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My visit to the Dominican Republicdiary of a journey(08/28 - 09/14/2012)
1. At the A.A.A.S. for the first time2. A beach for Isabel…3. Journey to Samanà4. The south coast5. Back in Sosúa6. On the road with Tanya and Tom7. At the Sugar Kids school8. My last day9. The future begins now!At the A.A.A.S. for the first timeFor a long time already I had wanted to visit the A.A.A.S. myself , having sent so many vets there during the past 4 years. Still, when our travel agent, who books all our vets’ flights, offered me a particularly cheap flight, it came as a big surprise. I had exactly 24 hours time to take it or leave it. Once I had managed to find a replacement to take care of my 10 dogs, 13 cats and 2 horses, there was no stopping me. Of course I didn’t want to come empty-handed to the A.A.A.S and so I wrote to all our vets and asked for donations of meds and material. So many parcels were sent to me that I couldn’t possibly take it all, being limited to 28 kilos of luggage. The rest will be sent with vets who come to Sosúa in the future. I received a big parcel also for the Sugar Kids, whose school had been turned into a clinic during the operative with Dr. List, Dr. Bonin and Dagmar Stech, filled with kids’ clothes and toys.
Special thanks to Dr. Anne List, Dr. Tim Bonin, Dagmar Stech, Tarek El Kashef, Dr. Susanne Vogler, Heike Müller, Anja Hess and Dr. Katja Schirren. Late in the evening I landed in Puerto Plata. It was a little bit scary to pass the controls with all those meds , without being able to show a vet’s license but I was guided through very friendly. Outside I was welcomed by Judy and Carl who manages the Tropix, a hotel that has accommodated already quite a few of our vets. They took me to the appartement of „WG“, Judy’s German friend who had offered it to me when staying in Sosúa. Next morning I’m walking to Judy, along the Sosúa-Cabarete highway, past the gas station, to the right at the sign of Dr. Bob’s, with the big rottweiler upon it, onto a small dirt road. How often have I described this road to others during the passed years! Now I’m walking it myself for the first time, with a considerably raised heart beat! At the far end I can see some small houses: To the right the entrance of Dr. Bob’s clinic, to the left Judy’s house and inbetween, a little further back, the A.A.A.S. clinic.
The youngest are living on the clinic grounds.
Behind Judy’s house there is the pet lodge with kennels…
The pet lodge also offers the services of a dog parlour and Frank, Judy’s right hand at the kennels, grooms his clients to perfection.
Finally in the holy of holies, the surgery of the A.A.A.S. where I have sent so many vets to these past years! Hard to describe what I feel in this moment; happiness, joy, excitement, a kind of emotional hurricane…, but most of all a deeply felt gratefulness for all we have been able to reach so far, on both sides of the Atlantic, and towards all our supporters! Judy supplied me with a bicycle and a handy and lent me her camera because mine had stopped working as soon as I arrived. Then she took me to the local vegetable stores and then… I was independent! A beach for Isabel…On my second day Judy asked me if I could do a survey of Sosúa beach since they hadn’t had a volunteer to take care of this beach during the past months. So I took paper and pencil and went off.
Sun loungers are being rented, beach traders walk back and forth. A lot of people make a living here and for animals this is a good place to look for scraps. I noted how many bitches, males, puppies, cats and kittens I saw, which ones seemed to be spayed and neutered, which ones needed still to be fixed and their state of health; which ones were evidently infested by worms and parasites, showed signs of mange, had eye or ear infections were injured or limping. It turned out to be quite a long list in the end. Again and again I was asked why nobody from A.A.A.S. came down to the beach anymore, and all I could say was “Mañana…" And later, at the Pet Lodge: “ Judy, there is no way around it, tomorrow we must go, I’ve promised everybody…” So the next day we filled a tool box with de-wormer, Frontline, ear and eye cream, shampoo and Ivermectin and went off to the beach. Ivermectin is used as a cure-all in the Dominican Republic, I found out. Given monthly, it kills all interior parasites including heart worm and works well from the inside out against ticks, which still may bite the dog but die off soon afterwards, and against the mange-causing mites. (Not to be given to dogs with MDR 1 genetic defect!) Already at the entrance to the beach we were surrounded by a crowd of people asking for medication for their animals at home. Our tool box seemed to get empty before we even reached the beach until Judy had a terrific idea: “Today we do the beach animals and tomorrow you come back with more meds for the animals kept at home.”
