Preventing Overpopulation

In Puerto Rico, the cost of vital medical procedures like spaying, neutering, and vaccinating can be a significant burden for pet owners. Coupled with the economic challenges in recent years, the pandemic, and several natural disasters, the population explosion has reached an unprecedented inflection point. In typical fashion, The Sato Project has identified the evolution of this crisis, and has come out swinging with a pivoted, one-two punch approach: recognizing that mass spay/neuter/vaccine events and TNR services run alongside adoptions is the most impactful way to diminish the number of satos who must suffer.It attacks the crux of the problem—the birth of unwanted litters and the spread of disease.

In 2023, The BISSELL Pet Foundation and Cathy Bissell donated crucial medical supplies and surgical equipment to help TSP launch #OperationSato, where they successfully examined, spayed, neutered, vaccinated, microchipped over 1,200 dogs; that equipment has remained on-island and has already been put to use in other #OperationSato events. Building off the success of our collaboration with BISSELL, in 2024 TSP partnered with Dra. Adriana Luna, a local veterinarian in Puerto Rico who runs the LunaVetHelp clinic. Since joining forces, #OperationSato and LunaVetHelp have continued to organize local OS events in different municipalities around PR, and are on track to treat 3,000 owned dogs and TNR candidates on the island by the end of 2024.