Hash House Harriers Trail

THANK YOU to the Cook Islands Hash House Harriers!

This week it was our privilege to set the trail for the weekly run which brings together people from all over the island for a quick jaunt before a bevy. Mama, our house dog, came along to help set the trail. It took an hour and a half to complete before the run started at 5:30pm. We began on the beach just across the road from the clinic and continued over Black Rock and along the beach before heading to the main road by the Oasis.

We increased our distance from the start point around the main road, until just past the Edgewater Hotel where the trail went inland on a gravel road. Next came a short detour around some smelly pigs who looked pretty cute rolling around in their mud. The trail then guided runners along the inland road where the “Turkeys” were able to take a short-cut to avoid Hospital Hill and the “Eagles” took the climb before heading home. Mama was exhausted when we returned to the clinic.


Thanks go out to the Hash House Harriers for letting us set the trail and shamelessly asking for donations at the meet. They have always supported Esther Honey and said that they are happy to continue. Meitaki ma’ata!

EHF Clinic Director Gregg Young

Atiu Vet Trek 2011 (Part III)

Day 5- Back to School

Disappointingly, after a fantastic first few days, business at the veterinary veranda has slowed to a trickle. With only three patients this morning, the constant sight of other male dogs roaming past us down the street, balls jangling away, was a source of great frustration that I suspect only other vets will understand.

After some consideration of the situation, a career as a dog-napping testicle-thief was (probably wisely) rejected. Instead Fenna and I opted to try a more mature approach of trying to address the underlying issue- a resistance within much of the community to dog neutering based on the premise that only entire dogs are good for pig hunting (wild pigs being a significant issue on Atiu).

So, packing up shop, we headed where no sane person really wants to go- back to school to talk to a group of teenagers. Standing in front of Mr Ross’s class of senior students for the last lesson on a Friday afternoon, with Fenna taking paparazzi shots in the background, I suddenly realized that perhaps I should have thought about what I was going to say.

Overcoming mild panic, I’m happy to report the kids were actually great. Not a single paper aeroplane flew my way as we discussed pet-care in general and desexing in particular, plus a little about potential careers working with animals. They even took notes! Although this was probably solely because their next project is going to be based around these subjects.

Hopefully however, a little of what we talked about sunk in, because it is by educating this next generation that community attitudes will change, and this is what is really needed to improve the population control and the welfare of the local dogs.


Day 6- Returning to Raro

With our work on Atiu completed (twenty-seven operations in total, consisting of nine female dogs, thirteen male dogs, two female cats and three male cats), today’s biggest challenge was managing to fit all our equipment back into the two crates we’d brought over with us. A process slightly complicated by our rather shady state … the end result of a Friday night spent at the local Tumunus drinking homebrew bush beer.

Our new friends on the island have made sure that it hasn’t been all work and no play during our week-long stay. We’ve gotten covered in mud walking through the forest, we’ve been swimming in an underground pool, we’ve had a lovely local dinner, and we’ve even managed to fit in some snorkeling at the coral gardens.

So as we walked towards the plane feeling slightly glum at the thought of leaving, it was only appropriate that the Atiu people gave us one last laugh. On a sign above the airport doorway (and I quote):

ATIU AIRPORT

Voluntary Security Check
Would passengers please hand their AK47s, bazookas, grenades, explosives, and nukes to the pilot on boarding the aircraft.
Airport management thanks you for your cooperation.

Love it!

Atiu Vet Trek 2011 (Part II)

Day 3- Improvising a Theme

Operating a veterinary surgery on a veranda poses certain challenges not normally encountered in western practice.

For starters, there’s no walls or cages so you always have to keep half an eye on your patients to make sure they aren’t disappearing off into the bushes. There’s no sink or tap, so our water for cleaning and scrubbing comes from a giant barrel strategically positioned under a crack in the guttering where it gets filled whenever it rains.

Operating on a picnic table, two bottles of intravenous fluids are used to form a rudimentary cradle to hold patients on their backs. A long extension cord thankfully provides us with power for our clippers (negated the need for old school shaving razors) and mixing some standard dishwashing detergent with betadine creates a passable scrub solution. To overcome a distinct lack of lighting, the trusty headtorch is on standby to illuminate the surgical field if needed.

