Transcript
KAREN GALVAN: We want an experience where veterinarians and very nurses are giving their time and skills to have a really good quality time. So there's a nice mix of learning about culture and seeing some sites, but Laos doing some really life-enhancing vet work and we have partnerships up there now that are so strong that it really runs like clockwork. So our teams arrive on Saturday, they'll pack in the clinic, then they're likely to go to and island show on Saturday night, then Sunday is obviously a church day, then most of our volunteers will go to Pangaimotu, which is where a lot of the expats go , if they don't go to a church service. Monday they go straight into clinic. The average team size is generally four and four. Four vets and four vet nurses plus one or two vet techs from the team on Tongatapu. So focussing on desexing. But we also do lice treatment, so taking out a lot of parasites. Every dog we also desex is given the parvo vaccine, and all the dogs and cats we treat are also given a parasite treatment. It's a really needed service, it's all volunteer, each clinic is worth about $NZ60,000 to the islands.
TIM GLASGOW: I see that you put out a note to day that you're going to be there and that people could bring their pets to be desexed. Do you find that it has been really popular?
KG: Extremely so. We've worked for eight years with Tonga, we never go in there and dictate. We go in there and we nurture and we partner. It's got to the point in around august the year prior that they know when we are coming and we know 6 months beforehand what our year looks like. We have really strong partnerships on Tonga that allow us to be successful, when we first arrive on Tonga we were doing sort of 6o animals. Now it's pretty much booked up and our vet teams are working constantly from 8 in the morning to 6 o'clock at night for the full five days.
TG: You see various islands around the Pacific, what do you see some of the really big issues [being] obviously veterinary care is not as readily available, but what are some of the pressing issues in terms of animal welfare in the region?
KG: It really boils down to money and budgets. You're looking at islands who are relying on forgiven aid. It's all about education and awareness, but it's also about access to care. So we inspiring change by being present, by giving communities in the Pacific access to veterinary care. Neglect is one thing the world over, what I can't stand is when people go "ohh animals are treated so badly in the islands". Compared to every other nation in the world, no their not. The fact that they don't have access to veterinarians, that breeding is out of control, so desiring is such a huge focus for us. One guy I remember about three years ago on Tonga, he biked about 50 minutes because his puppy was sick. And he actually cried because his daughter was so upset because the puppy was sick. And when they go to the vets and the vet treated him, he couldn't talk any English, but the vet fixed his pet and he cried. To me, that says there's a lot of empathy, it's just giving everyone the opportunity to have access to vet services.