Judy gave out medication and explained how to use it while I paid attention, learnt and took down names and phone numbers of people whose animals should be spayed and neutered at the next opportunity.
I asked people if they had dogs or cats, how old, how big, how heavy they were and what kind of health problems they had. Amazing, how far you can get with 3 words of Spanish and gesticulating!
Ruffino registers his dog for the next spay and neuter clinic while I am carefully pulling up the right amount of Ivermectin for his animal on the syringe…
This young lady needs some shampoo for her dog which has a skin problem. When I flew back to Germany, all animals had been treated, also all the cats had received a spot-on. I knew all people by name and all the animals, and everybody knew me. ( Once I even managed to go for a swim…) I could take down many applications for spay and neuter…
…and convince some of the guys who had so far flatly refused to neuter their male dogs, how important castration is also for males to avoid sticker sarcoma, being run over by cars while running after bitches in heat and, quite at the same time, proliferation.
Still to small for Ivermectin, it is given puppy de-wormer and a small portion of Frontline against the mites that cause the mange.
Chicken after the treatment… This little guy can make it when the people looking after him get enough support.
Princessa is an older bitch, already spayed, which suffers from an ear infection and arthritis. She eyes me with suspicion.
The pain killers for her arthritis I give to her owner. He is taking good care of her and I can rely on him to give her the pills. I was very impressed to see how many people were really concerned about their animals and how happy they were when they got help. I was often treated to refreshing drinks.
Roberto is one of them. He has 2 dogs, Chiquita and Negrita, and a cat. They all are very well taken care off.
Chiquita and Negrita are on the list of candidates for the next spay and neuter clinic. Negrita’s daddy, who looks exactly like his daughter, lives just around the corner. His owner is French and runs a restaurant at the beach. Like so many Dominicans, he as well has projected his own “machismo” onto his dog and has so far refused to have him neutered. But now the Swiss lady, who works for him, and I have joined forces and convinced him. Negrita’s papa will be neutered at the next opportunity. A second Roberto was worried that his bitch might go into heat at any moment and get pregnant again. Judy decided to arrange for a special date for “Mariposa”, since Dr. Giselle happened to be nearby, and to get the “hot dog” off the beach as fast as possible. She waited in the truck while I went to get “Mariposa”.
I had to carry her the whole way along the beach – Roberto had to stay at his beach chair rental. Mariposa was heavy and from time to time I put her down and begged her to do a few steps on her own, unsuccessfully and to the greatest amusement for everybody who saw me.
I am welcomed by another candidate for the next spay and neuter clinic at a restaurant at the far end of the beach.
Here is also a small puppy that worried me and for whom I left a vaccimation fee. The first time I saw it, it looked very fragile, with scratches and skin problems. Today it’s looking already a lot better! And with the friendly man beside me I had a very “fruitful” discussion about male neuterting. Journey to Samanà
During my second week in the Dominican Republic I took the bus to Santa Barbara di Samanà to visit Kim Beddall, secretary of the A.A.A.S.
Kim has introduced whale watching to the Dominican Republic. For a few months every winter the humpback whales come to the Samanà bay.
Kim has been living here already for 27 years. She concerns herself with large and small animals on land and in the sea. At the moment she shares her house with 17 dogs.
Kim met me at the bus, in a cage on the back of her truck a young male dog in a terrible state of health; emaciated, covered with mange and with an injured penis.
The next morning a lady brought a kitten, totally dehydrated and in a miserable state. Kim called Dr. Francis, a young Dominican vet, who treats his patients very sensitively.
„Buddy“ tried to urinate. Blood started to drip from his penis. What I had believed to see the night before, turned out to be right, His penis was completely torn apart by dog bites.
