Women Rescuers:
The Heart of Northern Arizona Animal Welfare Community
By Jacqueline Vaughn
“My first ever sighting of Rez dogs happened in Chinle, Arizona on the Navajo Nation. It was January and the streets were lined with dirty slush. I saw a snarl of dogs wrestling in a pile on the roadside, fighting for food. As we got closer, one dog raised his head, giving me a glimpse of the hind leg of a puppy in his mouth. I knew then that a part of my life was going to be dedicated to helping the animals in this place.”
That’s how Tamara Martin describes her entry into the difficult, demanding, and sometimes drama-filled world of animal welfare. Northern Arizona is perhaps more challenging than other parts of the state because of the rural character of the communities and the vast territory that includes the communities of the Navajo Nation, an area the size of West Virginia. Her initial experience with Rez animals and rural strays, like those that have captured the hearts of Mitzi Christian and Tanell Lee, touched the lives of these three women and the small independent rescues they founded.
CAASR recently received its first grant that the group will use for veterinary bills, which in 2019 totaled about $28,000, with another $500 per month needed for food. “Our biggest needs are really funds,” Mitzie says. “We are serious about our dogs’ health and anything they may need, which may include special food and medication for seniors and disabled animals.”
Tamara Martin: Good Dog Rez-Q
Tamara and her husband Jim moved from Cincinnati, Ohio to Ganado, Arizona where she worked as a nurse at Sage Hospital, in the southeast corner of the Navajo Reservation. There she saw hundreds of stray and abandoned dogs, as well as the bodies of dogs hit by cars on the busy rural highways. She says that the dead dogs averaged about one per mile in populated areas, and there was no shelter where unwanted animals could be taken. Navajo Nation Animal Control periodically performed sweeps of the small communities, rounding up anything they could catch, from puppies, to sick and injured animals, to friendly yard dogs with collars, that they put into a big chicken-wire crate on top of a flatbed trailer. The trailer was then driven to a holding pen in Window Rock, where the animals were killed within 24 hours.
Tamara began by giving free vaccinations to her neighbors’ dogs, then fostering the friendliest of the homeless dogs through a non-profit group she and a small group of friends started, Blackhat Humane Society. Her first Rez dog, Popeye, was rescued from Gallup Animal Control in 1998 when he was just 5 weeks old. The dog stayed with her as her co-pilot on transports throughout the region until he passed in 2013. In their first year, Blackhat rescued, rehabilitated, and re-homed 50 dogs, a number that quickly grew to 200-300 rescues a year. Because she and her husband could not buy land on the reservation, they moved to St. Johns, Arizona, best known for being home to the coal-fired Coronado Generating Station and the seat of Apache County.
In 2013, she started another non-profit group, Good Dog Rez-Q. Most of the animals are strays wandering the back roads, although others are deliberately abandoned when their owners move and leave them behind. Occasionally, they will take in dogs surrendered by their owners, or those unclaimed from the local shelter.
In 2019, the group vaccinated, fostered, and found homes for over 400 unwanted dogs, some with the help of the Arizona Animal Welfare League in Glendale, Arizona. That organization spays and neuters the dogs, reducing the expenses for Martin’s group.
Her biggest challenge now is realizing that some dogs will never be rescued, but she feels change is coming. More groups are bringing in mobile veterinary clinics from Phoenix or Denver to spay and neuter animals. Outside groups are now arriving in time to take dogs out of Navajo National Animal Control before it is too late to save them. And she also sees a generational change. “The younger Navajo are better informed regarding animal care due to social media and education in the schools. We are seeing less indifference and more hands-on involvement, and fewer dogs hit by cars on the highways. My dream is to one day see Humane Shelters, run by the Dine’ people, on the Navajo Nation.”
Mitzie Christian: Central Arizona Animal Search and Rescue (CAASR)
“I think the biggest challenge is getting up each day to see what sad or horrible situation another animal in need is in.”
Based in Camp Verde, Mitzie Christian’s small facility houses 34 dogs, some of whom will live out their lives there as hospice fosters. CAASR deals with 300-400 animals each year, ranging from dumped puppies, to dogs rescued from shelters, to owners who can no longer afford to care for their pets.
Like Good Dog Rez-Q, Mitzie’s group depends on donations, but they also hold garage and estate sales, have a booth at a local resale store, and sometimes sell donated items online. Her facility includes kennels built by her husband, Alan, gardens and lots of yard art that make the acreage seem more like a real home rather than a sterile facility.
Mitzie became involved in animal welfare by working with a local rescue and participating in searches and trapping lost animals. She gained volunteers and taught them these skills so she could focus on the rescue side. The rewards outweigh the challenges of exhaustion, disgust, and other factors required in working 24/7 and 365 days a year. “Looking into the eyes of a dog that is scared or hurting, and then seeing them fill with love,” she notes, and “when they get through their emotional or physical pain they light up and become a whole new dog. I love seeing that. Or getting a lost pet back to their owners—those moments bring lots of happy tears.”
One of the dogs that brought out the happy tears Mitzie refers to is Lil Man. He was found in a ditch in Camp Verde, totally unable to use his hind legs, and taken to Anasazi Animal Clinic for help. He was left there with the vet in case someone came looking for him. No one knows his story before that or what happened to him. After a few days he needed to go to a shelter because he couldn’t stay at the vet office forever, but was turned down by other facilities because he couldn’t walk. CAASR was called by the Animal Control Officer to see if Mitzie could help, “and of course he came home with us,” she says.”
