Elizabeth Pliscou; sisters Aria and Grace Keilbach

Elizabeth Pliscou, director of Saipan Cares for Animals, holds several cats available for adoption at the Saipan Cares for Animals Clinic on Middle Road. (LEIGH GASES)

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
—Mahatma Gandhi

When measured against Gandhi’s yardstick for what makes a nation great, the CNMI may still have a long way to go, but the Commmonwealth has three outstanding women leading the way: Elizabeth Pliscou of Saipan Cares for Animals and sisters Aria and Grace Keilbach of Boonie Babies Saipan.

They are not just championing the cause of stray animals in the CNMI and providing much needed and affordable veterinary services, but they are also teaching us to expand our capacity for love and care and for their herculean effort, they are our Person of the Year for 2022.

With the CNMI’s human population around 58,000 and with currently an unknown number of stray animals on the islands, the progress that has been made by Saipan Cares for Animals and Boonie Babies Saipan in reducing the number of stray animals in the CNMI may be incremental but quite obvious to many long-term CNMI residents, who don’t see as many roadkill now compared to the situation some 15 years ago when the sight was so commonplace that many just learned to ignore them.

By the last estimates of the Humane Society of the United States in 2014, there were between 10,000 to 20,000 stray dogs in the CNMI—and that number doesn’t include stray cats. Many efforts were made to reduce their numbers, first with the Saipan Mayor’s Office Dog Control Program, which started in 2010, but there still was no consistent, readily available, and affordable veterinary care.

Thankfully, Elizabeth Pliscou and her family moved to Saipan from California in 2012, bringing over her love for animals and prompting her to volunteer at the SCA shelter’s first location in Lower Base.

Shortly after Typhoon Soudelor hit the CNMI in 2015, Pliscou took over SCA as director and president of its board and later, revived the organization from the condemned skeleton of the Lower Base facility, housed dogs in her previous home in San Antonio, then opened the first animal shelter/clinic in As Gonno to tackle the stray animal population and provide the community with veterinary services that it clearly lacked.

Even with the many typhoons that have pounded the islands and the pandemic that ravaged the community for more than two years beginning in 2020, SCA managed to keep their doors open and continued to provide affordable care and veterinary services, along with housing stray animals in their shelter.

Fast-forward to 2022, SCA and their volunteer veterinarians have already spayed and neutered over 4,500 cats and dogs in their five-plus years of operation, based on an estimate by Pliscou.

The SCA Clinic on Middle Road opened this year in March and has been serving the community with longer hours at a more central location. They provide primary care for cats and dogs such as deworming, vaccination, flea and tick prevention, and mange treatment for dogs; and emergency care for dogs with tick disease, animals who have been hit by cars, cuts or wounds from fighting, and sickly or animals that are not eating.

But, with the highs also came many lows, and with the roadblocks and hindrances that SCA has gone through in the past year with finding and running a permanent animal shelter, Pliscou came up with what she calls a “virtual animal shelter,” after the physical shelter in As Gonno closed in April.

In this way, instead of SCA sheltering and taking in stray dogs and cats, it will be the community that will “step in and do the sheltering part,” while SCA will focus on offering free vaccines, the anti-worm medication Bravecto, tick and worm medication, and spay and neuter surgery for its rescues. This came about with the realization that people chipping in to help and house strays was beneficial for the staff and the community as a whole.

Since the virtual shelter’s inception, Pliscou said the community has been welcoming, with over 300 cats and dogs now placed in more than 150 families’ homes.

And, this year, despite fighting to keep their doors open, countless have benefitted from the volunteer veterinarians that have graced SCA—Jessica Johnson, who came in April to provide low-cost services, then last June, with the help of the U.S. Army’s Innovative Readiness Training program or IRT, a free veterinarian outreach that serviced over 300 pet cats and dogs. Next July, the U.S. Army will be back to assist SCA, and will concurrently extend their veterinary and sterilizing services to Rota and Tinian.

Pliscou hopes to leave the clinic running in capable hands and, with eight staff members and four volunteers or sometimes more, it is possible that one day, she will just focus on writing grants for the clinic and the virtual shelter.

Aria Keilbach, left, and Grace Keilbach show off several of Boonie Babies’ foster dogs. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Already one staff member, Austin Arriola, who has worked at SCA for over four years, is trained in neutering male cats to help the need for sterilization services. Pliscou said it’s gotten to the point where he takes over suturing and she wouldn’t need to do it anymore. “It just worked into that, because eventually I want to retire and I want to pass this all along to the local people that are going to be here permanently to keep it going,” said Pliscou.

Pliscou credits SCA’s success to APEC Construction, Brabu Pharmacy, Ted Parker on the SCA board, and Dr. David Grauman and his wife, Beth.