Except for a few good meals during his last days „Buddy“ has probably never experienced anything good in his life. He was buried at Kim’s farm. Again and again I met with death and lived through such bitter moments during my stay in the Dominican Republic. And more than ever I’m convinced of the importance of our work. We have reached a lot already but so much more still needs to be done. Kim and I exchanged many thoughts and ideas; starting from the much needed support for young local vets with interest in animal welfare up to the equally needed school program in humane education for children and adolescents, the way it exists already on Dominica. At present American vets are visiting Samanà twice a year to spay anf neuter big and small animals but that doesn’t suffice. Kim would like Dr. Francis to operate about 10 animals weekly. Dr. Francis has already performed 40 surgeries in the presence of Dr. Sue Harvey but needs to gain further surgical experience. We, the Association for Aid and Support of the Creole dogs, will send Tarek El Kashef to Samanà for about a month in the beginning of 2013 to work with Dr. Francis. Tarek El Kashef has already worked with Dr. Giselle during her first clinic in Santiago 2010.
Up in the hills, a few miles from the coast, Kim has created on 76.000 square meters something that can only be called a tropical paradise for animals.
This beautiful stallion has a hole between front leg and chest that reaches way up into his shoulder. It’s healing badly and has to be treated constantly.
This mule has a tumor between joint and hoof that has been operated several times already and is getting now slowly smaller.
Pigs have a very important job here: They „plough“ the land where later on gras will be grown that is more suitable as horse feed than the one that grows here originally.
Kim has set 30 nonpoisonous snakes free at her farm to save them from being killed by ignorant people. Within the concept of an educational program, Kim envisions the farm once to become a place where children can get to know and love animals. And all of a sudden I knew: This is the right spot for a future location of the Association for Aid and Support of the Creole dogs in the Caribbean to further our projects even more intensely.
The South CoastAfter 3 days at Kim’s I continued my journey to the south; with a small boat across the Samanà Bay and then with busses and “Gua-guas” via San Pedro de Macoris and La Romana to Bayahibe.
Denise Zdena had once sent me a message on Facebook: If you ever come to the south coast, visit us. We’re trying to do something similar to that what the A.A.A.S. does in the north.” Well, I had to check this out! Bayahibe is a pretty little town which has much to offer to tourists interested in water sports, fortunately yet without the big hotels and huge residences of the well-to-do typical for the tourist hot spots around Punta Cana. Denise and her husband have a diving school here. We met at a small bar at the entrance of Bayahibe. Denise showed me around, found me a place to stay and then…
…she introduced me to Yanela Hoyo who has founded the association Collares Rojos only 2 years ago.
Yanela, who was born in Cuba, has sold her restaurant and quit her job to dedicate all her time to animal welfare.
During the next days I went for walks with the dogs and accompanied Yanela on her tours through Bayahibe. Wherever there is an animal in need, Yanela helps, regardless if it is homeless or if the owners can’t or won’t take care of it. Everyday she visited a chow chow whose owner was in hospital. Without Yanela the dog would have starved or died of thirst. Once a month 5 vets spay and neuter 50 – 60 animals in Bayahibe. Four of them, a Puerto Rican vet and 3 Dominicans, work in a clinic in Santo Domingo. They stay at Yanela’s during the clinics. The fifth vet is Dr. José, also from Puerto Rico. He used to work in Santo Domingo as well but has now a clinic in Bayahibe. Yanela helps there to take care of the animals and her mom works as the clinic’s secretary and receptionist. Dr. José has his „normal“ clients but works at cost for animal welfare, just like his colleagues from Santo Domingo. A spay or neuter + a rabies vaccination cost 550 Pesos. Collares Rojos get most donations from their friends and supporters on Facebook. I noticed that in Bayahibe, just like in Sosúa, most dogs are spayed or neutered and well-fed. A lot of animals are being brought now from surrounding areas to the monthly clinics. But Collares Rojos also had terrible set backs during the past 2 years. Several times large groups of neutered dogs have been poisoned in the vicinity of hotels. And Yanela told me about horrible cruelties, about dogs that had been raped or burnt with acid like the poor Amore who nearly died but could be rescued and will be in good enough shape to be adopted soon.
