In case you missed it... here is our
Pre Campaña Blog post
Our Havana February 2026 was a great success.
Even with all the complications it was a record breaker in support of
Cubans Helping Their Animals.
We received over 2000 requests for appointments.
Registration
Clinical Exam
Surgical Prep
Surgery
Instrument Cleaning and Sterilization
The Recovery Department gets creative awaiting their first patient.
Then it's all business.
With a gas crisis and unusually cold weather we had a slow start to our campaña.
Our first day saw many not show up for their "reservation".
82
69 Cats 13 dogs
In following days we invited people to arrive and wait for open spaces due to no shows.
Several Protectors took this opportunity to sterilize street dogs and colony cats.
Some came multiple days with multiple cats/dogs.
Our Havana February Campañas always coincide with
World Spay Day
WSD was celebrated the last Tuesday in February
94
69 Cats 25 Dogs
WSD Family Photo
We set two daily records.
Day 4 was a Record Day (Previous in May 2025 136)
Day 4 - 143
"When the Spanky Project began holding mass sterilization campaigns, we learned that, despite the fact that more than 50% of veterinarians in Cuba are female, very few were surgeons. We also learned that the reason for this is because in Cuba, veterinary surgery is considered “men’s work”.
We set out to change that by offering female vet students and veterinarians the opportunity to observe surgery, ask questions and get training if they wanted it.
Last March, Dr. Amanda Bruce, of Austin, TX, came and taught a course in surgery for female vets, which included a small spay / neuter event, which allowed each student to work one one, performing a sterilization
Our record for the number of surgeries performed in one day was 135 with a team of predominantly male surgeons."
That record was broken with a final number of
143 surgeries
by a team of four women and three men!
The male surgeons rotated in and out, while the female surgeons worked at their tables all day.
GIRL POWER!
The entire team that worked in all areas of the record-breaking campaign:
health checks, anesthesia, preparation, surgery, and recovery.
THEN!
Day 5 another daily record 221!
The Cuban government's ministry Salud Publica
provided us with 1000 doses of Rabies Vaccine.
GRACIAS!
To keep our motors running..
Dr.Yoe aka Tarzan keeps us caffeinated.
On our social media accounts we received many wonderful comments..
Quiero agradecer con todo mí corazón, que fuí testigo hoy de la excelencia y profesionalismo
médico de ese equipo, mí gatica mía #73 fué esterilizada. Felicitaciones y mí agradecimiento eterno. Gracias, gracias y muchas gracias. Dios los bendiga siempre a todos por la maravillosa labor que realizan.
-Juanito Heredia Martínez
Translations
I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for witnessing the excellence and professionalism of this team today.
My cat #73 was spayed. Congratulations and my eternal gratitude. Thank you, thank you, and thank you so much. May God bless you all for the wonderful work you do.
-Juanito Heredia Martínez
Really there are no words to thank such an effort made in this campaign, once again the collective grew in the face of current adversity, it is an immense challenge to attend to patients, owners of the little animals, protectors and caregivers.
On behalf of our pets "Many Thanks"
Health to your hands, nobility of heart and soul
-Marlen Hernández
A titanic task, performed by WONDERFUL people!!!!
- Ines Valle
My respects to this great sacrificed and selfless team. Work like this in the midst of the adversity we Cubans face is heroic. Thank you for so much.
- Verónica Bullaín
They will always be remembered by the Cuban people.
- Milaidy Perez
Continuing education is always a part of our campañas
We had a very complicated surgical case which was performed by Dr. Amanda from Austin, Texas.
The other veterinarians gathered around the surgical table to learn how to perform a surgery involving a tumor.
These Spanky team members have been working together since February 2016. 
We are family
Day 4 143 Record Day (Previous in May 2025 136)
Day 4 - 143
103 Cats 40 dogs
The entire team that worked in all areas of the record-breaking campaign: health checks, anesthesia, preparation, surgery, and recovery.
We would be lying if we did not admit to always hoping to do a few more surgeries than the
campaign before. Our last campaign was May of 2025 and we sterilized a record 640 animals.
Given the conditions the Cuban people are facing (lack of electricity and fuel), we had accepted that the turnout would be lower this time. But in fact, it was exactly the opposite and we completed a record 816 surgeries!
Read that again! Eight hundred sixteen.
And at the end.. there was cake.
It was our best week ever.
Truly worth celebrating.
Won't you please join us to make the next even more successful.
Help us help more Cubans to help their animals.
For those in Canada and the World you can give with your credit card
click Donate Now
Instant tax charitable receipt will be issued.
Interac e-Transfers
can be sent to
donations@spankyproject.org
if you would like a Canadian Charitable tax receipt include your name and address.
By Cheque payable to
"Spanky Project"
172 Main St.
Suite 301
Picton ON K0K 2T0
For our supporters in the USA donate through
If you would like a Charitable tax receipt include your name and address.
No comments:
Post a Comment