Welcome to Friends of Baja Animals, a US non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming animals in Baja California, Mexico. Our mission is to promote animal welfare and reduce animal suffering by providing care and support to homeless, abandoned and abused dogs and cats. Since our founding in 2015, our organization has been committed to making a positive impact on the lives of animals in need. We work tirelessly to provide medical care, food, shelter, and love to animals who have been left behind or forgotten. At Friends of Baja Animals, we believe that every animal deserves a second chance at life. We work closely with a network of foster families, shelters, and other animal welfare organizations to help provide the care and resources needed to help animals in need. Our primary focus is on spaying and neutering to help control the overpopulation of homeless animals.

Vice Presidents

I was raised in the foothills of Northern California in a 100-year-old house sitting on a 200-acre pear orchard. We were a big family, 5 brothers a sister and lots of animals. We had dogs, cats, cows, a goat, a pet squirrel, a few snakes, a pet blue jay, and a pet rooster named Big Red. We were always nursing a bird with a broken wing or baby birds that had fallen out of the nest. I can still remember picking up earwigs with tweezers to feed the birds, or egg yolks put down the bird’s throat with a dropper. I loved every animal that crossed my path except for maybe the snakes. But my true love has always been dogs and cats.

It was the 50’s. Back in those days, people would dump their unwanted puppies, dogs, cats, and kittens along the country roads. As a young girl, I didn’t understand how people could just abandon their animals on the side of the road. Every time my mother would go into town I’d go along just so I could look for what we called strays and more than a few times I’d find a cardboard box with kittens or puppies. Looking back that was really the start for me for what would later in my life be called ‘rescuing’. The thought of any animal going hungry or cold was just not right, not acceptable. That still rings loud and clear today.

For the last 20 years, my husband and I have been committed to dogs and their wellbeing. We purchased a vacation home in Mexico in 1993 and every time we’d come to our home we’d load up our van with bags of dog food and stop along the way to every yard that had dogs until we gave out the last bag. One day we saw a small little dog on the road eating a seagull that had been hit by a car. We parked our car and followed this bony little starving dog into a yard hidden back off the road only to find 50 more dogs very similar in size and breed. We were shocked. We started with that as our mission and continued to bring food every other week. One by one we were able to get all the females spayed then we started with the males until most all were neutered. Eventually, 30 or more were adopted to families in San Diego and at least 10 went to Canada where there was actually a shortage for small breed dogs. From there it just never stopped, a dog here and puppy there. We currently own 8 rescue dogs. When we are at home in Mexico we always seem to have a few foster dogs or puppies.

My husband and I welcome the opportunity to be able to help with dogs in need. It’s a passion and love for animals that drives us. I’m so proud to be a part of Friends of Baja Animal Rescue knowing we can and are making a difference. We are just beginning this journey and with continued commitments, we certainly can spread our wings by helping even more animals counting on us. Please join us in our mission to never say no to any animal in need. Dogs give us unconditional love, it’s the least we can do for them. I would love to hear from you, maybe you have a rescue story or an idea or suggestions on how to reach out to more people with similar feelings and goals, or maybe you or someone you know wants to help but just not sure where to start. Please feel free to call anytime.
Thank you for taking the time to read my bio.

With Gratitude
Linda Nichols

Secretary

Born in 1952 in Bridgewater MA, USA to a home with Mom & Dad, two brothers and Duke the Cocker Spaniel.

Begged for a dog for most of 1958 and Santa brought wiggly happy Cocker Spaniel Duchess. She’d return from neighborhood jaunts most reliably to my plaintiff call. She had many litters. Once she had 8 pups and our cat Tiger had 7 kittens on the same day. I was dubbed the family Super-Duper Pooper Scooper. We learned about puppy care, sickness and pets passing. I was very sad about Tiger dying until I looked out my bedroom window and saw a huge cumulous cloud that looked just like her floating peacefully by.

Cochise the Russian Blue elegantly ruled the family’s roost through high school.

While at Harvard I hung out with Psssst the alley cat. On a trip to my parent’s home in the country he decided that he liked hunting flying insects and scurrying barn mice better than gnarly city rats, so she opted for an early retirement. He never hissed, and was tidy when he pissed, but came running to the sound of “Psssst”. I’m told that he disappeared during a blizzard and days later a very nice, hospitable family several blocks away put a notice in the paper that he was found. My Dad was happy that Psssst found a new home and a nice new name.

Treasurer/Director

I was born in New York and brought up in England. My first pets Chelsea and Kensington were two adorable cats. As my first pets, each of them brought me the experience of joy that only an animal can give you. I was hooked! One day both just disappeared. I was in shock. I remember calling for them each day for hours only to never know what happened to them. I was totally devastated to say the least. A few years later I went on the search for a Great Dane. When I saw this magnificent Blue Dane with a long Latin name, I knew the search was over. She was a huge puppy with big paws, beautiful eyes and a shiny coat. The breeder had other Danes, but none of the others touched me as much as this baby.

Bambi lived for 11 years, which is a long life for a Dane. She and I would walk the streets of London, no leash, few commands, just the two of us. She would carefully stop at all the street corners and wait for me to move across the road. Bambi was like a tiny horse and people would stop us to chat and pet her. She was the first dog that my baby son got to experience. The baby would lie next to her with his head propped up against her belly drinking his bottle. Bambi was a beautiful family pet that we all loved and still miss today.

During my professional life as a Real Estate Brokerage owner and entrepreneur, my dogs have been a huge part of my life. Next came Blondie, Hoppee, Ali, Bella and now Beauty and Pretty Boy. They have all been by my side as I work and live my life. I don’t know what my life would have been without the love and companionship of these beautiful animals. I believe God gave us domestic animals to show us what unconditional love is like.

Today as I live in Mexico and participate in our Friends of Baja Animals non-profit, my goals are to save as many animals as we possibly can. To get them off the streets, spay and neuter them, heal those that we can, and find loving forever homes for them.

I sincerely look forward to being a part of this organization for many years and hope those reading my bio will join me. You can reach me directly at info@friendsofbajaanimals.org or call me at 619-547-6621.