When the first branch of a well known U.S. pet store threw open its doors in southwest Guadalajara in October, Maricarmen Portilla saw it marking a major shift in Mexicans’ attitudes toward animals.
“Petco is a very large, nice store bringing the concept that they only offer dogs and cats for adoption, unlike another major store here that sells, for example, Shih Tzus for 20,000 pesos,” she said.
Portilla, a young mother and former lawyer for a U.S. corporation, had devoted herself to rescuing dogs and cats for the past ten years, the last five of them full-time after being laid off during the financial crisis. She and her fellow volunteers in Adoptando un Amigo had become so outstanding among local rescue groups that Petco contacted her to head the adoption effort for its first store in Mexico.
“In the U.S. it’s a rule that each Petco store has an adoption program. They wouldn’t have opened here without one,” Portilla noted in excellent English.
By the time Petco Mexico, operating under the umbrella of Grupo Gigante, contacted Portilla and fellow organizer Anna Couret, Adoptando un Amigo had established a formidable Web presence that kept around 80 dogs and 40 cats in holding facilities (homes and vet clinics) until they could be made healthy and adoptive homes could be found. AUA had managed to get the company Mars, of candy bar fame and the makers of
Pedigree and Whiskas dog and cat foods, to supply them with free, 20-kilo sacks of chow and they were buying vaccines and worming medicines at cost and often giving them out for free.
But, despite all of Portilla’s successful efforts in the animal rescue field, her decision to head the Petco adoption effort was not easy.
“At first I said no,” she said. But then, in June, AUA put out a call to their Facebook friends. “We got a good response. But still it’s not so easy. There is a lot of coordinating and supervising. Anna and I spend a lot of time in the store. Although there are 50 volunteers, sometimes there are gaps and we always need two or three volunteers at a time.”
The store’s hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and the adoption program is open all that time, except Mondays.
There are usually about ten dogs in the adoption area and they need to be walked three or four times a day, Portilla explained. AUA has decided to pay two of the volunteers a nominal amount to help solve scheduling problems. These costs are covered by the 600-peso fee for dogs, 500 pesos for cats.
In her own home, Portilla added, she is caring for eight cats and 4 dogs at the moment — in addition to her two young children.
“I have a nanny helping with my children,” she said, noting that her expenses caring for animals in her home and other places, are paid out of pocket. “But it’s OK. At some point I decided I was going to spend money that way, instead of on myself.”
On a recent morning at the new Petco, although the number of customers in the ample store seemed small, there were three volunteers in the glass-enclosed adoption area. A young couple came in to say hello to a charming, medium-sized, mixed breed dog they had their eye on.
“That dog is very friendly,” Portilla remarked. As if to prove the point, the dog scampered over to a visitor and put its front paws on her knees, asking for a caress.
Portilla noted that some dogs are not so appealing. “Large, mixed-breed dogs are the hardest to find homes for. Sometimes I have the feeling that dogs notice when other dogs are being adopted and they are not. They seem a little sad after a while in the store.”
On a more cheerful note, when Portilla went to the cat adoption area, she remarked that “The culture is changing for cats. People are more open to cats.” Just then, a man approached Portilla with a cat in a carrier, saying he had to find a home for it. Portilla picked it up, examined its stomach and found evidence of fleas.
“It’s important for people to know that we don’t receive animals here at the store,” she said later. “We tell them to write to the page (where she receives about five requests a day asking her to take animals) and if you do everything we tell you, eventually the animal will be adopted.”
Both AUA and Petco take photos of new owners with their adopted pets and put them on their web pages.
She noted that she believes that the adoption program is a wise business move for Petco.
“On Saturdays we often have three families in this small adoption area at the same time. Ninety percent of people who adopt buy from the store and we see them coming back,” she said, adding that the store carries a wide selection of products, many of which cannot be found elsewhere in Mexico. For example, she pointed out about a dozen good- and high-quality brands of dog food. In addition, there were birds, fish, turtles, white rats, hamsters and ferrets.
“But no exotic pets,” Portilla emphasized.
“Now I work harder than when I was a lawyer but it’s more satisfying,” she said. “But there are times when I say to myself, ‘That’s it!’ But then other times, I hear such nice stories that I think, ‘Okay, I’ll do it for another week.’”
Portilla noted that Petco has plans to open another Guadalajara branch, probably in the northern part of the metropolitan area.
Portilla noted that the American School of Guadalajara has been very helpful to AUA. “They had a fund raising dinner and adoption event that attracted 500 people.”
This led her to reminisce — “Things have changed a lot in the ten years since I started doing this. At first, we couldn’t find anyone who wanted to have an adoption event!”
Petco, Lopez Mateos at Pegaso in Colonia La Calma, next to Office Depot. Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. To volunteer for as little as 2-3 hours a week, e-mail adoptandounamigo.com.