RGV Animal Rescue Heroes

Saving the most vulnerable animals of our community

SAUL SANCHEZwithLucila and Guido

Palm Valley Animal Society Vice President Carats – Co-Owner

Meeting Barbara Guerra turned Saul Sanchez into a rescue hero. Soon after, Saul joined the Palm Valley Animal Society board and became fully invested in the cause. Cochairing the highly successful fundraiser, Puppy Love, has been a way for Saul to do his part in helping animals have a comfortable life, a happy life in a loving home. Saul and his partner Carlos Melguizo, long-time dog lovers, want people to stop buying dogs. The couple have adopted two dogs and two cats over the past ten years. Lucila, named after Lucile Ball, was an older dog when the couple adopted her, giving her the loving home she might not have had otherwise. Palm Valley Animal Society is a unique, hard-working board that really loves animals. We strive to find every animal a “fur-ever” home.

DR. ROBERT RAMOS with Addy

Palm Valley Animal Society Board Member Nolana Animal Hospital – Veterinarian

After completing his Veterinary degree at Texas A&M (the only Texas Vet school at the time), Dr. Robert Ramos came home to the Rio Grande Valley. A native of McAllen, Dr. Ramos knew that he was needed here. The shortage of vets across the state is even more prominent in the RGV, where the situation is extreme. Dr. Ramos started helping out at Palm Valley shortly after returning to McAllen, hoping that he could provide some relief to the burgeoning stray population. As a board member, he focuses on educating the community, such as why it is so important to spay and neuter your cats and dogs.

Do right by the animals. Small things we can do today become big wins tomorrow.

ASHLI GARZA with Sundae

Luv Us Mutts – Founder Real Estate Appraiser

When the next-door neighbor’s three puppies stopped visiting, she hoped they had all gone to good homes. Unfortunately, two had broken legs from being hit by cars and could no longer scurry under the fence to spend their day with Ashli. That was the first of many rescues Ashli has made over the past 15 years. Luv Us Mutts was officially founded as a non-profit in 2017 and is a rescue transport, which means animals are rescued, vetted, and fostered until they can be transported to a forever home. Ashli works out of her home, and every day she either finds an animal needing care or is called to help an animal who is abandoned or abused. She then begins begging for someone to foster the animal. Fostering can be for a few days or a few weeks; it is a way volunteers can provide short term help. Every day is a struggle to find It is by the grace of God I can homes and to find funding. Private donations entirely fund do this. We can’t turn away. Luv Us Mutts.

BARBARA GUERRA with Reecie

Palm Valley Animal Society Advisory Board ARRI Fitness, McAllen – Owner & Managing Partner

These innocent animals depend on people. They deserve to be valued.

After moving from Iowa to the RGV more than two decades ago, Barbara saw animals out on the road and packs of dogs wandering around. It bothered her from day one. Animals in the RGV needed champions, so she begged her friend, Charlie Meyer, to let her join the board of the RGV Humane Society (later to become Palm Valley Animal Society). Charlie was reluctant and warned her, this is a hard board to serve on. Seventeen years later, Barbara’s passion has not waned. This year, she will be the 2022 Puppy Love Gala Honoree.

SONIA VENECIA withTrinkle

Yaqui Animal Rescue – CEO and Founder

Rescuing animals has been a passion for Sonia all her life. But in 2004, when she had the opportunity to buy back her grandparent’s 80-acre ranch in Sullivan City, she knew she could do more to help the most needy and unwanted animals in the RGV. She named it Yaqui to honor her grandmother’s ancestors, the Yaqui Indians. Yaqui is a strict no-kill rescue center that helps large and small animals. There are currently over 250 animals at Yaqui, including horses, cows, pigs, rabbits, dogs, and cats. Sonia’s next goal is to open a spay and neutering clinic that could serve as many as 150 animals with just one vet. Yaqui is a non-profit wholly supported by private donors. It’s not difficult to be kind to animals.