Adri Galler Lastra, pictured below, runs an animal shelter out of her home in Piñones, Puerto Rico. The shelter, Amigos De Los Animales, rescues and cares for dogs and other animals. Often there are over fifty animals in her home at a time. Adri devotes her days and nights to nursing gunshot wounds, caring for weak puppies, and finding homes for abandoned animals. Most moving, perhaps, is Adri’s ability to instill trust between herself and these animals who have often only received abuse at the hands of other humans.
It isn’t rare to hear Adri singing to her dogs or rushing into the ocean among them to swim—dogs flying along behind her. Although Adri is rational and organized in the planning and logistics of caring for these creatures, she is a natural at making them feel deeply loved the whole way.
