Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Riley-Carrasco of ALMA Rescue.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Erin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I owned a children’s dance studio for 30 years in Oceanside, but helping animals has always been my passion. In 2018, I sold my business and in 2019, along with my best friend Suzie Williamson, founded Alma Rescue Foundation 501 c3. We had already been rescuing dogs together for about five years. Suzie lives in central Baja, so there is a great need for Spay and Neuter down there as well as the rescuing of homeless street dogs, or as they’re known in Mexico, “callejeros.” In the last five years, we have spayed and neutered over 2000 cats and dogs by putting on Spay & Neuter Clinics in Baja and Tijuana and we have also rescued and found loving homes for countless other animals – 40 dogs in just the past ten months.
Since there is a huge homeless dog problem in Mexico, that is where most of our work is centered. From dachshunds to golden retrievers, pit bulls to German shepherds, we rescue every kind of breed from dire situations, transport them across the border, provide them with the veterinary care they need, spay and neuter them and find them loving, forever homes. We have a network of foster volunteers that help us care for the dogs while they are getting healthy and we would not be able to continue saving lives without them! Our 2nd Annual Fundraiser is coming up on March 7th at the Oceanside Moose Lodge and we are expecting about 350 in attendance. We believe that every animal deserves a second chance at a happy life and encourages everyone to “adopt don’t shop!”
Has it been a smooth road?
Rescue work is very rewarding but definitely has it’s challenges. Seeing so much suffering and knowing we cannot help every single animal is difficult. Many animals in Mexico are hit by cars and left on the side of the road to die. It’s a very different culture than in the states, as families are struggling to feed their children and if their pet dog becomes pregnant, they are often tossed out onto the streets. We routinely get weekly messages, asking us if we can help. Last week we received a message that an emaciated mama dachshund had just given birth on the streets to four puppies in Tecate, MX, so we were able to get to her and now she and her pups are safe with one of our fosters.
Last month we got another urgent call that a German Shepherd had been hit by a car and had been lying on the side of the road for two days crying, his back leg shattered. No one stopped to help, except for one good samaritan who reached out to us. We drove down and picked him up, took him straight to our veterinarian and I’m happy to say, he will make a full recovery and has been adopted by a lovely woman who was looking for a companion for her female German Shepherd, so Sampson got his “Happily Ever After.” Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we just can’t save them… We lost our first puppy to parvo last month and that was very hard. Overall, we try to stay strong for the animals because they so desperately need our help.
We’d love to hear more about your organization.
Some people ask us why we mainly do rescue work in Mexico and not here in SD County. They don’t understand the desperate situation animals face every day down there. The U.S. has the resources and shelters that take in abandoned animals. Mexico does not. We are very proud of our Spay and Neuter Clinics because that is the MOST important factor in stopping the immense suffering and death of hundreds of thousands of cats and dogs every year. It’s tragic because most people can’t afford the $30-40 it costs to spay or neuter their pet, so their dog or cat keeps reproducing and sadly, most of the litters die on the streets from starvation. Many times people will also steal the newly born puppies, thinking they can sell them, but they usually don’t survive because they aren’t given the proper nutrition they would get from nursing from their mothers, nor are they given immunizations & vaccinations to help them survive. It’s really heartbreaking which is why we are so passionate about helping the animals south of the border.
We have rescued puppies that have been thrown in dumpsters, injured by motorists or left abandoned, tied under bridges or left tethered in their front yard after their “ family” has moved out, leaving them without any food or water to starve to death. I’m very proud of the work we do and sincerely grateful that so many people support our mission. What sets us apart is our willingness to rescue the dogs that many rescues won’t. We have rescued dogs with missing limbs and have also had to make the tough decision to amputate a limb on an animal to save their life. My wonderful partner Suzie especially, has taken in so many dogs with severe mange, staph, parvo and other life threatening diseases and has rehabilitated them, which takes months. The “Before and After” pictures of these dogs is miraculous. One of our favorite quotes is “SAVING ONE DOG WILL NOT CHANGE THE WORLD, BUT SURELY FOR THAT ONE DOG, THE WORLD WILL CHANGE FOREVER.”
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
We love Oceanside and the support of our life long friends and community as a whole. We wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
Contact Info:
- Address: ALMA Rescue
1845 Downs Street
Oceanside, CA. 92054 - Website: www.almarescue.org
- Phone: 7604584868
- Email: erin@almarescuefoundation.com
- Instagram: ALMA Rescue 501c3
- Facebook: ALMA Rescue – Animal Lives Matter..Always
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