This week, the Amazon CARES volunteers worked at 4 clinic sites completing 96 sterilizations. The clinics were held in the poorest neighborhoods of San Juan, farther from the city center than we’d previously traveled. The team saw just a few puppies this week as most of the patients were older dogs and street dogs (perros de la calle). However, our esteemed panel of judges crowned an extra special Puppy of the Week.

Forrest is an 10 week old shepherd mix and the penultimate Puppy of the Week. Forrest arrived at the Amazon CARES clinic after a Zoo Peru volunteer found him wandering the rainforest at just 3 weeks (hence his name).

When I arrived at Amazon CARES, Forrest had been living at the clinic recovering from malnutrition and parasites. Playful and friendly, Forrest quickly became a favorite of the volunteers who loved parading him around town on his daily walks.

This Friday, Forrest was adopted by a woman who met him while he was out with volunteers. Today, the papers were signed and Eliza brought Forrest to his new forever home just a few blocks from the clinic with a promise that volunteer could visit anytime. Congratulations to our Puppy of the Week and his new owner!

Photos of the competition can be seen on my flickr site [tag: puppy_patients]

As a reminder, the panel has a strict criteria and puppies are judged on cuteness, snugglability, and new puppy smell.  A new Puppy of the Week will be chosen each Saturday. After four weeks, the winning puppies will compete in a head to head final battle of cuteness to determine who will be crowded Puppy of the Trip.