“Rebeca’s hope is one day to have a park and animal sanctuary where families can come children and learn about the animals of Mexico.”
There is never a dull moment at the Centro Educacional Para Protección de las Animales, a non profit animal sanctuary for abandoned and injured animals in Zihuatanejo, run by Rebeca and Richard Payne.
With 18 dogs, numerous cats, dozens of exotic birds (parrots of all kinds, toucanettes, cacaracomuns, a falcon, an eagle and more), a trio of coadimundies, 2 baby crocodiles, a raccoon, a squirrel, rabbits, white rats, a pig, and a flower eating iguana, someone’s always getting into mischief. In twenty minutes we had an escaped coadimundi, a white rat go into labor and deliver a whole litter of little pink babies, a chorus of parrots singing in Spanish and all sorts of barking and jumping pups all wanting their Mom Rebeca’s undivided attention. All of the animals here have either been abandoned or injured and rescued by Rebeca and Richard.
It all started 14 years ago with one stray kitten, then before they knew it people were tossing kittens over the walls, leaving animals on their door step and calling them when any animal was unwanted or seen mistreated. All the animals have their own heart breaking stories, from the multitudes of abandoned pets to baby birds falling out of trees, to exotic animals purchased as pets then abandoned when they bit a child or ate too much, to gun shot wounded parrots, to farmers chasing off corn stealing coadimundies. (Coadimundies are a strange looking but adorable indigenous animal that resembles the odd cross of possum, raccoon and long tailed monkey, with long pointy noses, expressive faces and prehensile hands. They climb trees, eat fruit-and occasionally farmer’s chickens-and live in the tropical and mountainous areas all over Mexico and there are many right here in Zihuatanejo. And as for the escaped coadimundi, she hadn’t really escaped, she was just hanging out under the rabbit cages picking up fruit and was happy to return to her cage after a scratch behind the ears and a pet on the nose.)
The most affectionate of the pups is Samson, a big bounding Rottweiler who thinks he’s a lap dog. Samson was kept chained in an empty lot and rarely fed and was rescued after someone poured gas or engine oil on him burning off most of his hair. When he finally made it to Rebeca he was so weak and frail he could barely walk. Seeing him now, practically bouncing on all fours, unable to contain himself from jumping up on his hind legs every 5 minutes to kiss someone in the face, you know exactly why Rebeca has so many animals and why she’ll do anything to keep them safe with her. All of the animals are either too injured or too domesticated to ever be returned to the wild but they are happy, well treated and well loved. Richard is especially popular with the parrots who happily perch on his shoulders. And even the cats jump off high perches to wrap themselves around Rebeca’s neck and ride on her shoulders as she make her rounds.
With the emphasis on education, school groups routinely come to see the animals and Rebeca’s hope is one day to have a park and animal sanctuary where families can come and learn about the animals of Mexico. They have also been working for some time on getting a spay and neuter clinic in Zihuatanejo. As with any animal protection organization the demands for Rebeca’s help always far out reaches her ability to do as much as she would like and donations are always needed. For more information about donations or the animals of Centro Educacional Para Proteccion de las Animales, contact Rebeca Payne at 554-3330.
-April 2000
