Help build Costa Rica’s first animal hospital, with a virtual brick

Good news for pets in Costa Rica, and for those looking for ways to help them: The country’s first animal hospital is in the works.

Dog food company Super Perro plans to build the hospital, which will operate on an ability-to-pay basis. Pet owners who can afford services will subsidize care for those who can’t and for street dogs and other ownerless or abandoned animals.

The first animal hospital in Costa Rica will be administered in conjunction with the Animal Rescue Association (Rescate Animal). Rescate Animal estimates that there are approximately two million homeless dogs in the country.

The hospital will offer surgery, basic care, grooming and emergency services. It will also include a pharmacy.

Two ambulances will be available for emergencies and to visit animals in remote areas.

The hospital’s backers hope to make it financially sustainable through its solidarity model, to avoid relying on the government or donations.

Super Perro already has the funds to build the hospital, but it wants 50,000 people to join a virtual building campaign in order to get started on the actual construction. Collaborators can create a “virtual brick” with their name or their pet’s name on it. Those virtual bricks will then become an actual “wall of collaborators” in the hospital.

As of Monday at noon, less than 6,000 bricks were needed to get started.

Find more information about the initiative and create your virtual brick on the Super Perro Ayuda website.