Our Cost Rican Connection

Our Costa Rican Connection
You've heard lots in these blogs about Nora Garcia, Aniplant's President. Nora is the central nervous system of animal protection in Cuba. But this time I want to write about another woman who has played an indispensable role in our work in Cuba.
Lilian Schnog is a Dutch woman who comes from Aruba. Years ago she and her husband, Ben, made the move from Aruba to Costa Rica, settling into a beautiful home halfway up a mountain, near the capital, San Jose. Many years ago, I was a Director of HSUS at the time I first heard of Lilian. John Hoyt, HSUS's President and I were talking about the formation of HSI, Humane Society International, when he told me he was making a quick trip to Florida. Lilian had called him and wanted to meet and talk with him about some problems at the WSPA (World Society for Protection of Animals) shelter near her home where she volunteered her time to help the animals.
John met with Lilian and agreed there should be changes at the shelter. Lilian was willing to make a major contribution to acquire the WSPA shelter and animal hospital if she had the support of HSUS, which Hoyt was willing to promise. Her plan was put into effect, and Lilian replaced WSPA's shelter manager and began to run the enterprise, certainly in a more humane fashion.
About that time I made two trips to Costa Rica and was able to see the changes for myself. Lilian was in charge, doing really important work, and HSI had people visiting to advise on improving the animal hospital function. Over the years, HSI and AHPPA, (Asociación Humana Para la Protección de Animales), Lilian's shelter, have maintained their association and in a recent year, Lilian was awarded HSI's highest honor for animal protectors.
When we wanted to supply anesthesia medicines, to Aniplant's spay-neuter campaigns, we needed a source of the meds and a way to get them into Cuba reliably. Lilian did some checking and found out there are no restrictions on trade between Cuba and Costa Rica. She works regularly with a distributor of medicines who exports to Cuba. So our problems were solved. If we could pay for the needed meds, Lilian could buy them and have them shipped to Nora in Cuba. We've done this several times now, and we have a reliable, legal way to ship drugs that Nora cannot otherwise acquire. Also, both Lilian and Nora are certified as persons who can buy, store, and handle controlled substances, which many of the drugs we buy are.
There are many wonderful people who work to help animals. Some are right in our home towns and some are spread out across the globe. We, and the dogs and cats of Cuba, are fortunate to have Lilian Schnog as a friend and a participant in what we are doing in Cuba.

Les Inglis