LIMA, Peru (AP) — Sara Moran never thought her home in a poor part of Peru’s capital would become a makeshift shelter for 70 strays when she first rescued a dog after it was run over by a car in 2007.
All the dogs come from the large population of abandoned canines that roam Lima’s streets.
“Sometimes I think God has given me this mission,” said Moran, 48, as she changes a diaper for a dog named Pecas, one of eight that she’s recently rescued and which gets around on a canine wheelchair.
Feeding the large pack 365 days of the year is the hardest part for Moran. She relies on donations from neighbors and strangers touched by her labor of love.
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But she also makes sure they receive plenty of psychological nourishment as well. In winter, when most Peruvians avoid the beach, she takes the dogs on frequent runs across the hard, black sand.
Seeing them happy is her reward.
“They are completely pure,” she says. “Their souls have no perversions.”