Good News!

Christmas is on its way, and we had some Christmas cheer yesterday...one of our proposals was successful and we received funds to carry out a sterilization program in one of the towns nearby! Obviously, with the global economic crisis, non-profit organizations have been hit pretty hard as funding agencies have been unable to fund at their normal level...so, for us this is REALLY great news.
Summer is around the corner here, and hot weather is upon us. With it comes dogs in heat and packs of males fighting and barking all night long. Another thing is the increase in skin problems as fleas, ticks and mange flourish in this weather. Poor dogs spend most of their time scratching themselves raw! The other thing that changes with the season is tourism- loads and loads of cars full of people coming to the beach towns. I have definitely seen more dead animals on the highway and more abandoned animals in town these last few weeks....
Our race sure has an impact! That's why we'll be spending a lot of our time and energy on supporting the implementation of education programs to teach people about how to properly care for their pets.
Once Christmas and New Year is behind us, we'll begin our planning for early 2010. We'll let you know when we'll be starting projects, and will post lots of pics for you!
Elena

Catching Up

It´s been a long time without any updates! Unfortunately due to a family emergency, we have been in Canada for the last 2 months. Now we´re in Chile again, and back at it.
We´re working on a really interesting project design with a conservation organization in the south of Chile, on the huemul (Andean deer) and the negative interactions with domestic dogs. Hopefully we´re successful with funding for this project as it is much needed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocamelus Check out this link for some info on the critically endangered huemul in Patagonia.
Yesterday we gave a presentation to the students at the vet school in Valdivia on what VWB is doing here in Chile, and just who we are in general. Tomorrow we´re off to Santiago, on a horribly uncomfortable bus ride for 12 hours, to go to the first Conservation Medicine Symposium where there will be talks on all kinds of animal to animal interactions, diseases human can get from animals, and in general how we manage the health of the environment in light of the endlessly growing human population. This will be the first time that VWB has made a public appearance at an international level conference here in Latin America, and we´re looking forward to representing VWB- Chile, meeting new colleagues and reconnecting with familiar faces from conferences in other countries.
Well that´s about it for the moment, not a lot of news, but certainly wanted to put an update here so that any followers know we are still alive and well!

Chau for now!

Life (and death) in the fast lane.....

Is anybody looking for you?

Did you have a home, and an owner that loved you?

Were you loved, and taken care of?

Will you be missed?

OR...

Will you just lie there until the birds clean up the mess?

Will nobody notice that you´re missing?

Was your life so insignificant???

Cart horses

It has been some time since we have updated our blog...busy times! This past week, the representatives from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) came to Valdivia to visit some of the animal related projects that are currently underway. It was a fantastic visit, and we also learned a lot about what other projects are going on locally. Here are some pics of an awesome project with working horses run by the Animal Welfare group at the University Austral de Chile, called Amigos Veterinarios de los Caballos Carretoneros. This project has been in operation for some 15 years already, and the objective is to raise the level of health of the working horses in the city, give an opportunity for students to have hands on experience working with horses, and to teach the horse owners about essential health care and responsible horse ownership. Each horse has a "Health Passport" that travels with it for life. It is a really amazing project- we were all impressed with the success of the program and the community participation.
This is a group photo from left to right: Tamara Tadich Gallo-organizer of the cart-horse program, Maria Nelly Cajiao- WSPA South America, Luis Carlos Sarmiento Martinez-WSPA South America, myself and Guillermo.




These are some of the participants:





You can see that this young mare is underweight- part of the program addresses nutrition concerns for these hard-working horses...

This young fellow was here for a full lameness exam:




We were really impressed- the whole event was quite the community event. You can see in the pics below how many owners, vet student and local children turned out to watch!

Animals and fences....or lack thereof.

I know we've discussed problems concerning dogs being in the street, but this week, I want to focus on it a little closer.

Over the last two weeks, we've been thinking a lot about the lack of good fencing keeping dogs and livestock within their respective properties, and what kind of problems we are seeing as a result. Although people visiting Chile from other countries automatically assume that the street dogs they see are all dogs who have been abandoned or born in the street without owners, the reality is actually that the majority of the dogs that we see in the streets have owners that do not contain them in their yards , and generally maintain a low level of responsibility for their pets. These dogs roam the streets looking for food, breeding with dogs in heat, chasing (and often killing) livestock and/or wildlife and spreading diseases among themselves and to other species. Additionally, they pose a great risk to themselves and others when they run across highways, and cross busy city streets.

Here are a few pictures of the type of fencing that allows for free passage of owned dogs in and out of their yards (click on the pictures for a much better quality photo):

Here are a few pics of uncontained dogs and livestock- you can imagine the problems they could cause in busy traffic! We have barely escaped hitting numerous dogs ourselves since moving here, and are coming to realize the daily risk of hitting something larger like a horse or cow.

