Your donations make our neutering mission possible
When we think of animal rescue, we picture the immediate act of saving, then healing and homing. But there’s a long game at play behind the scenes at Santerpaws Bulgarian Rescue. Neutering* is one of our most powerful tools in the fight to prevent suffering before it can happen.
The heart of our neutering campaign is to break the cycle of feral reproduction, and reduce the number of abandoned or unwanted dogs and puppies. Neutering is not the most glamorous part of rescue, but it has a huge impact.
“We basically neuter stray animals that can potentially reproduce,” says Justine, the driving force behind Santerpaws’ neutering program.
Just one unneutered dog can start a chain of reproduction that leads to as many as 3,000 puppies in just four years. That means more abandonment – dogs hit by cars, dumped, poisoned, shot, or left to die from starvation or disease. It also means shorter, more painful lives for the mothers, many of whom are forced to endure litter after litter. This is the typical lived experience of the older dogs we rescue.
Making a change
For over a decade, Santerpaws has operated not only as a rescue, but also as a community force for change. Early on we introduced a simple condition for accepting litters of puppies from locals: the mother dog must be neutered. “If villagers ask us to take their puppies, we will only do so if we can neuter all the females at their home,” says Justine.
At first, this condition was met with resistance – every single time. But we held firm, and our persistence paid off: attitudes shifted, and neutering is now accepted almost every time. She adds, “Some will let us do the males as well.”
Thanks to supportive donations, and years of determination, nearly every dog (and many cats) in the village where Santerpaws is based are now neutered. It’s a massive step forward, one that’s already reducing the number of unwanted litters. But our work is far from over.
“We have far fewer puppies coming in now than we did, which is great,” Justine says. “Although we will never win – it is a battle – but we continue regardless.”
Abandoned puppies continue to appear on the outskirts of the village, dumped in boxes or left to fend for themselves. These little ones are the consequences of unneutered animals in nearby areas.
Our strategy is to catch, neuter, and release.
“We pick up any street dog or cat in our village and neuter and release,” Justine explains. “Right now, we’re working on the village cats – we need to buy more traps to catch them!” We also provide vaccinations to owned local animals, again free of charge. Our goal is to uplift the welfare of all animals in the community – not just those who pass through our gates.
Your generous donations are vital
Santerpaws doesn’t charge local owners for neutering. If we did, it simply wouldn’t happen – so we foot the bill. We also sponsor the neutering of street dogs in nearby towns to help reduce intake pressures on all rescue organisations.
“The average neuter costs about £65,” Justine notes. “We try to get between five and ten animals done a week – more if they’re male, as it’s a quicker procedure. So far in 2025 we have neutered 57 strays, 26 of which were cats.”
We have about 13 people who regularly donate every month specifically to this cause – one of them a very special lady who gives £200 a month. If you’d like to join them and support our neutering program directly – thank you! Just let us know when you donate, and your contribution will go straight to the front lines.
*Neutering is a surgical procedure, done under general anaesthetic, to prevent dogs from reproducing. Males are castrated (testicles removed), and females are spayed (ovaries and/or uterus removed via abdominal surgery).
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