Now, ready for action, we encounter one more problem- we have three sterile kits of instruments for triple that number of operations. So a system is improvised whereby at any one time one kit is in use, one is being cleaned and one is soaking in surgical spirits in preparation for the next patient.

In this manner we desexed another nine animals today (three female dogs, five male dogs and one male cat) before returning to our accommodation. Then, like all normal Atiu tourists, we spend a couple of hours re-wrapping the surgical kits and sterilising them in an old pressure cooker on the gas stove in the kitchen. Much to the amusement of our visiting Austrian housemate.


Day 4-A Kind Example

As a not-for-profit organisation the Esther Honey Foundation depends upon charitable donations to function. Vet-treks to the outer islands like Atiu are particularly dependant upon the goodwill and support of the local community. Participating in these treks is a humbling experience- to be the beneficiary of so much generosity- it makes you re-evaluate you own standards of behaviour.

The kindness and support has come in many forms. Obviously our flights (which were discounted) and our accommodation (donated for free) are the biggest examples, but it’s the small things that have really made the difference.

There’s the people who give us lifts wherever we need to go, and our neighbours at the veterinary veranda who boil us water whenever it’s time for a coffee break. There’s the school teacher who launders our drapes and towels each evening and returns them in the morning, and the locals who donated fruit and donuts for us to snack on. There’s the local store owner who sponsored our dinner one night, and our contact Maara who lets us use his internet when needed.

With a population that is mostly children and grandparents, where most are subsistence farmers or on a minimal wage, it is not surprising that cash donations have been limited. But then it’s smiles and the thanks we get each time an animal goes that are the truest indicator of how our work is appreciated.

With our surgical total now at twenty-four (nine dog speys, ten dog castrates, two cat speys and three cat castrates) we are hoping for one last productive day of work tomorrow to repay all the hospitality we have received to date.

Atiu Vet Trek 2011

Day 1- Flying to Paradise

‘Vet-Trek 108- Atiu’. It sounds rather survivor-esque. And it does involve two intrepid volunteers being castaway on an isolated pacific island.

Fortunately for Fenna and myself, the local inhabitants are friendly and welcoming and have generously accommodated us in a cozy guesthouse for the duration of our stay. We are here under the auspices of the Esther Honey Foundation, providing free veterinary services to the local animal population for the next five days.

Pre-trip planning and packing completed this morning (with a good half hour to spare), we headed to the airport. Checking in, the lovely staff of Air Rarotonga kindly overlooked our excess baggage, allowing us to take near 50kg of medical and surgical supplies aboard the little ten-seater plane that was our passage to the ‘Island of the Birds’.

We buckled up for our 45 min flight to paradise. Taxi-ing down the runway a little under an hour later, it became apparent that even paradise can suffer from Monday-itis. Splashing through a steady downpour to meet Maara- our local organiser- and then to tour our makeshift clinic for the week (to henceforth be known as the veterinary veranda) we perhaps weren’t seeing the island at it’s best. But with a week ahead and patients galore roaming the streets, who’s to quibble over a little rain!



Day 2- Down to Business

Our first Atiu morning was heralded in, appropriately (if not pleasantly) but the sounds of barking dogs at dawn. The grand opening of our veterinary veranda, scheduled for 8am, was also less than ceremonious as an early inundation of animals sent Fenna and I scrambling.

Working through the mild chaos, we eventually managed to set up our theatre and get to work under the Esther Honey banner. A small menagerie of animals passed through our care over the course of the day, and we gradually settled into a rhythm, gaining confidence with our field protocols as we progressed.

One thing stands our when operating as a vet in circumstances and in a community such as this- my work is now a spectator sport. Never before have my incisions and stitches been subject to such scrutiny. Throughout the day we were attended by the local mamas and papas and children, not to mention the actual pet owners. In a strange paradox, these owners, who have access to a vet perhaps once or twice a year, end up having a much greater knowledge of the actual work we do than most of their western counterparts.

The conversation of the locals was a welcome distraction through the heat of the day, although, being predominately in Maori, we often had little idea of what was actually being discussed. As the day ended and our final patient was loaded into a wheelbarrow for the walk home, our surgery count stood at eleven. Six dog speys, two cat speys, two dog castrates and one cat castrate. Not a bad start to the week.

(Pictures to come soon)