SoCal woman on mission to rescue dogs kept in squalor at make-shift shelters in Mexico

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Shira Astrof and volunteers at Animal Rescue Mission are on a mission to rescue dogs kept in squalor at make-shift animal shelters in Mexico.

"Terrible conditions, very dilapidated, the dogs don't eat or have water many days," Astrof described.

"We fell in love with all of these dogs but it also broke our hearts that so many of them were so sick and had such an uphill battle," Astrof said.

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Astrof and a team of volunteers are bringing some of the sick dogs back to Los Angeles, looking to nurse them back to health and get them ready for adoption. Astrof's veterinarian is also a part of the team in Mexico.

"I'd say 95% of these are adoptable with needing nothing other than some love and affection," the veterinarian said.

Astrof knows she can't take every dog out of the dilapidated shelters. But she has a plan.

"Basically the idea of our new kind of mission is to start changing these shelters, to start rehabbing these shelters from ground up. It needs to be completely cleaned, kennels built, the dogs need to start getting vaccinated, they need the medical treatment," Astrof said.

"A lot of people ask me why are you rescuing dogs in Mexico and not the dogs here? There's so many here that need help. My answer is, I do help a lot of dogs here, but there, we won't have to keep helping if we can kind of create the structure there and the foundation there," Astrof explained.

To learn more, visit www.theanimalrescuemission.org.

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