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23rd April 2017
10:50am BST
Diego's parents, Christi and Moncho, founded the animal rescue organisation Compassion Without Borders, and have been bringing him along with them on rescues since he was a 6-month-old baby.
The young boy's mum, vet Christi Camblor, told The Dodo about her son's lifelong commitment to animal welfare,
"We loaded him up in the van and headed south with him. We made it work. I don't think he's known anything different. Before he could walk, he's been surrounded by dogs, and doing dog rescues, and helping animals in every sort of way imaginable."Although Diego has cared for many dogs that his mum and dad rescued, it was a one-eyed Chihuahua called Quazi, who captured his heart,
"Someone had taken a hole punch and cut all of these decorative notches into Quazi's ears. I remember having that first conversation with Diego, when he realised that someone had done that to Quasi's ears, and he made the connection that Quasi had been mistreated, and that that wasn't ok, and that's why we had rescued him. It just all kind of clicked for him. Whenever I'd go in to pull dogs, I'd have Diego on my hip, or lift him up because I wasn't sure if he'd be able to handle himself. He was able to figure out which dogs he was OK with, and which dogs were his buddies, and he just started independently managing them on his own. He's got an incredible sense of which dogs are friendly and super adoptable, and figuring out which ones will snap. He's just very natural, and has an incredible understanding of body language, and how to approach a dog. It's really fantastic. Other kids are normally going to Legoland or Disneyland, but we're loading up in the van, and driving to Mexico to rescue dogs. He just lives a different lifestyle than most kids live. We always have difficult-to-foster, medical cases at our house who are requiring around-the-clock care. He's a fantastic helper. He always helps with bandages, he helps me when I'm giving shots, he helps me when I'm cleaning, he helps me hold the animals. He also plays with them and cuddles with them, and helps them learn that people can be trusted. I think that empathy is one of the most important qualities that you can try and instill in a child, and to see Diego genuinely have empathy and concern and care for the animals that we rescue, and really understand what a crummy lot they've been given in life, and to want to help them, it makes me proud. It's hard to describe how proud it makes me."[caption id="attachment_264193" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
Image Credit: Compassion Without Borders[/caption]
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Image Credit: Compassion Without Borders[/caption]
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Image Credit: Compassion Without Borders[/caption]
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Image Credit: Compassion Without Borders[/caption]
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Image Credit: Compassion Without Borders[/caption]
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Image Credit: Compassion Without Borders[/caption]
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Image Credit: Compassion Without Borders[/caption]
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Image Credit: Compassion Without Borders[/caption]
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Image Credit: Compassion Without Borders[/caption]
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