Saving animal lives in Costa Rica: The Dutch woman and the Refugio

Who rescued who?

When Lilian Schnog’s attorney husband decided to move his family from the Caribbean island of Aruba to Costa Rica in 1986, it was culture shock. Having lived her whole life in the former Dutch Antilles and growing up on the island of Curacao, she spoke only Dutch, had always lived near a beach, and had a young son to raise. Her husband, however, had purchased a parcel of land in the lush volcanic hills of San Rafael de Heredia, home to coffee farms and waterfalls about 45 minutes north of the Costa Rican capital San Jose. For Schnog it was both beautiful and lonely.

Lilian Schnog has been leading The Refugio for almost 30 years. Photo by AHPPA.

While adjusting to a new language and living in the mountains wasn’t easy, she discovered that five minutes from her new home was a tiny, dilapidated animal shelter. It was outdated and understaffed, but it provided help.

“I started volunteering in 1991,” Schnog says. Volunteering at the shelter became a way of connecting with her new country. After five years, she asked her husband if they could pay off an existing debt that prevented the shelter from expanding. With his blessing and encouragement, she paid off the debt and took over the shelter.

Formally known as the Asociancion Humanitaria para la Proteccion Animal de Costa Rica (AHPPA), the shelter is called The Refugio by locals because of the respite it provides to the region’s homeless animals. Schnog has run the shelter for almost 30 years and is the shelter’s Director Emeritus and the driving force that turned it into one of Central America’s most successful animal shelters.

In the shelter’s town of San Rafael de Heredia visitors will find a quaint little mountain village that is a half-way point for travelers arriving in the capital and heading to adventure in the Central Volcanic Mountains (Cordillera Volcanica Central) and Braulio Carillo National Park. The town has fewer than 5,000 residents and the canton of Heredia has less than 40,000 people.

A dog about to go home with a new family. Photo by AHPPA.

“Back then the shelter had some run-down cages and an operation room in very poor condition,” she says. “Now years later we have a very professional operation room where we receive students from foreign countries who practice in our facilities.”

When she arrived, the area was home to large numbers of dogs and cats foraging on the streets. Schog says back then residents allowed their pets “live” on the streets. Many newcomers like herself assumed the animals roaming around town were homeless. That wasn’t the case. Owners often turned their animals out in the morning and then let them back inside in the afternoon, not just dogs and cats, but even cows and horses. Now with many more cars speeding through the canton’s narrow roads and the outdoor cats and dogs getting into dangerous skirmishes with mountain wildlife, Schnog and the shelter helped residents and local government provide a safe place inside homes with their pets through education and adoption training. She says her new challenge is changing attitudes about neutering.

“[The] most important issue is that people start neutering their pets before, not after the first litter,” she says.

Creatively using resources is how the shelter has thrived over the years and one of the shelter’s biggest programs is the Spay and Neuter Clinic. The Refugio provides low cost and no cost spay and neuter surgeries along with other veterinary services by having student veterinarians and techs volunteer at the shelter. The shelter even provides limited housing for visiting students. This program helps everyone involved. The students get needed experience with a practicing vet and locals receive medical care for their pets. The shelter now performs 40 to 50 cat and dog neuters per day.

Helping animals and people in the clinic (before COVID). Photo by AHPPA.

To work for the shelter, medical volunteers must be fourth- or fifth-year vet students in order to assist the shelter’s resident vet, Dr. Luis, with surgeries. Third year students can be accepted as volunteers in the clinic, but will be unable to assist in surgeries. Students may also travel with Dr. Luis for mobile surgery clinics around the region to help provide services to rural areas. Students need to provide proof of their level of study, which can vary by school and country. Visit the shelter’s website to learn more about these opportunities and how to apply. (This program has temporarily been suspended for international students due to coronavirus.)

The organization also needs help from volunteers, but these volunteers cannot work in the medical clinic. However, they are valuable in keeping the shelter clean, caring for resident animals, performing shelter maintenance, and working with the public.

The AHPPA is a compound of several buildings surrounding a central courtyard and patio. Cats are in one building, dogs in another. The medical facilities and administration have their own buildings as well. Visitors can play and interact with potential new family members in the courtyard and other outdoor spaces on the property to make sure they are a fit for their family. The AHPPA medical clinic is available by appointment only because of the coronavirus, but residents can still get their pets spayed or neutered, receive vaccines, and get help for other issues if needed. Patients and families must wait outside until it’s their turn with one of two full-time veterinarians on-site and masks must always be worn while at the shelter.

Adoptable dog at The Refugio. Photo by AHPPA.

Although much has improved, Schnog says the shelter still needs financial help. The shelter runs a small pet food store where locals can purchase food and supplies for their pets with proceeds going to the shelter. The AHPPA does not receive any government assistance. In fact, The Refugio helps the Costa Rican government to take care of its K-9 animals. To help with funding, the AHPPA has an annual “Mutts Party” and receives monetary assistance from the Humane Society USA/International, the Wallace Foundation, and the S.B.A. Holland. Private donations make up the difference.

“There still is a huge need to better the situation,” she adds.

The shelter also operates a mobile medical rescue unit that vets take into the countryside for spay and neuter surgeries in rural areas and they also assist during natural disasters. For example, when Hurricane Otto passed through in 2016, the mobile unit sprang into action by rescuing and caring for people’s pets and taking in lost animals. The mobile unit has also been deployed during wildfires and floods to help the community. Sometimes they arrive before humanitarian aid does.

For Schnog, a 2009 recipient of the “Extraordinary Commitment and Achievement” award by Humane Society International, her work with animals helped her adapt to her new country and this last decade the work has become even more important.

“My husband always backed me in my volunteer work. He passed away in 2010 and the animals gave me the power to go on and keep me going,” she declares. Even though Schnog retired from the day-to-day work at the shelter a few years ago to spend more time with her grandchildren, she still oversees its mission and continues to advocate for the area’s sick and homeless companion animals.

The shelter operating hours are Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Check the Facebook page for adoptable animals and spay or neuter clinics or sign up for the email newsletter for updated information and donation options.