The ground for the shelter was offered by Carmen.
She is forever grateful to Yanela for the help she received at a time when this kindhearted, animal-loving Domincan lady had been completely overtaxed with about a dozen starving dogs she had taken in.
I met Dr. José when I accompanied Yanela to the clinic with an emergency: A bitch had suddenly developed a growth at her belly; she was lethargic, didn’t eat and ran a fever. I witnessed a unique clinic : The patients are free to move around unless they are in quarantine or in particular need of rest. Dr. José doesn’t believe in keeping animals in cages.
Sticker sarcoma is a venereal cancer transmitted during mating. It usually affects the genitals but can develop at any part of the body when, for instance, puppies are infected at birth. 3 days after my arrival in Bayahibe Yanela, Dr. José and Annabelle, one of the vets from Santo Domingo, drove to Cabrera in the north where the American association Animal Balance was setting up a field clinic. I went with them because I had to go north anyhow and I wanted to talk to director Emma Clifford about her experience with the zinc glucomate compound Neutersol, a chemical means to neuter male dogs by injections into the testicles. Animal Balance has used Neutersol on a large scale on Samoa and Galapagos. Canadian friends of Collares Rojos went with us. They wanted to go up to Cabarete and took me right up to Judy’s door. On my lap travelled a young male dog, hardly 6 months old, which had been hit by a car and was rescued just at the moment when somebody had wanted to stuff the injured puppy into a garbage can. The young dog was handed over to a friend of Collares Rojos on the way who was going to take it to the clinic in Santo Domingo where the screw was to be removed that still stuck in its injured hip. The little guy needed also chemotherapy for some sticker sarcomas at the mouth and lips. Apparently the puppy had been infected by its mother.
The Collares Rojos members, Emma and I had an interesting discussion about the dog poisonings that happen again and again in various parts of the Dominican Republic - among the victims always also dogs that have been spayed and neutered already - and what to do about this. I told them how the Antigua and Barbuda Humane Society (www.antiguaanimals.org) had proceeded in order to get permission to spay and neuter in the first place: When the Antiguan government had decided to kill all street dogs, the Antigua and Barbuda Humane Society collected thousands of letters written by tourists saying that they wouldn’t return to Antigua if the street animals were killed instead of being fixed. The message came across: The government’s decision was reversed and the Humane Society got permission to spay and neuter. It should be possible to employ such a tactic also in the case of animal poisonings in the Dominican Republic since also here tourism is the largest industry. I didn’t have a chance to talk to Emma about Neutersol anymore because I had to catch my ride back to Sosúa but we exchanged addresses for future contact. Yanela, Dr. José and Annabelle stayed. They wanted to ask for support from Animal Balance for projects in La Romana and Higuey, 2 cities full of four-legged misery but much too big to be taken on by a small organization like Collares Rojos alone. Back in SosúaBack in Sosúa I headed straight away to „my beach“, of course.
This little puppy would have needed its mother for a few weeks more, like so many others I saw here. I dewormed it and left a little money with A.A.A.S. for its vaccination.
At the end of the beach I finally met “Funky Punky” again. I had worried a lot about him because I hadn’t seen him since my first visit to the beach and at that time he didn’t look good. A fat maggot had begun to poke its way through the skin at his neck; he had a large inflamed spot at his throat and a severe limp.
Now he looked a lot better. The maggot was gone and the inflamation at his throat had nearly disappeared. He was still limping but that was caused by an old fracture. Linda, a friendly French lady who runs a restaurant there, told me that as a youngster he had been hit by a car. Linda feeds him, she has given him his name and she has registered him for the next spay and neuter clinic. Upon my return to Sosúa Judy had had some good news for me: 2 volunteers, Colleen and Lee, were going to take over the work at the beach when I went back to Germany. I was so happy!
Colleen works in the A.A.A.S. thrift store, Lee takes the dogs of the pet lodge for walks. And I witnessed 2 adoptions that week:
A retired German couple in the process of taking up permanent residence in the Dominican Republic adopted Tyson.
