, the young ones I managed to find homes for, two attached themselves to us and became ours. Polly - who became very special to us and Luli who one day just left and we never saw her again.

My experience in Argentina has gone from knowing no one and having no idea where to get help, to working with a local vet who provides his services at a reduced fee and often takes in dogs needing time off the street together with a local supplier of dog food who gives me a good deal on price and helps with the occasional transport of the food to where it is needed to having found a very kind friend who feeds those dogs and cats we have taken in whilst we are in England.

The scale of the Street Dog issue in Rio Ceballos is enormous.
Dogs are not castrated as a matter of course. Unwanted pups are taken from their mothers and left on the street or dropped off somewhere to fend for themselves. Some are left outside supermarkets or veterinary clinics. Some survive. Many do not and die horribly.

There are many accidents on the busy roads and in many cases injuries are not treated so the street dogs live as long as they can with whatever injuries they suffer and then they die.

There are many people who have dogs and many of these people are kind but there is ignorance. It is not uncommon to see dogs chained and on enquiry find that that is the scope of their freedom. The cruelty in this is not seen.

I have found patience is the only route to cooperation. Offering food or veterinary attention and asking permission to touch their dogs and offer them some love and fuss. Going in all guns blazing doesn't work.

We who are members of Rio Corazon are volunteers. There is little support from the Local Authority. The latter does offer support for a number of castrations each month but there is still a payment to be made and the route to getting the help is bureaucratic and for many too complicated. Without our help, which in the scheme of things is very limited, many more dogs would suffer a life of either having pups or fighting for the right to get to a bitch.

Rio Corazon tries to change hearts, to show there is a better way, to help practically by feeding the dogs, castrating and neutering where we can, finding homes where possible and encouraging the local authority to help more.

If you would like to help please feel free to donate through account name Suzanne Hart account number 35702379 sort code 60-83-71 reference Street Dogs. Thank you.