The Saga Humane Society was founded in March of 1999, mainly in response to the animal control measures used in Belize: strychnine laced bait tossed onto the streets at night for any animal unlucky enough to be wandering around and hungry.

Saga started out in a little building across from Ramon's Resort with a fenced in yard. The front yard, to the chagrin of all the neighbors, served as the only animal shelter in Belize at the time.

After much work and dedication, a shelter was built on land purchased by the Humane Society, and lovingly called: “Fort Dog”. Fort Dog houses lost, unwanted, and homeless dogs and puppies who receive treatment and loving care until they are found an adoptive family. Fort Dog, in its current state, houses up to 40 animals at any given time. The Humane Society headquarters on Sea Star Street houses the Saga cattery where there are always plenty of kittens and cats looking for a loving home.

Saga Humane Society’s mission is: preventing cruelty and promoting kindness to all animals. This is achieved first and foremost through the humane education program that Saga is working to implement within the community of San Pedro. Currently, education is spread via pamphlets, flyers, posters, articles in the local newspapers, and most importantly; word of mouth. Anyone who comes into the clinic with a new puppy or an old dog that is not current on its preventative medicine such as vaccines or heartworm treatment is educated on the importance of such treatments. Many of these people will pass this valuable information on to neighbors and family members who also have pets. Volunteers and employees do outreach programs for members of the community who have animals that appear to be ill cared for, or that are not spayed or neutered and continue to have unwanted puppies or kittens. Saga representatives inform these members of the community that their animal can be brought to the Saga Humane Society for low cost or subsidized veterinary treatment and surgery. Another important way we achieve our goal of education is by example. By adopting out healthy, vaccinated, altered (spayed or neutered) animals, many in the community can see how well a dog who receives minimal preventative care looks and behaves. It is obvious that a playful, strong, happy, shiny coated animal is preferable to a sickly, scruffy animal full of scars from fighting in the streets!

Another of Saga’s projects is a feral cat spay/neuter release program. Anyone in the community can come to Saga and sign out a humane cat trap which can be used to catch feral cats in their area. The cats are then brought to Saga and those that are healthy are spayed or neutered, dewormed, vaccinated, and re-released into the wild where they will no longer be able to reproduce. Saga hopes that in time, this program will greatly reduce the numbers of wild cats on the island.

For 2006-2007 the Saga Humane Society is also giving Fort Dog a facelift – putting in much needed puppy and isolation areas, storage, and sanitation facilities. Construction is currently underway and we plan to have our new Fort Dog finished sometime in the beginning of 2007.

Other projects on the horizon when funding can be obtained are: construction of a new Saga clinic facility which will include an education center and newly designed cattery, a trap neuter/release program for feral dogs, an obligatory animal licensing program for all pets, and the continuation of subsidized spay/neuter programs for members of the community who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford a pet in the family.

We at Saga can always use a helping hand and always appreciate the generosity of visitors. We are a non-profit organization and are funded solely by donations from the public and visitors to the island.

Check out the animals that we have for adoption, or some of our success stories on other areas of this site.

The animals (and everyone else) at Saga appreciate your interest, and we always look forward to seeing or hearing from you!