They returned already the next day for a visit, They were thrilled by Tyson and want to continue to support the A.A.A.S. in the future.
2 important events were still on my agenda during this last week: A tour with Tanya and Tom through one of the areas of their community outreach program and a visit at the Sugar Kids School! On the road with Tanya and TomIn the reports about our spay and neuter clinics I’ve often written about the amazing work Tanya and Tom do in their community outreach program. Now I shall accompany them for the first time ! Tanya and Tom are looking after about 700 dogs right now, numbers increasing steadily. They have divided the area they work in into 7 zones, with about 100 animals in each, which they visit once or twice a month. They are practically every second day on the road, in addition to running animals back and forth during clinics where Tom helps with the surgery preparations as well while Tanya is taking all these wonderful photos without which my reports would be unthinkable. Tanya and Tom take me to one of the poorest areas. Also they take a tool box along, filled with similar contents as mine when I go to Sosúa beach.
First of all we visit „Shelf girl“. She got her name from sleeping on a shelf that stood there in the street for a while.
This lady has a pregnant bitch. She wants to have her spayed but not before the puppies are born. She projects her own maternal feelings onto her bitch. Tom has to accept that. It's a nice thought but leaves the A.A.A.S. with yet another litter of young dogs to care about.
The kids follow us everywhere. Again and again they tug at our sleeves, dragging us to hidden corners, or bring animals along: “Here is still a dog, and there is a cat!” Nobody shall be forgotten.
All eyes are fixed on Tanya while she is giving this little cat its monthly dosis Ivermectin.
Tanya and Tom gave here once a birthday party for one of the children, with about 50 little guests…
Around a corner I meet Geoffrey, a tremendously kind but chained up Rottweiler. Tanya reassures me: Geoffrey is taken for walks (which unfortunately doesn’t hold true for all chained dogs I’ve seen here). The owners are scared that the precious purebred may be harmed or stolen when running loose on its own. Not for the first time during this journey I strongly feel the need to bring a dog trainer down here one day within the concept of future educational programs to show people that their wonderful viralatas are just as smart and valuable as any purebred , so they will take pride in their local dogs , thus strengthening the bond between people and their animals. (Geoffreys welcome was an explosion; therefore none of the photos of him turned out.)
At the Sugar Kids SchoolThe spay and neuter clinic in May 2012 with the German vets Dr. List, Dr. Bonin and Dagmar Stech took place in a small school. The lessons during this time were held in a neighbouring house. This is when we first learnt about the Sugar Kids and their wonderful teachers.
All of these children come from poor Haitian families and have no chance to visit a regular school, be it that their parents don’t live officially in the Dominican Republic or that they simply can’t afford to buy a school uniform. Haiti belongs to the poorest countries in the world, even without floods and earth quakes. On many Caribbean islands Haitians cut the cane for the famous Caribbean rum. They stay for years; their children are born there, without legal papers and without legal rights. Cane cutting is a job nobody else in the Caribbean wants to do, too much it reminds people of the days of slavery; still very present in the minds of most of them.
The teachers of the Sugar Kids school work as volunteers to prevent the children from growing up illiterate. In addition they try everything imaginable to obtain the means needed to finance the school. When our vets were there, the school had just been given a stove and now the teachers were asking for donations of kitchen equipment and baking ingredients to be able to bake cookies and muffins for sale. We started a call for donations immediately and, once back in Germany, Dr. List and Dr. Bonin began to collect kids’ clothes and toys. When I flew to the Dominican Republic in late August I carried 2 heavy bags, filled with children’s clothes, shoes, toys, school material and a little bit of money.
When I entered the school everybody sang „Frère Jaques”, a tune that had very often accompanied our vets’ surgeries. Children and teachers speak French, a language I learnt during my years in the French Antilles, and so I could talk with them in their mother tongue.
When this little boy discovered a toy car in my bag he jumped at it with a scream of joy and tore it from my hand.
This girl looked a little sad. Her name is Daniela. When I asked her what she wanted she whisperd: “A doll !” Daniela , you shall have your doll!
