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22 images Created 4 Apr 2017

Milagros Perrunos

Milagros Perrunos is a dog shelter in Lima, Peru. What’s special about this shelter however, is that it is the only one caring for disabled dogs in the entire city.

Founded eight years ago by Sara Moran, the shelter is safe haven to about sixty rescued dogs, eight of which are wheelchair bound. Others are able to walk on their own but are either missing a leg or have sustained another devastating injury. Able bodied dogs are also harbored at the shelter, and all have been rescued after being abandoned in the streets.

The shelter is actually a converted home in Chorrillos, a southern district of Lima. Located in a quiet residential street, the shelter is hard to find, as their are no signs or other indications that anything about the home is special. But as I knocked on the front door, a cacophony of loud barking was immediately unleashed, and thus I was assured I had reached the right place.

As I entered the shelter and stepped into the converted living area, Sara was busy fitting one of the paralyzed dogs into his wheelchair. “I started the shelter eight years ago,” she told me, looking up to point to a dog clad in a diaper and resting in his crib, “Bruno has been here for eight years, the first dog I brought into the shelter.”

The living room of the home is lined on either side by baby cribs that function as beds for the paralyzed dogs. “We only have one female in the shelter,” Sara told me. “Because when people report that a dog is run over, it’s usually more males than females, because male are more callejeros.” (street dogs)

Sara hopes one day to be able to fit some of the dogs with prosthesis, but has been unable to afford the high cost. She pointed to Osito, who was limping around on his right front leg. “He is able to walk but needs a prosthesis,” she told me. “I can help him with a wheelchair but he wants to walk.”

The shelter is funded mostly by donations, but Sara has one renter who helps pay some bills. “Food is very expensive,” she explained. “I also can’t run the air conditioner very long, it’s too expensive.”

As we toured the shelter I was surprised by the number of dogs in the two story, albeit small house. They were everywhere, sleeping on the floor, in the stairs, or otherwise just roaming around. The dogs were very friendly and for the most part, seemed to get along well. All of the dogs of course, are up for adoption.

“It’s hard work, but it makes me happy,” Sara said as she described the daily work of running the shelter. “I’m here everyday, ….at Christmas, New Years, Mothers Day, Birthdays, I’m always here.”

“It’s very sad,” Sara continued, “In the beginning I would always cry, for many years it was very hard. When the dogs get sick they want to live, not like us. When we get hit in the head we cry, the dogs, no, they are very strong. I feel like the dogs love to live.”

“They teach me a lot,” Sara told me, “They help me.”
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  • Sara Moran is the founder and operater of the Milagros Perrunos shelter for disabled dogs in Lima, Peru.
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  • Sara Moran, founder of the Milagros Perrunos shelter for disabled dogs, affixes Huellitas to her wheelchair.
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  • Cabezon and Osito, two paralyzed dogs, rest in their cribs at Milagros Perrunos shelter for disabled dogs in Lima, Peru.
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  • Pelusa roams about in his wheelchair at Milagros Perrunos shelter for disabled dogs in Lima, Peru.
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  • Pecas rests in his crib at the Milagros Perrunos shelter, Lima, Peru.
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  • Lupo, paralyzed after being hit by a car, peers out from his crib at the Milagros Perrunos shelter in Lima, Peru.
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  • Paralyzed dogs in their wheelchairs roam about the Milagros Perrunos shelter in Lima, Peru.
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  • Osito suffered paralysis after being hit by a car. He lied in the street for 3 months before being rescued by Sara Moran and taken into the shelter.
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  • A group of dogs rush toward Sara Moran as she tosses out treats at the Milagros Perrunos shelter in Lima, Peru.
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  • A paralyzed dog in his wheelchair walks about the Milagros Perrunos shelter for disabled dogs in Lima, Peru.
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  • Huellitas rests in her wheelchair at the Milagros Perrunos shelter, Lima, Peru.
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  • Belen, an assistant at the shelter, is greeted by several of the rescued dogs as she performs her daily duties.
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  • Sara Moran with one of her disabled dogs. The dog had sustained severe injuries after being hit by a car and had his right hind leg amputated.
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  • Some of the rescued dogs peak over a gate at the shelter.
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  • Sara Moran is surrounded by some of her dogs at the Milagros Perrunos shelter in Lima, Peru.
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  • Sara Moran cleans the upper level of the Milagros Perrunos shelter in Lima, Peru.
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  • Bruno rests in his crib at the Milagros Perrunos shelter, Lima, Peru. He has been at the shelter since it's founding, eight years ago.
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  • Osito rests in his crib as his wheelchair hangs off the side.
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  • Two disabled dogs in wheelchairs roam about the shelter.
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  • Simba, paralyzed and unable to use his hind legs, rests on the floor at the Milagros Perrunos shelter in Lima, Peru.
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  • A paralyzed dog rests in his crib at the shelter. The dogs require their diapers to be changed five times a day.
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  • Sara Moran assists Pecas back into his crib. Milagros Perrunos shelter, Lima, Peru.
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