Friday Clinics

Morelia Montes is the go to person on Holbox when an animal needs help. She was our community contact and organized the clinics here in Mexico. She spent many hours explaining the need for spay neuter to the local communities and recruiting volunteers to help us. On Holbox without advertising she had 60 animals signed up for surgery. She asked for 5 teenagers to help at the clinics and got 45. These kids were organized to provide all types of support for us. They collected towels from the local hotels, made sandbags, trapped cats on Holbox, cleaned instruments during the clinic, and provided help in many ways. They seemed to enjoy helping and were very interested in what we were doing with the animals.

Friday morning May 17 we were scheduled to hold surgery in Holbox and Chiquila. Half of our group left for Chiquila on the 7 AM ferry. It was soon discovered that the only xylazine was in Chiquila. Luckily there is now cell phone service on the island and a phone call soon had some xylazine coming to Holbox. We set up our clinic in a small house on the main road from the port. The house served our needs well. Quarters were somewhat tight with 3 surgery tables but very adequate. We had a bathroom, a refrigerator and kitchen area for cleaning instrumants. Our patients were admitted and waited for surgery on the covered porch area. We had a number of dogs and cats waiting for us in the morning. Once we got started the day went very smooth. Morelia had arranged for fresh fruit and yogurt at 10 AM and there was a big cooler (provided by Tarpon Club) full of drinking water. At the end of the day we were treated to a delicious fish lunch at a local restaurant

Thanks to a donation from Missy Young of Animal Talk Rescue we brought down and left on the island 10 cat traps. The kids trapped and brought us cats all day. They were so excited when they arrived at the clinic with the cats. We were able to alter all animals presented. We altered 46 on Holbox Friday.

The group that went to Chiquila had a much different experience. They were in a school building that was quite large but needed quite a bit of set up. I will try to get someone from the Chiquila group to outline the day. 33 animals were altered in Chiquila.

I was very pleased with how the first day of clinics ran. Our animals all recovered well and went home without apparent issues. The caretakers were very thankful for our services.

Quick Update

I had planned to update every day after each clinic. Of course that didn´t happen. We typically arrived back on Holbox exhausted, dirty, hot and faced getting the next clinic organized. So no time to blog. The clinics went amazingly well. We altered about 150 animals in three days of clinics. That of course did not scratch the surface. Perhaps the most important aspect of the clinics was the introduction of spay neuter to small villages. We were very well received. People want to do the right thing by their pets. They must be presented with opportunities and options.

Holbox is experiencing an unusually hot May. Every day it has been at least 90. This made conditions very difficult for all volunteers from the northern climates! I want to thank every one involved with the project. Every person who came contributed. Thank you. I will recap each clinic in more detail soon.

Worries Justified

Monday night after a very busy day at the FCSNP clinic we left for Holbox via Maiami. Had an uneventful flight. We flew Alaska Air to Miami and everyone was very nice. I had weighed and rearranged luggage until I was overweight on only one bag. Unfortunatly my scale did not agree with the Alaska scale and we were over weight in 3 bags. Customer service was fantastic and we were only charged for one bag. Thank you Alaska Air!! We arrived in Cancun on time, went through immigration and onto customs. As bad luck would have it they were checking all bags via xray. Our bags went through, stopped, reversed, went back through and got pulled. I was asked if I had medicines in the bags and I answered yes. We were informed that everything was going to be searched and confiscated. A very nice man from SARGARPA came and asked me to show all medictions. I pulled out everything he inspected it and confiscated all injectable meds. So good by to Propofol, atropine, ivermectrine, yobine, xylazine, antibiotics, lidocaine. The official was very apologetic and went to his superior but they insisted all be impounded. He gave me the information to apply for proper import papers from Mexico City. The irony of this is that after our group went through they stopped using the xray machine to expediate the process of entry. Major bad luck!!

So plan b is under way. Drugs are being replaced by Dr. Tony and paper work is being submitted to retrieve our drugs.

Have had a very productive day organzing details with Morelia. Melanie , John, Angie and Natasha are here and helping. John and Natasha are great translators!!

More later.

Border worries

I have been optimistic about getting our supplies into Mexico. An email Wednesday warned me that our supplies might be confiscated at the border. Panic!! I have spent the day calling and visiting US Customs and trying to gather information for Mexican customs. I am happy to report that I have made headway and think all will be well.

I want to thank MWI Veterinary Supply for the donations they made to the project. MWI has been a big supporter of Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project. When I called Bob Piovesan and told him about the Mexico plans he immediately offered supplies. This has been a great help. Thank You Bob and MWI!!

Tomorrow finish packing, autoclaving and paperwork.

ISLA HOLBOX
Spay/Neuter Project



For several years we have been visiting Isla Holbox, a remote island 150km NW of Cancun. It has been a goal to sponsor a Spay/ Neuter clinic on Holbox. While visiting over Christmas the clinic began to take shape.

On May 16, 17, and 18, 2008 my dream becomes a reality. A group of veterinarians and technicians will participate in a free Spay/Neuter clinic for the dogs and cats of Holbox and surrounding communities in Quintana Roo. Our goal is to help alleviate the overpopulation problem in a humane manner. The nearest veterinarian is 1½ hours away and will join us. Pet overpopulation has often been dealt with by poisoning unwanted animals.

Ed, Dad and I leave Monday night for Isla Holbox. Many loose ends to attend to before then. Tomorrow a trip to customs to make sure all paperwork is in order. Weekend will be filled with packing and consolidating equipment and supplies.