We visited the small island of Isla Holbox in Mexico last year, only to learn afterwards that there is an animal shelter, Refugio Animal Holbox, where you can volunteer and take dogs out for walks. Needless to say, when we returned to the island, it was on our Isla Holbox bucket list!
Isla Holbox is a small island without paved roads or cars, so the main methods of transportation are golf carts, bikes, and on foot. It is a unique place that we have fallen in love with. There are so many great things about this little island!
The Refugio Animal Holbox shelter was founded in 2009, and is the only shelter on the island.
It is located in the downtown area of Holbox, and is easy to get to. We walked there from our hotel.
The Refuge is easy to spot, with bright signs outside.
We brought some donations with us to Refugio Animal Holbox. There is a wish list posted on their website, and we wanted to bring some items that would be helpful to the rescue. We ended up picking out a variety of items including some cute collars and leashes for both dogs and cats. You can also donate money through their website.
Posted inside the rescue are some rules about walking the dogs, which an employee also went over with us before we went on our walk. The rules are essentially to be careful and aware with the dogs.
The dogs were very excited to have visitors!
An employee chose some dogs for us to take on a walk, and got them ready for us.
The dogs were eager to get outside. We were there in early July, and it was quite hot! We were given poop bags to take on the walk with us.
One of our dogs seemed spooked by a strange unleashed dog on our walk, and wanted to turn around, so we were happy to let him lead us where he wanted to go. I didn’t want to pressure the dogs to go anywhere they didn’t want to, and we enjoyed hanging out at the shelter just as much.
The dogs seemed to enjoy their pack at the refuge when they returned, which was nice to see. We had a good time just relaxing and giving the dogs belly rubs before heading back to our hotel.
We had fun meeting and socializing with some more dogs back at the refuge, before heading out.
Visit the Refuge online at https://www.refugioanimalholbox.com/
Check out their donations page, which also has a wishlist.
Such wonderful photos. I am so glad you visited this animal shelter/rescue. I always hope all towns and countries are doing everything they can to help dogs and cats.
What a beautiful visit to an animal rescue. It is so inspiring and makes me want to visit, too! I loved looking at all of your photos.
OMG! I’d never want to leave there! So great to see the dogs being taken car of.
It’s so awesome that your family did this. The dogs look so happy to go for a walk.
This was so sweet of y’all to do that! I am sure everyone especially the dogs enjoyed y’all helping out!
This looks like a neat island to explore. Hanging out with all the dogs would be a fun experience. We’re more cat people but my daughter tends to love all animals and would be all about hanging out with dogs.
I would love to go and visit and pet those rescue animals! We rescued a dog. It’s such a wonderful thing to do.
These are all really wonderful shots! I would love to visit this place!
What a really wonderful and amazing place to visit! I’m sure my kids would definitely love to see those rescued dogs.
This was such an amazing place and I can see that the dogs had a blast. Those dogs are adorable. I would love to visit an animal shelter someday too and have fun with the dogs.
That is such a cool idea. I’m glad the dogs were able to get out of the shelter for a bit to go for a walk. I’m sure they loved it just as much as your family loved them.
Such adorable dogs and I bet they all enjoyed the walk you all took them on. Thanks for sharing!
Amazing! I LOVE that you and your family took the time to do this on your trip. I’d love to take a trip just to visit and help out!
You are amazing! Thank you for visiting the shelter and for spending time with these beautiful creatures.
It is nice to know that they have animal shelter in the island. God bless the people behind this. ❤
What a great thing to do. It was so nice to donate those helpful items for those sweet animals.
This is such a great idea! I hadn’t heard of this island before, but now I want to go. It sounds like a great place for a family vacation.
It must have been interesting to go to the rescue. There are so many dogs there. I hope some get adopted soon. I’d have loved walking the dogs.
It is great they allow volunteers to come and help walk/socialize the dogs, that is so important for helping them get adopted.
How incredible. It’s nice they are open to the general public too…a great place to volunteer at.
omg all these dogs, the cutest ever!!! I would love to go to a dog rescue center, super cute….
Glad you had a nice time. I’d have turned away from the unleashed dog too because our pets seem to have that accurate 6th-sense.
Oh wow, going to rescues are such a good way to spend your time. These dogs are all so very cute!
So lovely photos you got there. Hope many countries will do this as well creating a shelter for the animals and people to support it.
This is such a nice idea to do something nice for the rescue and the dogs. But you also get to spend some time with some lovely days as well x
What a lovely experience this is and wonderful that your family could do this while on vacation in Mexico! I bet the kids really enjoyed spending time with the dogs
I would love to check this place out! I’m only two hours from Mexico, but never been
What a great idea to have an animal shelter like Refugio Animal Holbox where you can volunteer to take dogs out for a walk. A good break for both you and the dogs. A great idea for them to provide a list of things they might need so you can bring somethings with you to donate.
So nice of you to go back to Isla Holbox and support the dog shelter! Those dogs looked super happy, and it must have been quite an experience walking them all at once with such heat, but it sounds and looks like you did a great job, well done!