For Spanish When you drive up to Pena's Pet Paradise the first thing you see is several cages of brightly colored birds outside the door. In another cage, looking slightly dull-colored by comparison, a little brown puppy was sleeping. When we went inside, we met Miguel Nunez Ayala, whose wife Chyraelle writes our column on astrology. Like Chyraelle, Miguel is a bird and animal lover. In fact, they share their home with a number of parrots, parrakeets, and macaws.
Miguel introduced us to the veterinarian in charge, Dr. Esquivel Pena Rico. He and his partner, Dr. Hortencia Valadez Arias, who is also his wife, opened this clinic and pet store on July 15, 1998. She was away, vaccinating dogs in Mexicali, so we didn't meet her. We learned that Dr. Pena, who is from San Jose del Valle, Nayarit, is a graduate of the Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas. Dr. Valadez has her degree from the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California in Mexicali. They met in Los Angeles, California, where they were both taking a course in canine grooming.
Under the counter we saw a large aquarium. It was dark, so we could just barely make out the faces of two small iguanas sitting on a log looking out at us. Then Dr. Pena turned on the light, and we saw that the "log" was a larger iguana. Maybe it was a parent of the other two. I don't know why else it would let itself be turned into a sofa. He told us there were two small green iguanas in the back room, so we went back to see them and found, in addition, a whole menagerie of other animals and fish. One cage held a beautiful snake, a small ball python, curled up into a ball. In the cage just above it were three rats, two large and one small. Miguel told us that they were the snake's food for the next month or so. "The snake had better watch out for that little one," he said. "We sold a snake last week and that rat along with it for food. The next day the people returned the rat, and brought the snake in too to have stitches where the rat had bitten it." That was one feisty (brave) rat.
Dr. Pena has several aquariums containing tropical fish. It was just before Christmas, and one of them had a plastic Santa Claus and a Christmas scene. He told us he had worked for three years in a big aquarium in Mexicali that had 120 tanks, so he's very knowledgeable about fish. But he's also very knowledgeable about many other animals. In the cages he had geckos, hamsters, hibernating turtles, and puppies. We asked him what his favorite animal was, and he said he had two favorites: horses and dogs.
Drs. Pena and Valadez show a high level of professionalism. They offer a range of services, not only care of sick animals, but orthopedic surgery, grooming, classes on animal care, and training, both obedience for pets and defense for guard dogs. Dr. Pena, in the last 2 years has taken courses in animal pathology, general practice, artificial insemination, and care of goats. Dr. Valadez is an expert on vaccination and teaches classes. Dr. Pena has also written several articles for El Futuro.
The store seems to have everything needed for the care of most pets. We saw sacks of feed for horses, dogs, cats, and birds; aquarium supplies, horseshoes, dog leashes, brushes, and flea shampoo. Every time a customer came in and asked for something, Pena's had it.
These two veterinarians are engaged in an interesting and valuable enterprise, and Pena's is a welcome addition to the business community of Puerto Penasco.
