Tijuana’s municipal government opened a free spay and neuter program on June 16 that will run through August 29, offering the procedures at no cost to residents who register through the city’s official channels. The campaign targets both dogs and cats across the municipality’s nine delegaciones, with weekly sessions held at rotating locations.
Tijuana Estimates 1.2 Million Stray Animals Roam the City
The program arrives as Tijuana continues to grapple with one of the largest stray animal populations of any Mexican border city. Municipal estimates place the number of dogs and cats living on the street at roughly 1.2 million, a figure that has grown steadily over the past decade. Uncontrolled breeding drives the problem. The city’s Anti-Rabies Center (CARC), located on Boulevard Insurgentes, handles thousands of animals each year but lacks capacity for mass sterilization on its own.
Tijuana has run similar seasonal campaigns before, but participation has historically been limited by logistics. Past programs required in-person registration at government offices, which created long lines and limited access for residents in outlying colonias. This year, the city shifted to a digital registration model through a dedicated microsite. Residents can select a preferred date and location when signing up, which the city says should reduce wait times and spread demand more evenly.
The weekly sessions rotate among Tijuana’s nine administrative delegaciones: Centro, Cerro Colorado, La Mesa, La Presa, Mesa de Otay, Playas de Tijuana, San Antonio de los Buenos, Sánchez Taboada, and La Jolla (not to be confused with the California city). Each delegación hosts the program on a specific day, so pet owners need to check the schedule for their zone. The city publishes weekly locations on its social media accounts and at the registration site.
To qualify, owners must bring their pet on a leash or in a carrier, present a valid ID, and ensure the animal has fasted for at least eight hours before surgery. The program accepts dogs and cats of both sexes. Puppies and kittens must be at least four months old. Pregnant animals and those with visible health complications will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the attending veterinarians.
Playas de Tijuana and La Jolla Sessions Serve Areas With Foreign Residents
Several of the delegaciones in the rotation include colonias with significant numbers of American and Canadian residents. Playas de Tijuana, which stretches along the coast from the border fence south toward Rosarito, has seen steady growth in its English-speaking population over the past five years. La Jolla, on the city’s eastern edge, includes gated communities popular with cross-border commuters. Both zones are on the weekly rotation, though exact addresses for each session are posted a few days in advance.
The free campaign also fills a gap left by private veterinary costs. A standard spay surgery for a medium-sized dog at a private clinic in Tijuana runs between 1,500 and 3,000 pesos (roughly $85 to $170 USD). For cats, the cost ranges from 800 to 1,500 pesos ($45 to $85 USD). Those prices put the procedure out of reach for many households, particularly in lower-income colonias where stray populations are densest.
Animal welfare advocates in Tijuana have long argued that sterilization is the only sustainable strategy for reducing the stray population. Rescue organizations like Ángeles de Cuatro Patas and the Humane Society’s Baja chapter run their own periodic spay clinics, but these events are typically small, serving 30 to 50 animals per session. A city-backed campaign that operates weekly for more than two months has the potential to reach several thousand animals if registration slots stay full.
The program also carries a public health dimension. Stray dogs in Tijuana have been linked to occasional rabies scares, tick-borne disease transmission, and attacks on pedestrians. CARC reported 4,200 dog bite complaints in Tijuana in 2023. Reducing the breeding population is one of the strategies outlined in the city’s 2024 animal welfare plan, which the municipal council approved last October.
Registration is open now through the Tijuana municipal government’s website. Pet owners should search for the “Campaña de Esterilización” page or follow the city’s social media channels for direct links. The final scheduled session is August 29. This story was first reported by La Jornada BC.