A force to be reckoned with
by Christy Crabtree
Compassion Without Borders is an international, non-profit organization that through grass roots and volunteer efforts brings help and information to Mexico and her animal inhabitants. In 2001, Christi Payne, a fourth year veterinary student, and her husband, Juan (Moncho) Ramon Camblor founded the international rescue group.
The start of this rescue organization came to life following Christi’s completion of an internship in Puerto Rico. She decided to take a break between her undergraduate studies and veterinary school and moved to Mexico City where she began volunteering with a local no-kill shelter, Refugio Franciscano. While continuing to volunteer with Refugio Franciscano, she and her husband, Moncho, formed Compassion Without Borders that would focus on international animal rescue work, specifically those in Latin America. Although she had been a long time activist in the United States her work in Mexico was dramatically different.
The heartbreaking scenes of abused, abandoned and sick animals flooding the streets of Mexico surrounded them. Gruesome stories of animal control electrocuting unwanted animals and even the regular poisoning of these precious babes on the streets was almost too much to bear. Animals everywhere needed help but these seemed to be calling out to her, their stories too much to let go, their need too dire to forget.
The amount of shelters and adoption agencies were incredibly inadequate and even though many dedicated citizens were working hard to help save the animals, these efforts were just not enough. Compassion Without Borders was to be a bridge between those in the United States willing to help save these animals and citizens of Mexico that needed someone to hear their pleas for help. Along with Kim Sturla of Animal Place and JP Novic of Center for Animal Protection and Education, they came up with ideas on to how to create this beautiful new organization and make it work.
Animal Place is a US rescue organization working with transporting death row dogs in their local community to the Marin Humane Society for adoption. Compassion Without Borders began with the same basic principles and adopted similar programs for Mexico. Starting small and slowly taking on the problems of Mexico was a daunting task but with each small step they came closer to their goal of educating and changing the system in which these animals live.
Spaying, neutering, humane treatment of animals and humane euthanasia are the goals for which this organization reaches and strives to bring to fruition. The ultimate goal being laws enacted to protect the animals and government policies designed to ensure their happiness and for the citizens of Mexico to see these animals as equals and have respect for their precious lives. The organization also rescues animals from the animal control center in Juarez.
After Christi visited the center and witnessed the appalling conditions in which these animals lived and died she knew something had to be done. The animals were living in cages with the corpses of other animals, many having died from disease and illness, which then spread the sickness to those still alive. Often times not fed and waiting die by electrocution these animals were being slowly tortured until their gruesome deaths came. Throughout their short lives they had only known pain, until Christi and Compassion Without Borders.
Working alongside Asociacion Pro Defensa Animal, they initiated a humane euthanasia program at the facility, daily food and water provisions and training classes for the animal control officers staffed by ACO’s from the Marin Humane Society. When the organization is able, animals on death row are rescued, quarantined, vaccinated and then taken to California where they are given a chance at a good life through adoption by partner rescue organizations and local shelters.
When asked why she chooses to help the animals in Mexico versus those in the United States, Christi states, “I like to answer that question with a memory I have of standing in one of the poorest regions of Mexico, Anapra, a suburb in the border town of Juarez. Anapra literally forms the border with El Paso, its fenced outskirts just feet from the actual border. I was there in Anapra and I was surrounded by desperate, suffering animals. Animals that were literally starving to death, covered in mange and inflicted with preventable disease, disease they hadn’t been vaccinated against and would never be treated for. There were injured animals, limping and wounded, searching for food. There were packs of puppies roaming, emaciated mother dogs sniffing every inch of the ground for nourishment, it was awful.
"I remember thinking to myself, as I gazed not a mile away at the high rises of El Paso, how can this be? How can the situation for animals be so bad just a stone’s throw from the United States? And, I knew, if people could just see what I see and know for one minute the kind of suffering we are working to alleviate, they would never again ask me why I do what I do, nor would they care about arbitrary borders or national divisions. These animals are in our backyard. Mexico is our neighboring country. We have the tools, the experience, the knowledge and the resources to help them. So, of course, without question, we should. And, we are. Their suffering knows no borders and neither does our compassion. It’s as plain as that.”
This incredible effort takes a great deal of work and volunteers are the backbone of the organization. Through friends and family, veterinarian volunteers via the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, their website at www.cwob.org and word of mouth they have been able to recruit many volunteers to help run the massive amount of programs they have throughout Mexico including spay camps.
The spay camps are run near locations where local support of animal activism are high and where there are ample veterinarians to continue with the program after the week long camps have been completed. Not only are the veterinarians trained during these camps but the local groups for animal welfare are also included so that they can help continue the programs and assist the local vets. The more help from the entire community the more likely the success will be ongoing. When they are able, Compassion Without Borders also supplies these groups with the tools they will need to continue with the spay/neuter programs alongside the veterinarians who assist with the training. Print and television media are also courted to cover these events to spread the word.
Compassion Without Borders works with many other organizations in the United States and Mexico including but not limited to Animal Place, Center for Animal Protection and Education, Asociacion Pro Defensa Animal, Small Dog Rescue, El Refugio Franciscano, Paws Across the Border and Saving Animals Across Borders. Animal Place, the original partner of Compassion Without Borders, helps fund the humane education activity booklet for kids, medical costs for the rescued animals as well as lending their facility for quarantine of those relocated for adoption. Another partner that has been with them since the beginning is the Center for Animal Protection and Education. They fund the majority of the rescues, help place many of the dogs as well as provide other help as it is needed.
Christi and Moncho’s own animals are rescued Mexican street dogs and help inspire them to continue their work. Christi will soon graduate and afterwards will be interning with a shelter in California. She plans to use her degree to continue her work with the homeless animals and to fulfill their vision of Compassion Without Borders becoming a world wide organization, specifically in developing nations setting up programs for animal protection and education. Through the initial efforts of only a few people, Compassion Without Borders has evolved into a force to be reckoned with in the fight for animal rights and welfare. Christi, her husband Moncho and those they work with are shining examples of how each and every person can make a difference.
If you would like to volunteer or make a donation, please visit their website at
http://www.cwob.org/howyou.html