Our Mission
​Project Second Chance: Community Matters
For almost 20 years, our founder has been rescuing dogs in Puerto Rico. After Hurricane Maria in 2017, she formed Project Second Chance, a nonprofit rescue dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, and finding forever homes for homeless dogs in Puerto Rico, disaster-hit areas, and other emergency cases. We also rescue special-needs puppies and dogs as well as assist overwhelmed shelters. She started feeding routes for feral dogs so they would not die of starvation and dehydration as well as spay and neuter initiatives to try and limit the number of puppies born on the streets. And, most importantly, she recruited community members to care for these animals as volunteers, feeders, transporters, and fosters.
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Our rescue is foster-based only. This allows our puppies and dogs to heal in the comfort of a loving home and avoid the stress of a shelter experience. It also allows our team to get to know the personalities of each rescue and to match them with applicants based on temperament, lifestyle, and activity levels. Our return rate is below .01% and we believe this is why, in addition to our rescues being absolutely amazing.
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Our rescues receive extensive veterinary care which includes examinations, age-appropriate vaccinations (rabies and DHLPP), deworming, fecal tests, heartworm and flea/tick preventatives, heartworm tests and spay/neuter for all dogs over six months old, and diagnostics, emergency, and specialty care as needed. Once a rescue receives a veterinary clearance, we list them for adoption. We look for a best fit for each rescue rather than the first applicant.
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We are so proud of our efforts to date. We have saved over 3,000 lives and that work continues thanks to our team in the DC/VA/MD area and Puerto Rico. ​