Young Local Helpers

For the past month we have had a couple of locals who have been helping out here at the clinic on a regular basis. They have been so helpful to us in our day to day operations that we would like to thank them by putting their faces here. In order for you to get an idea of how much they help I'd like to describe what they do. A lot of our patients at the moment are suffering from fish poisoning which knocks out their neurological system. They cannot lift themselves up to get food or water or even to defecate. This means that we have to spend extra time with each one to make sure that they are hydrated, well fed, and clean. These helpers not only do all these chores in the mornings and afternoons, but they also help feed the other patients and clean out the other in-patients cages. They also entertain the animals while we clean out the cages. It is hard to find time to provide this kind of interaction with the animals when there are so many patients in the clinic and so few hands. Many of the fish poisonings have made vast improvements and have been able to go home sooner because, I believe, they have had the extra attention from these individuals. Thank you Arie, Chloe, and Indie for all your help.



This is not exactly the most desirable job at the clinic but it needs to be done twice a day, 365 days a year. With few hands it can take upwards of three hours to get everyone fed and cleaned before we can even start operating. Of course with less inpatients it would take less time also, but we don't really have any control over the number of animals who need our services and this, so I have been told, is our busy season. We really appreciate any help we can get whether from people volunteering their time or from donations of canned food. We are going through our canned food supply quickly at the moment due to the high number of  kittens (28 at this point in time). Monetary donations are also very welcome. With this number of patients, we often run out of the supplies needed to care for the fish poison victims as well as those suffering from other ailments.

Please also remember that all the people who come to work for EHF, whether they are Vets, Vet students, or Vet nurses, are volunteers and come here at their own expense. They work with the animals every day and without their help this clinic would not exist and there would be no services for animals on Rarotonga.

Enjoy the pictures! The first picture is of Arie (local volunteer) and Michael (Vet student from NZ) with a now healthy fish poisoned dog named Lolly. The second picture is of Louise (Vet from England), Indie and Chloe (local volunteers), Jessica (Vet from England), and Michael again standing in front of our main inpatient area.