Alan built a wheelchair cart for him and they put him in onesies for infants to protect his legs and off he went. “Several months later with lots of care and love he wagged his tail one day, and I cried happy tears. From there he began walking and then running on his own with all the other dogs. He is still in diapers and wraps but that is okay; he can walk and run and that is the miracle. This is what we strive for at CAASR.”
Tanell Lee: Big Luck Club
As one of the newer rescues in Cottonwood, the group’s name stems from an encounter Tanell had while picking up rez dogs one day. As she loaded the animals onto her Jeep, an observer noted that the dogs she had rescued had “big luck” that day. The name struck her as appropriate for her new passion, and her rescue.
Big Luck Club focuses on helping the stray dogs on the Navajo reservation, as well as the overwhelmed Navajo Nation animal assistance organizations, such as Navajo Nation Animal Control and Navajo Nation Puppy Adoption Program. “We are the new kids on the block for reservation rescue groups, and not that long ago, I had no idea that I would be involved to this degree in dog rescue,” she says. “I stumbled by accident onto the rez dog overpopulation problem. I was completely stunned when I learned about its depth and scope.”
According to Navajo Nation Animal Control, their shelters have a 91% kill rate and euthanize the animals in their shelters every Friday. Tanell spends much of her time sharing information like this with those unfamiliar with reservation animal welfare, making education as important as rescuing animals. “Considering that the Navajo reservation has a 38% poverty rate, approximately 40% of homes are without running water, the mean travel distance for food is 24 miles, and availability of veterinary services is limited, it really isn’t hard to understand why there are so many homeless animals.”
She points to Tamara Martin as one of the women who graciously gave of her time, encouragement, and insight into rescuing rez animals and starting a non-profit organization. She refers to Tamara as “The Godmother of Reservation Rescue” and credits her as serving as the catalyst for many of the people currently involved in reservation rescue. “Most people have no idea of the severe struggles of the Navajo residents, the stray animals, and Navajo Nation Animal Control,” Tanell notes.”
While Tanell does some of the actual rescuing herself, Big Luck Club relies on other groups to find new homes for animals from communities like Chinle and Many Farms. Even before the dogs begin their trip back, they are given their first vaccination, and then immediately begin an extremely healthy diet with nutritional supplements. They receive a veterinary examination, are spayed or neutered, microchipped, and are tested for heartworm, tick diseases, giardia, and intestinal parasites.
Equally important is the process of helping the dogs understand they no longer need to worry about staying safe or if they will get to eat, a process she refers to as “rewiring” the animal’s brain. “They get to relax, discover it’s OK to play and have fun, and start learning basic manners for living in a home with a family. They become house-trained, use a doggie door, learn simple commands, get baths, and learn to be part of a team that includes people and other animals.”
Tanell works full time, and she uses vacation days to make her runs to the Navajo reservation to retrieve animals. Those runs have been limited by the Covid-19 pandemic and the mandatory shutdowns that have resulted in the closures of Navajo Nation Animal Control shelters.
In late May, she worked with the Chinle Veterinary Clinic and Puppy Luv, a Cave Creek-based rescue, to sponsor a rehoming event where dog owners could voluntarily surrender unwanted dogs and puppies. The majority were transported back to Cave Creek by Puppy Luv, and Tanell took four to the Humane Society of Sedona, keeping one dog to care for herself because “she has been a true community rez dog, is a bit ragged, and may have health as well as socialization issues. So she’ll need some extra TLC for a while.”
She describes the rewards of her rescue work, which can include hours of driving on dusty roads to try to pick up a dog from an owner who no longer wants it. “Watching a very hungry, dehydrated, medically needy, and frequently fearful dog who has only known days of trying to stay alive start blossoming into a happy, playful, and friendly soul is priceless,” she says. “The transformation is not only with their personality, but you also see changes in their appearance. Watching these animals move on to amazing families is of course hugely rewarding, as is receiving follow-up communications from the families with updates on their new family member who has become so important to them. It never gets old and can turn a tough day into a bright one.”
Wants and Needs
All three of these women manage rescues that are run on a shoestring budget, and they often cover expenses with their own funds or donations from family and friends. Tanell notes that it is normal for a single dog to require $500 to $1,000 to get to a point of being ready for adoption, and as a new rescue group, she still struggles to get enough funds to take care of an animal’s basic needs and vet costs.
She also emphasizes the need for transport for rez animals to rescues in Phoenix and surrounding states that would be willing to help find new homes if the transportation logistics were effectively in place. “I would love to see companies in the transportation sector donate small trucks or vans, and even professional drivers, to help move these animals out to rescue groups and humane societies in areas of the country that would love to take them.”
While Tamara relies on Facebook donations for normal expenses, she is in need of supplies such as dry dog and cat food; collars and leashes; blankets, towels and light quilts; dog toys; and lightly used crates, kennels, and animal traps.
More Information
Good Dog Rescue, St. John’s, Arizona. (928) 245-2040, Ambrwlf51@yahoocom
Central Arizona Animal Search and Rescue, Camp Verde, Arizona (520) 921-9974 centralarizonaanimalsearchandrescuellc.com
Big Luck Club, Cottonwood, Arizona (928) 202-4449, bigluckclub@gmail.com
