Dellymar Bernal Martínez, executive director of the Santuario de Animales San Francisco de Asís, can attest that the construction of a better country starts from every “trench” of the human being. This is what she did since she was a child, when she started rescuing animals in the streets of the country due to the problem of overpopulation of cats and dogs on the island.
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The rescuer is aware that we cannot ask for change without each individual contributing to a better society, to the country we long for and the world we dream of in a universe where living beings are respected. At least, that is how Bernal Martínez sees and feels, who since 2008 joined her mother to open the doors of the sanctuary located in Cabo Rojo in favor of homeless animals. Her mother was the one who instilled her love for the protection of animals. The Santuario de Animales San Francisco de Asís is a non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation, shelter and responsible adoption of homeless cats and dogs.
“Building the country you long for is done from your essence. Always in favor of an empathetic, compassionate community that is sensitive to living beings. That is the starting point for the changes we all want for a better country,” says the rescuer, who has more than 175 animals waiting for adoption at the sanctuary.
Although Bernal Martínez has been volunteering for more than two decades to help street animals find responsible homes, it was not until a few months ago, in 2024, that she was officially named executive director of the Santuario de Animales San Francisco de Asís, an achievement that is tied to her commitment over the years.
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This year, it developed an initiative to support and help the community to lend a hand in the efforts of the TNR (Trap - Neuter - Return) program for stray cats, which is dedicated to trapping, sterilizing and returning the animal to its environment with a humane and effective approach for felines in Puerto Rico. It has also managed to increase the retention of pets in low-income homes, in addition to various fundraising initiatives in the midst of the difficult economic situation the country is going through, since the sanctuary subsists on donations.
But what amazes Bernal Martínez is how over time she has become a “temporary mother” of the saddest, chronic and difficult cases of animals that arrive at the sanctuary, since she takes care of them and shelters them in her home. The Cabo Rojo resident knows that a sick cat or dog has little chance of adoption, so she accompanies them as they cross the so-called rainbow of death. She feeds the sick dogs and cats, takes care of them, provides them with medicine and helps them so that their last breath is in peace and not suffering.
“The cases of cats and dogs that are run over are the hardest and saddest, because we know that they will probably not be adopted. I would like to have a magic wand and solve the lives of the animals, but it is not possible. So it’s been a big challenge, because if they don’t get adopted, I have no space. So I have no heart, so I decide to keep them in my home and take care of them. We recently did some rescues of some puppies that came in sick. One of them was Samson, he was thrown over the fence at the sanctuary. He was a little dog who had suffered a lot because apparently he was being used for fighting. He hated other animals, he hated cats, he hated people. We made a special space for him and after a few weeks he had a heart attack. It is very strong because I am very attached to those animals and I wish their last days were well. You would like to save them all, but you can’t always do it. I am and always will be their caregiver,” says the director, who currently houses 26 cats and dogs in her home.
To the amazement of those who know her, Bernal Martínez knows all the names of the animals that have passed through her hands and sings them all a song. The first was Kitty the cat, which she had when she was an infant and it was the first word she uttered as a baby. Her love and devotion for the care and protection of animals was instilled since she was a child by her mother, who was a rescue worker in Cabo Rojo.
Bernal Martínez said that although today she recognizes that “I was born for this”, at one point in her life she moved away from animal protection and rescue and dedicated herself to studying comparative literature and working as a librarian. However, the call to serve the animal population was a constant restlessness and so she did.
Wearing the hat of director of the temporary shelter and working for years with animal overpopulation, she admits that although there is a greater visibility of the problem at a social level, when compared to previous decades, the solutions are the integration of the community and the responsibility of each individual in favor of living beings.
Three keys to a woman’s success
- Being empathetic
- Being compassionate
- To have commitment
“If the community does not operate on the animals in the street, those 10 cats that are there will be 80 in six months. So this is not only Dellymar’s responsibility, nor that of the Santuario de Animales San Francisco de Asís. This is a community issue that concerns all of us. To the extent that we can all do something, we divide the responsibility and help each other. At the end of the day, those who pay with their lives for the actions or inactions of human beings are the animals. I recognize that there is an awakening of consciousness and people are much more aware of the situation. People have stressed the importance of operating on their pets. But we still have a long way to go, since there are still people who do not see animals as sentient beings and continue to see them as objects”, she mentions.
What changes can we citizens make to help with the dog and cat overpopulation problem?
“The first thing is to operate on their pets. They can identify if there are any small animals in the community that need surgery to prevent them from continuing to reproduce. Volunteer at shelters or sanctuaries. They can be temporary homes for the sanctuaries, which is so important for at least two weeks and see the transformation of that animal in a different environment. They can donate the little things that the shelters and sanctuaries always need, which range from food, cleaning products, medicines, basic necessities, money and time as a volunteer”, she points out.
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This content was translated from Spanish to English using artificial intelligence and was reviewed by an editor before being published.
