Day 4 - NEVER wish for a quiet day

The main islands of Kiribati. Tarawa is the 2 sides of
a triangle in the top left quadrant

I completely lost any credibility that I was hanging onto today. We started out pretty much on time with our shopping list of petrol, banana bread, superglue and a stop to visit the hospital pharmacy on the way. I said that we would drop into the hospital 8-8.30am to pick up our much needed disinfectant, then we would be on our way to Tanaea at the Agriculture division of MELAD (Ministry of Environment, Lands and Agriculture Division).

Buying bananas - they are wonderful!

In previous years Tanaea had been a long way from anywhere and no-one knew we were there, and we never managed to do much surgery there. So I was not keen we spent much time there but agreed we should try a day. So I wasn’t in a big hurry to get there at 8.30am as arranged. So when Helen suggested that we visit the hospital emergency department to ask what dog bite statistics they had, we thought it would be no problem to stop for a chat while we were in the hospital environs.

Waiting owners with their dog

Tanaea is on the edge of a channel running between
 the ocean and the lagoon

So the chat turned into a visit to the hospital statistician as we discussed the merits (and current limitations) of obtaining data on the number of cases presented for dog bites to the hospital or clinics. This turned into quite a long (and interesting) chat....

So around 10am we finally appeared at our clinic destination….to find 5 dogs waiting for our services and soon plenty more appeared. In recording the “clinic admissions” for the day I was delighted that most people had heard of our presence and services on the radio. They had mostly travelled in their own vehicles or with the help of friends. We even had 2 previously desexed dogs come to visit for ”medicine” (worming). Long story short we didn’t stop for lunch until 4pm, as more and more vehicles turned up with their animals!

Selfies - Paddling in the channel at the end of a busy day

Kids playing nearby

Needless to say we were pretty tired again but satisfied with a very encouraging day. Current tally stands at 80 dogs (52M, 28F), 5 cats (2M, 3F).

 

Annaliese took it out on a coconut

And won after some sweat!!

Day 3 - Goodbye Betio

Chilled kitten with Annaliese who
organised us so well today

Well today saw us finishing our visit to the port village of Betio, on the far western end of Tarawa. Highlights of the day include:

·      * Chilled and happy little black and white kitten which spent the day perusing the activities amidst all the dogs, after being desexed

Everyone got a hold

         

        * Recognizing a dog owner (who had brought in his 4 dogs to be desexed!!) who had had his dog desexed on our visit in 2015. I remember him because his previous dog which has since died, he explained was a very special dog. The dog had pulled his child out of the water in the port at Betio when she was small. She is now 11 years old. It was lovely to meet him again with his new dogs, and to remember his story which highlighted his connection with his dog.

My friend from 2015 with his four new dogs

Little kitten watching the sleeping dogs.

     * The council enforcement workers made 3 truck runs for us today and were recording owner names, we think for dog registration purposes. This is a great contribution from BTC, and great progress from previously less than optimal engagement with the council.

Owners shading their dogs for the ride home.

Leesa high fiving everyone, again!

Double whammy cat surgery

      * Double surgery with Allison desexing a female cat at the back end while Helen did a surgical repair for a (long since) previously ruptured eyeball at the front end.

The two Helens making good progress with the tally

Leesa's angels?

Translation: "Surgery for the animals"

The evenings are spent cleaning out our boxes ready for the next day, cooking dinner (sweet chilli tuna and rice and pumpkin tonight) and collapsing into bed ready for the next day!

Day 2 - Dib dib dib, dob dob dob, and Harry

Pedicures as requested! They do match our scrub tops nicely.

We had another very sweaty day in sunny, humid Betio. Some of us didn’t have a toilet stop until  after dinner!! Half way through the day we asked some of the dog owners if they might be able to find us some drinking coconuts and they obliged which was lovely.

Waiting, waiting....

Tally – another 16 dogs and 2 cats, total tally 40 dogs & cats. We had a few tricky ones today with a bitch “which had only given birth to puppies 1 month ago” turning out to be 4-5 weeks pregnant, and an apparently cryptorchid male dog nearly sending Annaliese crazy, with no retained testicle to be found…turned out that his weird/scarred scrotum was a result of local ways of trying to desex puppies (someties with disastrous results), so in actual fact he only had one testicle to remove! Hence Helen’s quote of the day “Dib dib dib, dob dob dob”, do your best!”

Council delivery - great progress  working with this  BTC

And in they came

My favourite picture - unloading

Goodbyes

Dried sandworms!

After we packed up we had a little drive around the war memorial, WWII war relics and shops and port area. Helen adventurously sampled dried sand worms, and Allison bought a 6kg tuna for dinner for $20 AUD!! Our tuna was christened Harry and shared the cosy long ride home on the back seat. Then it took Helen and Allison a fun 20 minutes trying to carve it up. And he was delicious!

Harry the 6kg tuna

Harry.

Contemplation

End of another day.

Day 1 - Betio council (BTC)

Dream team in red 2018

New banners!

What a great start to our time here today! We made the 30 minute trek down to the port end of Tarawa in the village of Betio to the council compound (BTC). We had been here back in 2015, so we were familiar with the set up in the small building by the back fence. Ceiling fans a luxury, as well as necessary shade.

Number 4 looking sleepy.

Happy customers came by car...

We set up our new banners and gear and before long people were arriving and the council arrived with plenty of dogs. Many people had heard radio announcements the night before or from the neighbour who had heard it. One owner came in after he saw our brand new banner on the front gate post!

...and by truck!

 

Pets were numbered by texta on their fur and their details collected before owners waited patiently for their pet’s turn. Pamphlets about dog care, post-op care sheets and collars were handed out, as well as flea and worming medication. Small puppies just had medicine, while larger dogs were desexed.

Nearly the end of the day after a long wait for owners.

Locals seemed happy to see us and to be able to get their animals desexed so that they would have no more puppies or quiet dogs which would stay at home. It was obvious that these owners cared for their pets and wanted to keep them healthy. They really like getting collars for their pets too – thank you Temwa for your fundraising and contribution to these. One lady we were talking with told is that she feeds her dog tinned salmon! (there is no commercial dog food available in the shops here).

We were delighted with the council support for our work today – advertising and pet transport are one of the best ways that they can help us to make the most of our time here.

The calm before the ?

We find ourselves again fast approaching our departure tomorrow Sunday 26th August. Our suitcases are bursting with new advertising banners, pamphlets, dog collars, medicines, surgical kits, sterile gloves, surgical drapes and more. As per usual not much room to squeeze any of our own stuff in!

We have our ever wonderful and amazing vet nurse Leesa who is going to keep tabs on FOUR vets again, namely Allison (me), Helen B and Helen P (B1 and B2) who have all volunteered on Tarawa previously, and we welcome new vet Annaliese who has worked in Samoa and other Pacific regions previously.

We are under instructions by Leesa to have pedicures to match our new red scrub tops. So we anticipate some fun and lots of sweat ahead. Some Facebook adverts this time hopefully will start us off well...time will tell.

Our main focus is still to continue to desex dogs and cats, and to provide some basic parasite medication and health care to the animals on Tarawa, Kiribati. We are looking forward to a busy and productive visit. Photos to follow.

An atoll we flew past close to Tarawa

We DID have alot of stuff, squeezed into our Subaru hire car on arrival.