The cityscape in the evening time is stunning. This place is Tijuana, Mexico. The scenic beauty, however, belies the realities of thousands of animals who reside on its streets. According to CNN, “An estimated 7,000 animals spend their day dodging traffic, looking for scraps and living – and dying – in the streets of Tijuana, Mexico.” This place – this place with a view seemingly innocent at night – is the epicenter of Crossing Guardians’ animal rescue work.

Mission Statement
Crossing Guardians is a nonprofit animal rescue and charitable organization. The purpose of our organization is to save and improve the lives of abused, neglected, and homeless animals suffering and struggling to survive along the California-Mexico border.
By striving to remain consistent with our mission, Crossing Guardians provides assistance with rescuing, providing vet care, transporting, fostering, and placing homeless animals who roam aimlessly along the United States-Mexico border areas (“border strays”), with an emphasis on the greater Tijuana area.
The plight of border strays – abuse, neglect, homelessness, starvation, injury, illness and disease, loneliness and despair – does not exist in a vacuum. It is brought about by the underlying impoverished conditions and culture of the community. It is a viciously cruel cycle.
Reducing pet over-population is a major step in improving the health and welfare of animals in this region. As such Crossing Guardians encourages adopting rescued animals and supporting spay-neuter programs.
We believe that our efforts to help border strays will exemplify kindness and compassion, which also does not exist in a vacuum. We can show there is hope for the weakest and help for the most at risk. Bearing witness to mercy can change hearts and open eyes to the possibility of making a difference for the betterment of animal-kind.
What We Do
Crossing Guardians is an all-volunteer organization. We wear many hats in the world of animal rescue and have found that the initial and primary obstacle in saving the lives of Border Strays is to provide them with vet care (often emergency vet care), medicine, food, supplies, and boarding. As such, this organization was formed primarily to bridge the gap between getting Border Strays off the streets, taking care of emergency and/or initial vet care, and getting them into a safe environment until a rescue or a permanent home can be found. Once a family or rescue agrees to take the animal, then logistics are formed and transportation arrangements are made.
Crossing Guardians also provides food and supplies to independent rescuers south of the border, or will wire funds so they can procure those items themselves. Crossing Guardians helps with boarding costs, including rental payment of homes used as a temporary haven for homeless animals until placed with a rescue or permanent home.
Mexico is Southern California’s neighboring country, but animal rescue is made more difficult because it is still another country. So, with each animal rescue venture, a cooperative alliance is formed with other individuals, both north and south of the border. It is always a team effort with many players involved.
Through our collective endeavor to make a positive contribution for the stray animal population along the California-Mexico border, we hope to make a fundamental change in the current assumption that animals don’t matter.
Happy Tails
Below are some of the furry critters that Crossing Guardians has saved. A handful were saved by other others, but Crossing Guardians fully sponsored their vet care. We work with wonderful independent rescuers south of the border, foster parents, transporters, and reputable rescues north of the border. (You can click on the each photo for a better view.)
To all who play a part in our efforts to save border strays, we at Crossing Guardians THANK YOU!
Donate/Foster
Donate
You can also support Crossing Guardians by selecting our organization on AmazonSmile. If you shop through AmazonSmile, its foundation will donate .5-percent of the purchase price of eligible products to our organization! It has the same products, prices and features as if you were ordering through Amazon.com. Click on the AmazonSmile icon, below, and select Crossing Guardians – Chula Vista.
Supplies
Independent rescuers south of the border are always in need of supplies for the rescue animals they save, as well as for the animals they foster. If you can donate any of the following supplies, please contact us at CrossingGuardians@gmail.com
- Dog and cat food
- Blankets
- Dog crates
- Dog and cat beds
- Cat condos
- Cat litter (preferably, clay)
- Cat carriers
Foster
Foster parents—both short- and long-term—serve an essential role in animal rescue. Rescue organizations are in perpetual need of foster parents, for they are the difference between life and death.
Being a foster is not easy. This, we know, because all of us at Crossing Guardians foster animals. It’s not the task and responsibility of caring for the pets being fostered the’s burdensome. It’s the emotional toll on the foster parents when it is time that they must bid an emotional farewell and God speed once a forever family has been found and the pet they loved back to health must leave.
An appropriate quote for animal foster parents is this: “The best response when asked why I foster: ‘I let my heart break a little so theirs will never break again.'” —Unknown
If you can foster any of our rescue animals, please email us at CrossingGuardians@gmail.com.
Adopt
The animals Crossing Guardians rescues are fully vetted and sterilized. At that point, they are ready to be placed in their forever homes.
Because we are always very busy arranging for the rescue of very sick and injured stray animals and working with various people and vet care professionals to help the “patients” recover, we typically choose to partner with other reputable rescue organizations in the U.S. They, in turn, take care of placing our rescued animals.
However, we have and do directly adopt out our rescued animals to families from time to time. If you are interested in adopting one of our wonderful pets, and you live in southern California area (or in an area where home checks and follow-up checks can be performed), feel free to download and complete the Adoption Application by clicking on the button on the right. Mail the completed application to CrossingGuardians@Cox.net.
We place our rescued animals responsibly by exercising due diligence. Therefore, please be prepared for a background check, home check, and previous vet records check. Adopters must also be prepared for follow-up checks. Thank you for your understanding.
A few of the dogs shown in “Happy Tails” are ready to be placed. They have been fully vetted, sterilized and vaccinated. They remain in foster care. A couple of them are “rescue only,” though. We have others still recovering from illnesses. They are not listed.
Contact Us
Get in touch!
- Rescue@CrossingGuardians.org
- CrossingGuardians@cox.net
- Crossing Guardians, P.O. Box 210505, Chula Vista, CA 91921
- Website
