I'm in the desert, toes dipping in the Pacific ocean. I'm in Colan, Nth Peru. How cool to wake up sweltering in the balmy heat of amazonian city Iquitos, jump on a couple of planes, & fall asleep next to the sea, being lulled to sleep by the sounds of waves tumbling on the shore...sure beats listening to the whining of motortaxis or dogs.
But I'm not just in Colan to relax by the glorious beach. I´m here to help the animal shelter 'Asociacion Humanitaria San Francisco de Asis'. Wonderful Rosemary Gordon started this organisation 8 years ago to help the many suffering animals of north Peru. Christened the 'angel of Peru' Rosa has selflessly devoted all her time, money & energy to this pursuit.
Straight to work I visit the tiny house 15kms away in Paita where volunteers Marina Luisa & her mum collect dogs to be surgically sterilised. Paita is a dusty dirty city, & although it is Peru's 2nd largest port, its days of colonial glory are long passed - there is little reason for tourists to visit now. And like every one of Peru's poor cities there are dogs everywhere.
The surgical facilites in Paits are VERY basic but the team are just so keen to be able to help the dogs...important criteria for a successful spey progam! Dogs are collected in the morning & transported to Maria's house in plastic dog carry cages strapped to the back of motocycle taxis. I give Peruvian vet Victor Diaz a crash course in surgical sterility, & train him in good old aussie spey techniques...a small incision & use of a spey hook (or in spanish 'gancho') to minimise surgery time & complications. A few changes to the anaesthetic regime & the dogs sleep well through the surgery & wake up happy afterwards...patient comfort is certainly our aim.
Victor has a ball learning the many different ways to do surgery. I also show him the joy of doing flank speys in cats and dogs & he wants to try it all. He is especially impressed by the ´pressure cooker´ that I have purchased for 'cooking' the instruments. An old fashioned way to sterilise the instruments but the best we have available at this stage. My vet pal Caroline McCutcheon in Australia has an autoclave to donate to us....anyone coming to Peru??
Over the next few days Victor & I pack up all our veterinary gear & travel roadshow style (in collectivos, buses, & mototaxis) to 3 vets clinics in Piura to teach other vets & vet students the joys of surgery. It is a resounding success & I am overwhelmed by how enthusiastic the vets & students are. In Peru the university facilites are extremely poor & unfortunately many budding vets lack even very basic training in areas of surgery & sterility.
At the 1st vet clinic I show the university surgery professor my speying techniques. Together we spey an older bitch & find she has a large tumour the size of a grapefruit on her spleen. We remove the spleen & potentially save her life. These types of tumours often grow very large & ultimately rupture, with the animal bleeding to death. This is the 1st time the professor & students have seen a splenic tumour removed so it is a fantastic learning experience for all, and our patient is doing well too.
A great week - 5 vets & 9 final year vet students all receive surgical training. And all (their friends too!) are very keen to learn more. Plans are in progress for a return visit to nth Peru, with perhaps a visit to the university to present a lecture & practical classes. A huge thanks to 'Humane Society International' for paying my airfare so that I could travel to Piura to help train these enthusiastic young vets.
For more information about charity 'Asociacion Humanitaria San Francisco de Asis' see: http://ahsfa.org/
