So Stasya began at the root of the problem, organising the largest spay and neuter effort that the region had ever seen. And keeping to this theme, to date Amigos has sterilized over 7,000 dogs and cats and counting.
Every time she had the money, there was another clinic, as often as possible. Working to make it as easy as possible for any local residents to come and get their animals sterilised, by providing transportation, crates and a safe place for them to recover, as well as accepting any means of payment someone had available, sometimes even coconuts!
Throughout this journey, Stasya was not alone. Her life partner Mike was right beside her, despite fighting a terminal illness, he fought every day to take up the worthy cause of Amigos de Animales all the same. Together these two selfless humans worked tirelessly to change the area for the better, without a second thought.
Amigos now has a shelter and animal sanctuary established in 2014, a refuge for forgotten animals to experience the love and care they had been missing, while they wait to be chosen to go to their forever families. Still running community spay and neuter clinics as often as possible and doing everything possible to better the lives of these special creatures.
While Stasya is a woman of many talents, successfully juggling multiple competing priorities, Amigos wouldn’t be what it is today without the ever-dedicated shelter manager, Gris, taking care of the day-to-day efforts on-site. Gris and her family have given everything they have to support the cause.
Volunteers from all over the world come to Amigos to work towards the shared vision of a better life for the cats and dogs of this beautiful community. In fact, aside from Gris and her family, Amigos is run entirely by a revolving team of volunteers, international and local.
This project is Stasya’s life’s work. She has poured her heart, soul, time and money into Amigos de Animales and pledges to continue to do so until she sees the changes she wished for when she first arrived in this special place.
Stasya Briggs came to Mexico in 2010, searching for a place in paradise to call home. When she stumbled upon Barra de Potosí, she knew she’d found her place.
However, she quickly noticed while it appeared to be paradise, something was really wrong with this picture.
On every street corner cats and dogs appeared to be starving. There were diseased animals suffering in the streets, on the beach, and even in some backyards.
Stasya’s heart broke seeing these overlooked creatures in need of help. And after learning that a common method of animal population control was poisoning them, she vowed to do everything in her power to help.
She began walking the streets, going door-to-door to rally community support and find a solution. Aware that in circumstances like these, the issue is not a lack of care, but resources and awareness of proper animal care. She knew it was essential to involve the locals and work together as a community, to provide opportunities and advantages to ultimately create the paradise she had imagined, where animals and humans coexist in harmony.
