Boonie Babies: The Start of a Movement

By Grace Keilbach, Co-Founder

How it began

It started with a bag of dog food. We were teenagers, we had just moved with our mom and stepdad from Colorado to an island in the Pacific we hadn’t even known existed a year earlier. We expected that our lives would look different on Saipan. There were the obvious changes: ninety degree heat, signs written in new languages, a 15-hour time difference. There were also unexpected changes.

There were dogs everywhere. And they weren’t the plump, pampered pets we were used to seeing all our lives; they were treated like pests. This is not to blame the people living here—the dogs on Saipan are pests. First, there are too many of them. There is one stray dog for approximately every one and a half people living on the island.¹ Second—and shockingly—there is not a single vet clinic, which makes spaying and neutering to control the stray population incredibly difficult.

After seeing this, Aria—who, at seven years old, was given The Dog Encyclopedia and memorized every breed in the book—started carrying a bag of dog food with her and feeding the strays she saw on her way home from school. Over time this became a routine for us, driving around to feed various packs and posting about it on TikTok.

Starting a rescue in our backyard was never part of the plan, but our small operation feeding strays slowly spiraled into having sixty dogs at our house and being TikTok famous. We knew we could use this platform to make a change for the dogs and people who call these islands home, and thus Boonie Babies was born. Through collaboration with other local organizations like Saipan Cares and Saipan Humane Society, we have been able to give new lives to hundreds of dogs.

Where we are now

Boonie Babies became an official non-profit in 2020. Our goal is to provide both resources and education to change the narrative surrounding rescue animals. We are still a small, home-based operation powered by volunteers. What we need next is to expand our reach—to establish Boonie Babies as a recognized brand and make even greater change.

There are many steps you can take right now to help keep this operation running, including:

• Follow us on Instagram. Believe it or not, liking and sharing our posts on social media makes a huge difference. 

• Share this newsletter with your friends and family. 

• Sponsor us through a brand partnership. Do you have a company that aligns with our mission? Do you work in a local rescue or animal clinic? Boonie Babies wants to promote brands we care about on our platform! Email our brand manager to enquire about a partnership.