This mom and all her pups were all standing in the highway when we stopped to take pictures. One puppy barely escaped being hit! We ushered the pups back to the side of the road where they stood for a family photo!

Think of the potential environmental contamination (parasites and diseases) from this very common event....

This little guy walked right in front of our truck way out on a back road one day, and gave us this look...we had no idea where he was coming from or where he was going.

After seeing some of these pictures, it seems obvious that if people were to fence their yards properly, it would solve a lot of problems. However, if the solution was so simple, we would probably not be here working together with Chileans! Consider this: the culture of animal care and what constitutes responsible pet ownership in Chile is very different from that seen and expected in Canada for example. Certainly dogs that are contained safely in their yards pose no risk to the general public, other dogs or livestock. But what about the quality of their lives? What about their ability to access supplementary food and water if they are not receiving enough? Is it fair to expect that owners struggling to earn a living, or those whose pets are just not a priority in their lives, should be expected to spend time playing with their dog, training them, socializing them and taking them for daily walks?

This dog for example, is well-contained, safe from traffic, and poses absolutely no threat to others. What do you think about the quality of this guys life?

So perhaps some people should not have a dog...??

With respect to dog welfare- this may be true. Yet if you do a search on Chile and crime... just have a look at what is happening here. People use dogs for personal and home protection. In the three and a half months since arriving here, we have already been robbed once and been seriously chastised many, many times for being "careless" - for example driving in the city with our backpacks on the back seat where they could be easily stolen if someone broke our window at a stop light, leaving anything in the truck including an empty bag or box, leaving our house door or gate unlocked at any time of day or night, leaving a laptop in a locked office, etc, etc, etc - all things that seem strange to us as newcomers. This past weekend, we found out that we are recent victims of identity theft... so before jumping to any conclusions we have to think of all the repercussions of our assumptions and actions.

What would happen if the majority of people had no dogs???

Lots for us all to think about...comments are most welcome!

Winter in July

It´s been a wet couple of weeks here in Valdivia, normal winter weather for here apparently. Being so close to the ocean, the storms are intense with buckets of water spraying in every direction, and windy weather causing lots of damage to peoples homes, fences, and out buildings.




Below you can see the trees bent over nearly in half from the wind off the ocean:

Animals suffer during this weather- it is hard to find shelter, and a dry place to sleep. This dog found cover in a weekend food market, curled up out of the rain, but he was still wet and shivering when I took this picture.

These little guys were just standing in the rain, totally soaked, they both approached our truck, maybe hoping for us to throw them a bit of food.

The electricity is frequently out in the city and all the towns around Valdivia, flooding is extensive, and life is generally harder for some families- especially those with fewer resources.

Think about the challenge of convincing people that animal welfare and conservation are issues, when their homes are flooded, money and food is scarce, it´s cold, and jobs are hard to come by….. this is the reality in every developing country. Clearly there are other priority problems other as well….

Yesterday we stopped by the Wildlife Centre to see what happened with the little pudu, but unfortunately he didn´t make it. He was humanely euthanized as his foot was not healing properly, and he would never be able to be released.

While in the rehabilitation centre, we met a Chilla fox that was brought to the centre after falling in an open pit full of ash, where the university burns the garbage. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonian_fox for better pictures, and more information on this Chilean fox.

We also saw a Magellanic penguin in the centre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellanic_Penguin who had been caught in a fisherman´s net and brought to the centre to rehabilitate. He is doing very well and will be released in the next few days. Amazingly friendly little guy - apparently very difficult to keep them wild as they are so drawn to people, but he is in the last stages of being checked to see if he is strong enough to manage back in the ocean, and they will let him go quickly to avoid permanent habituation to people.

Hasta luego!

Good days, Bad days...

Some days are just great here! There are so many exciting things going on, and we are truly honoured to be included in some of them.

Some days are not as good.
On Monday, we saw a dog that had just been hit by a car. It was a gorgeous, big, black cross-breed with an unusual blonde colouring on it's face and ears, paws and tail.
About a km down the road we saw another dog that looked almost identical, trotting down the road...looking lost.
On our way home that night, we looked where the dog had been hit, and there was the other one, lying right beside it!
Every day this week, we have gone by this scene, and the dog is still there. Today is Friday, and the dog is still there, waiting loyally beside his dead friend.
It is such a sad sight, and brings us such feelings of despair, wondering how long this poor fella is going to wait for his buddy to get up.
It is strange to be inspired by such a sad event, but it is a reminder for us to dig in our heels and work hard at what we are trying to accomplish here.
Until next week,
Elena

Daily life in Valdivia

Well I haven't posted for a while, although lots has been happening. H1N1 is running it's course in this area now. It's heavy flu season here because it's winter, so combined with the introduction of H1N1, people are lying low, and many are sick. Chile is fourth in the world for number of confirmed cases right now.
I had confirmed contact with a little girl with H1N1, and I've also been sick for the last week....but all is well.

