Cycle 4 Strays
Cycling for Animal WelfareWelcome to C4S!
A non competitive fundraising event,
Cycle 4 Strays
is dedicated to advancing the rights of homeless companion animals in developing nations.
By pedaling with no support vehicles, we wish to replicate the hardships that strays experience on a daily basis throughout their lives, educating the public about responsible pet ownership and the need to be compassionate towards unwanted animals.
Our outreach programs refute violent methods of dog and cat population control, promoting spay and neuter instead as the only viable, long term solution to the tragedy of homeless pets.
The first Cycle 4 Strays was born in early 2009 during a ride throughout southern Costa Rica, as Skylere and I pedaled on a badly graded gravel road on our way from Playa Zancudo to the surfing paradise of Punta Banco, near the village of Pavones on the border with Panama. As we debated the conditions of stray animals in developing nations, I thought about turning our passion for cycling and exploring exotic locales into a fund raising effort to benefit local advocacy groups.
That night, working with a lap top computer and an internet connection best described as sketchy, I networked with animal advocates and the managers of a US nonprofit that focuses on promoting spay & neuter of companion animals in the developing world. A plan of action started taking shape, I quickly threw together a web page to collect donations and it was on!
Less than 2 weeks later, Skylere and I left Zancudo and cycled north to the town of Sarchí bringing much needed funds and a message of hope to the community.
At the end of the 500km ride, we had raised 261% of the projected fund raising goal!
Stoked, I decided that Cycle 4 Strays would become an annual event to promote the importance of spay and neuter as a humane method of pet population control and to support animal advocacy groups that operate in nations that lack basic infrastructure and the means to help their own strays.
Thanks to this first effort and the sustainable community outreach programs we have implemented in the past few years, terms like spay & neuter are slowly becoming part of the family lexicon. As more doctors in veterinary medicine learn the Small Incision Spay & Neuter Method, attending one of the free clinics organized in Costa Rica, more animals undergo this innovative, minimally invasive procedure and slowly, but surely, less strays are found roaming the neighborhoods.
That night, working with a lap top computer and an internet connection best described as sketchy, I networked with animal advocates and the managers of a US nonprofit that focuses on promoting spay & neuter of companion animals in the developing world. A plan of action started taking shape, I quickly threw together a web page to collect donations and it was on!
Less than 2 weeks later, Skylere and I left Zancudo and cycled north to the town of Sarchí bringing much needed funds and a message of hope to the community.
At the end of the 500km ride, we had raised 261% of the projected fund raising goal!
Stoked, I decided that Cycle 4 Strays would become an annual event to promote the importance of spay and neuter as a humane method of pet population control and to support animal advocacy groups that operate in nations that lack basic infrastructure and the means to help their own strays.
Thanks to this first effort and the sustainable community outreach programs we have implemented in the past few years, terms like spay & neuter are slowly becoming part of the family lexicon. As more doctors in veterinary medicine learn the Small Incision Spay & Neuter Method, attending one of the free clinics organized in Costa Rica, more animals undergo this innovative, minimally invasive procedure and slowly, but surely, less strays are found roaming the neighborhoods.
Whether across town or across the border, if we can help a community help its strays, we have a moral obligation to do so.
100% of all donated funds go to support desperately needed community outreach programs as well as spay & neuter clinics.
On behalf of all the furry wanderers of this world I sincerely thank you!
Davide, founder of C4S.
On behalf of all the furry wanderers of this world I sincerely thank you!
Davide, founder of C4S.
Riding near the border with Panama on the way to Punta Banco.
Not your very best example of civil engineering...
After a long, steep climb you are rewarded with this awesome view of the Gulfo Dulze.
A former stray now happy in his new home in El Rosario, Mexico.
A bunch of former strays ride the "Doggie bus" on their way to a spay & neuter clinic in Perù.