“[Dr. Grauman] is someone who’s really managed to help us in a pinch when I thought we were going to close or that this wasn’t going to work several times. He wouldn’t want me to announce it on Facebook, but I think his name should be somewhere. …He’s really responsible for keeping us open when I really didn’t know what to do,” said Pliscou. Also “a big thank you to the people who’ve taken in animals in our virtual shelter. It’s really been huge, really successful. I’ll just keep trying to get vets and get more services.”

When asked about their relationship with another animal welfare and rescue group, Boonie Babies Saipan, Pliscou said that they work together, with their partnership going back to the shelter in As Gonno.

“When the sisters [Aria and Grace Keilbach] would bring in dogs for vaccinations or emergencies…and when they received grants or something, they would just put money in PayPal to help us out. …They would also come in here with their puppies and dogs that need to be cleaned up and they don’t pay anything. …We just agreed to that. …If a litter of puppies comes in right now, they’re the first people I’ll call, even though I know they’re full, but they will try and do whatever they can.”

By the same token, 20-year-old Aria and 22-year-old Grace Keilbach—Colorado natives and co-founders of their nonprofit organization—continue their mission to rescue, educate, rehabilitate, and relocate what are colloquially know as “boonie” dogs, since founding the group on Saipan in 2018. They have since rescued over 300 stray dogs and cats from the streets of Saipan.

This past year, though, was a big one for the organization. “Boonie Babies has had the first of many major accomplishments that have greatly impacted the community. None of our accomplishments would have been possible without our nonprofit status and officially becoming a licensed business. We worked hard all year to make this possible and take our organization to the next level. As an official nonprofit organization in the CNMI, we are now working to apply for grants, partner more with the government and community, and overall expand our outreach,” said Aria.

Along with becoming a nonprofit last October, Boonie Babies Saipan hosted its first ever spay and neuter clinic in cooperation with the Saipan Mayor’s Office dog shelter, during which 500 dogs and cats were serviced on Saipan and Tinian from Aug. 18, 2022, to Sept. 16, 2022.

They have also established a foster rehabilitation center, in which 62 dogs are currently cared for; hosted volunteers from around the world “whose dedication and time has allowed us to significantly expand our impact; worked with rescues on other islands such as the Boonie Flight Project in Guam; and secured a charter flight for dogs headed to the U.S. mainland for adoption this January, which is something we have worked on for the past three years.”

Aria said their efforts to have their dogs adopted in the U.S. mainland has hit a rough spot due to United Airline’s suspension of its PetSafe Travel program. Because of the program’s suspension, “flying dogs off island has been nearly impossible. However, we have worked with private pet shipping companies [in] Guam and the Boonie Flight Project to relocate a total of 10 dogs over the past three years. This is not a sustainable or feasible option for us anymore due to cost and importation regulations [in] Guam. We are therefore working to expand our options for off-island pet transportation, which will hopefully be accessible to the general public as well sometime this upcoming year.”

Boonie Babies has also grown their following across all their social media platforms, with over 421,000 followers from all over the world.

When asked about their future plans, Aria said, “Our future plans are to continue our mission to save the boonies through spay and neuter efforts, rescue and rehabilitation, and making off-island transportation easily accessible. Overall, we hope to further expand our impact and outreach across the CNMI and Guam.”

On opening a physical shelter, she said “Although we would love to open a shelter, our main focus is ending the stray dog population. We feel that a shelter would become a dumping ground for the public’s unwanted animals instead of a sustainable adoption facility.”

“The fact of the matter is that there are not enough people on the island willing to adopt for a shelter to be successful. Due to irresponsible breeding of dogs such as ‘Maltese’ and ‘Pitbulls’ as well as the idea that boonie dogs cannot be pets, it is extremely difficult to find homes on island.”

“As we work to educate the community and shift this mindset, we would be open to operating a shelter and working with the government to promote animal welfare and sustainable solutions,” added Aria.

There are many ways to help their organization by donating, fostering, volunteering, adopting, supporting, following their social media, or something they call “Borrow a Boonie,” in which an individual can borrow a dog for activities such as going for walks to the park, or going for a swim at the beach.

Essentially, they want to create pets out of boonie dogs and make them more adoptable, which can be the difference between life and death.

For those who have pets and have been helped and benefitted by these two organizations, have seen an improvement in animal welfare, and have seen the positive impact and contributions of Pliscou and the Keilbachs over the years, it’s only right to say that Saipan Tribune’s ‘Persons of the Year’ recognition is long overdie.

To donate to SCA, PayPal them at @SaipanCares670; to donate to Boonie Babies, PayPal them at @booniebabiessaipan or Venmo: BoonieBabies.

The SCA clinic is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 6pm. Sundays are for emergencies only. Contact the clinic at (670) 488-2751 for more information. For emergencies, contact Pliscou at (670) 285-5448. Check out their Facebook page for the latest updates on their medication, vaccines, and available cats and dogs up for adoption or fostering.

To learn more about Boonie Babies Saipan, look up Boonie Babies Saipan on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, or visit their website at booniebabiessaipan.com.