So I wanted to let you know about a few of the interesting things we have heard people tell us since we've been here- specifically on the topic of animals. Hopefully these quotes will give you some sense of why it is so important to develop long-term sustainable programs that are community-driven, because if you don't address the problem at the source, as soon as the organization running the program pulls out, everything goes back to what it was before because that is the way the people think.

Note that many of the following quotes were made by professionals and highly educated people:

"Animals have no feelings"

"I would rather see my dog dead than have him neutered"

"If you spay or neuter your dog or cat, they'll get fat"

"Castrated dogs are not aggressive anymore, so they won't protect us or our house"

"Surgical sterilization is cruel"

"I didn't know it was even possible to sterilize male dogs!"

"All female dogs should have at least one litter before spaying, for their health"

"It's not our responsibility to pay for surgery to sterilize my pets, the municipality should pay"

"My male dog needs a girlfriend, so that he can fulfill his destiny to breed" (We see posters just like this one all over town)

These are just a few examples of what we hear every day, and you can see that things are different. It will take a great deal of time to change peoples minds about the benefits of pet sterilization. Lowering the reproductive rate could alleviate a lot of the dog suffering that we see everyday, but it will only last if the people here believe in what we're doing.

Education is the key, and this is where we will be focusing a lot of our attention!

Week of May 25th

This week was busy with a number of different things on the go. We´re looking for a more permanent office space to establish Veterinarians Without Borders in Chile, so we met with the Director of Extension Services to discuss our role within the university and the community here in Valdivia. Our meeting was very positive and exciting, and will likely lead to something collaborative and long term in the future. Regarding an office space…well we´ll have to be patient while we all start investigating possibilities on and off campus.

It was also a big week in the wildlife department. There is a big project here with a multitude of undergraduate and post-graduate veterinary students working together to learn as much as possible about the pudu, for example: exposure to diseases acquired through contact with cattle and that are a risk to humans, reproductive characteristics, age and gender distribution, general health, intestinal parasites and response to a general anesthetic protocol. These students and the doctor of the wildlife rescue centre worked together to collect as much data as possible in the short time provided by the anesthetic. Everything went well, and all pudus recovered nicely from the anesthetic. Here are some pictures taken in the field:





So what do pudus really have to do with the dog program? Quite a bit actually…let´s talk about interfaces. An interface is simply an area where things meet. We are considering the dog – wildlife interface, and it is quite a problem here as well as in other parts of the world. Pudus live in rural and semi-rural areas all around Valdivia, and it is these pudus that come into unfortunate contact with roaming packs of dogs. Most of the pudus brought into the wildlife rescue centre at the university are those that have been found by members of the community after being attacked by dogs. Here are some of the ones we´ve seen recovering from attacks:

The last time we were in Valdivia, in November 2008, there was also a young puma who had lost his mom when she was also chased then attacked by a pack of roaming dogs. Although it was never clear what happened to her in the end, the result for her baby was that she never returned, and he was brought to the centre. Unfortunately, he was determined to be unreleasable and now lives in a zoo. Here he is when he was first brought to the centre:

Another major issue at the interface between wildlife and dogs is disease transmission. When you have such high numbers of unvaccinated dogs roaming in and around the cities, they can potentially come into contact with wildlife living in the same areas. Many of these species of wildlife are susceptible to canine diseases such as distemper and parvovirus, and any form of contact can result in transmission of the disease. It´s a similar scenario to when smallpox was introduced into indigenous populations of North America in the 1700´s - when a population is completely vulnerable because they have never come into contact with a particular disease before, the results can be absolutely devastating. Very little is known about whether this is happening or not here in Valdivia, but we do know that there are foxes, small wild cats and marine mammals very close to the city that are all susceptible to some of these canine diseases. We hope to investigate this interface together with local wildlife veterinarians, epidemiologists, ecologists and biologists.

This first picture is of the fish market in town right along the water’s edge. There are lots of dogs hanging around during the day hoping for a scrap of food, and at the end of the day, the whole market is hosed down, with much of the water running back into the river. You can imagine that if any of the dogs in the area are sick, and shedding virus in body discharges, this provides the perfect area of contact between dogs and the huge sea lions (or lobos marinos- see bottom picture) that are begging for food on the river side of the market. In this way, transmission of diseases and parasites can occur without the two animals ever having direct contact.

For more information on some other canine outbreaks in wildlife with staggering consequences, follow these links:
1. http://cheval.vet.gla.ac.uk/vetscape/vet-x/lions/
2. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071025094914.htm
3. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol6no6/kennedy.htm
4. http://www.iws.org/island_fox_studies_Santa_Catalina_Island.htm

Here is one last picture for this week, of me working with a young captive fox ¨Tachi¨. She was part of the breeding program on Catalina Island that was built in an attempt to recover the population after a canine distemper outbreak devastated this population (see 4th link above).

Just FYI, the pictures are much better if you click on them and blow them up.

Enjoy, and chau for now!