The infamous picture
It all started with a Facebook share...
On August 15 2012 at 6:52am (Cancun time) a picture of a sad doberman girl with her mouth taped shut was shared by Carole Vince on the Facebook group “Save the dobermann breed”.
By 6:53 Iris Krause had done some research and was trying to locate contacts in Mexico that could help the dog.
My wife and I had adopted a Doberman a few years before and we absolutely fell in love with the breed and we decided to adopt another Doberman. I was looking in several Facebook doberman groups to see if I could find a Doberman looking for a home when I stumbled upon the picture of Chica.
I had seen pictures of neglected dobermans before but for some reason this particular girl touched my heart.
As soon as I saw the picture I started following posts to see if I could find the person that had shot the picture to get the exact location.
At the end of the day I had read hundreds of posts and sifted through conflicting information. I was very tired and frustrated but decided to make everything I could to rescue the dog.
Very early on I figured that the name of the town “Tepec” was in fact “Tepic” and that helped to narrow the location down to a city. I spent most of the day on the 16th looking for information and researching the area, trying to find local organizations, authorities, activists, veterinary clinics, in short anybody who I thought could help. I went to bed at 3am but by 4am it was clear that I was not going to get any sleep so I got up and started my research again.
At the same time some members of “Save the dobermann breed” had been also working tirelessly on their end.
I sent messages to the main Boy Scout group in the city hoping that they could help. As a Boy Scout myself I felt confident that a local group would gladly help.</p>
Following leads from several angles I stumbled unto the name “Miguel Dibildox”... I learned that was a veterinarian that actively helped NGOs and volunteered his time and resources to help dogs in need so I decided to give him a call. He was very nice and offered to find more information through his contacts. Not wanting to put all my eggs in one basket I kept sending emails and calling anybody I could think of. I am pretty sure that I called all of the vets listed on the yellow pages.
The 17th found me frustrated and pissed off... I was home alone with our dogs because my wife was out of town so I could not just travel to see what I could do on the ground. The only thing I could do is keep making phone calls, sending emails and reading posts.
It was very frustrating to read many conflicting posts from people that said they had information. Some people were saying that the dog had died and that everything was a show to get money. I decided to ignore comments like these because digging deeper I found out that these people were not even in Tepic.
The name Fernanda kept popping up in posts about dog rescues in Tepic so I decided to track her down. I found her Facebook page and sent her a private message hoping she could lend a hand.
When I called Miguel Dibildox again he told me that he was the group leader of the Boy Scout group I was trying to contact, wich was pretty funny, and that he was trying to find the exact location of the dog.
On the 18th Miguel informed me that there was a girl trying to rescue the dog and that he would get me her information by Monday. That was one long weekend but all I could do was wait and hope.
On the 20th Miguel gave me the information of the girl working to rescue the dog, Fernanda Janine... the same girl I had found while researching rescue groups. I got in touch with her and she informed me that she was paying daily visits and feeding the dog. I later learned that she had risked freeing the dog herself but she had been stopped by the owners.
I talked to Fernanda and got her bank information to deposit funds for her to use. Some people told me that it was a risky thing to do but after seeing what she had done and how Miguel talked about her I felt confident that she was trustworthy.
Knowing the dog was safe was a big relief but having to wait yet another day was very frustrating. By now I was running on fumes having slept only a couple of hours a day and barely eating since I first saw the picture.
I spent the 21st arranging for transport in case we were successful on getting the little dog. I just had to keep myself busy because not having any control just made me nuts, but at around 1pm I talked to Fernanda… she had the dog.
During all of this I had kept the Facebook group informed and they have been cheering me on. It is hard to understand how the support of complete strangers sometimes can be a sanity lifeline.
The members of the Facebook group and I also came with a name for the dog, Chica, that later became apparent was the perfect name for this tiny Doberman.
Chica was safe and sound and being checked by Miguel the vet. She was malnourished, had skin fungus and a very nasty scar on her chest caused by being tied by a short chain to her harness. I thanked Fernanda, hanged up the phone, gave a deep breath and fell on the floor sobbing. I don’t know if it was the exhaustion or the fact that I always doubted we would ever be able to rescue the little dog that by now I loved deeply but I couldn’t help it, I was a big mess.
As soon as I could I got back on the second stage of the rescue. Bringing Chica home.
There is no airport in Tepic so the only choice was to drive Chica to Guadalajara to take a plane to Cancun. Fernanda was willing to drive her but she was working so we had to look for somebody else.
It was just our luck that Javier Díaz a friend of Miguel, who is also in the Scouts, was driving to Guadalajara so he took her along and left her under the care of Eduardo Pimienta, another Scout, for the day. In the evening my cousin Luis Armando, yet another Scout, picked Chica up and took her to the airport early in the morning.
It was a long wait at the airport and I felt like I imagine expectant fathers feel while in the waiting room. We told Chica’s story to customers and workers at the terminal so they were also very excited to see her and when she finally arrived and jumped on my arms everybody cheered.
Once Chica was out of the crate she just held on to me… she held on while we walked to the car and she even held on on the whole drive home.
When we got home we were glad and relieved that Chica got along with everybody and she was instantly welcomed to the pack and the family.
Chica’s rescue had only been possible because there was a chain of people who cared. The person who posted the picture, the people who shared it, the person who actually got Chica out, the vet who helped find her and the people who transported her.
Sometimes it seems that the world is full of evil people but there are lots of people who do good every day and make the world a better place for all, the problem is that usually only bad stuff makes the news.
Chica has inspired us and other people to go out and do some good. Right after her rescue Chica helped a homeless man that was attacked by a crocodile in Cancun to get back home to Tepic and she has helped hundreds of dogs directly and thousands indirectly.
We all are part of the world and it is up to us to make it a little better every day.
Today we honor her memory by continue her mission.
By becoming a member or buying our products, you help support our efforts and perhaps together we can make the world a better place, even if a bit.