The kitchen, where the cookies and muffins are baked, the little garden the kids plant themselves, the small library with quite a few books in French, English and Spanish, most likely not all of them suitable as school books.
These kids, that appear here scrubbed clean and neatly dressed every morning, don’t have enough to eat at home and the school can’t afford to feed them regularly. Every month the teachers struggle to be able to pay the rent for the school house, the electricity bill and the gas bill. Constantly they are searching for new creative ways to maintain the school; they have gone far beyond baking cookies.
Among other things they produce these beautiful artificial flowers; but their latest creation is simply incredible:
When I said Good bye I was convinced that we have to continue to try and help these children and their wonderful teachers. We would like to send each of the kids a little Christmas present. Judy’s friend WG, who is flying to the Dominican Republic between December 12 and March 13, will take the presents along. But what ‘s really needed most is some continuous support, something that our small animal welfare association can’t render. I try to raise interest for the Sugar Kids school in our community and our fabulous vets, Dr. List and Dr. Bonin, are very active in their vicinity. Together we could send 415 Euro to the Sugar Kids til 11. 07. 2012 and our efforts continue. Needless to say that there’ll be more spay and neuter clinics at the Sugar Kids school in the future! My last dayI got up early on my last day. I had promised to take medicaments to a few people at the beach and later on I wanted to meet Colleen and Lee and show them around. It was still quiet when I reached the beach. At the washrooms, close to the entrance, I found him:
Piggy, a young male, neutered by the A.A.A.S, and a frequent visitor at the A.A.A.S. thrift store. Obviously he had been poisoned. I called Tanya and Tom who took him to Dr. Bob.
The tourists on the beach to whom I talked were horrified, particularly when I told them that animals were mainly killed because of them as communes and hotels are afraid their guests may be disturbed by strays. They all assured me that the opposite is the case especially when animals are healthy and well-fed as it is generally the case in Sosúa. Their reaction showed me that tourists mostly have no idea about the poisonings and their background and that information is needed here. I was reminded of the discussion I had had with Emma Clifford and the Collares Rojos members in Cabrera about possibilities to fight these poisonings. Just like the Caribbean Animal Welfare Organisation, I firmly believe that The future starts now!Before I left Judy and I had a long talk about the future. Just like Kim and I in Samanà before, we talked about supporting and involving local vets more intensely in the future. In June 2010 we could support the clinic of Dr. Clooney with 1600 Euro where 6 young Dominican vets and students were taught safe and efficient techniques of spay and neuter. das erste Ausbildungsprojekt in Sosúa mit der kanadischen Ärztin Dr. Clooney. Among the participants was a young vet who taught already at the university of Santiago: Dr. Giselle. In November 2010 Giselle held her first own spay and neuter clinic in Santiago with the help of Tarek El Kashef from Hamburg. Many of her students participated. Today it takes Dr. Giselle 20 minutes to spay a bitch and Judy raves about her technique. She has told Judy that she can come to Sosúa once a month and spay and neuter about 30 animals. The costs are the same as in Bayahibe when Dr. José and his team operate: 550 Pesos for material and a rabies shot. We hope that Dr. Giselle will come to Sosúa 2013 in the months where there are no foreign vets scheduled so that 2013 will be the first year to realize Judy’s dream: A monthly clinic at the A.A.A.S.! Later on we hope to have Dr. Giselle for a day also during clinics with foreign vets to provide the legal grounds to carry out vaccinations. Some day the Association for Aid and Support of Creole dogs hopes to introduce a puppy vaccination program along with the needed rabies vaccinations so puppies won’t be any longer in danger of dying of leptospirosis, parvovirus or distemper as I have seen it happen far too often in the French Antilles.
Our goal is to prevent their birth. Where we don’t succeed doing this, we owe them the best possible start in life. I have brought work back with me to Germany for years to come: In the meantime: Tarek El Kashef has agreed to come to Samanà in the beginning of 2013 for one month to train Dr. Francis as surgeon! Yours sincerly, I. Gorski-Grobe |
