IFAW Haiti: Lassie Gets Lucky
This post was filed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's (IFAW) J.C. Bouvier who is on the ground in Port-au-Prince working with the Animal Rescue Coalition for Haiti (ARCH) teams.
In the morning, our vet met the team in the camp, and we proceeded to journey down into Port-au-Prince, Haiti...we took a brief stop at the tent city we had scheduled the afternoon to introduce our vet and ensure that the residents were ready to bring their animals to us for aid when we returned later that afternoon...
Our next stop was at the village where Dik the dog lives on Lilavois Street in the neighborhood of Bon Repos. His owner Keith was happy to see us, and our vet was able to asses his condition...when the building he was in collapsed during the earthquake...rubble must have fallen on his spine...and while he has no detectable fractures...his spine was injured...our veterinarian, Dr. Thomas, administered anti-inflamatory medication and steroids to help Dik heal...his owner thanked us and we moved on...
The day prior we had made arrangements to meet with a villager who was to bring 50 dogs to a location we had been working in...we arrived in the manner of the traditional Haitian appointment (read: 40 minutes or so after the agreed to time)...the villager didn't arrive...however there was a person who said there were six dogs in a house nearby that needed attention...
We arrived at what once had certainly been an attractive set of four houses...with wonderful mature plantings...and architecture, but had clearly been neglected over time and partially destroyed the earthquake...here we found "Lassie"...she came when called...and after a moment of scurrying around....showed us all a terrible embedded wire wound in her neck...
The team quickly set up a field station where "Lassie" was tranquilized, her wound was cleaned and prepped for stitching...once she was treated, vaccinated and given a nutritional boost...Dick Green said, "Lassie is one lucky dog, if we hadn't stopped here...she would have been dead within a week, there were maggots already in the lesion..."
We finished our work for the day and headed back to our camp...another long day...but the people whose animals we treat are genuinely grateful...
We're still working on the video featuring Dik the dog, look for it to come up on the blog soon...
The Animals in Haiti Need Your Support We urgently need your donation to help IFAW's emergency relief teams on the ground in Haiti. Your donation will help us buy the bandages, vaccines, antibiotics and other supplies for our mobile veterinary clinic.
We have partnered with WSPA to mount a coordinated animal relief response, and our team has deployed into the devastated country.
Your donation will go directly into IFAW's Emergency Relief fund, and will be used immediately and where needed most to help the animal victims of Haiti and our Emergency Relief work around the world.
praying for the dog!
Posted by: Hope Alayunt | February 02, 2010 at 11:38 AM
Wonderful! Thank you so much for all the work you've been doing.
Posted by: Stacey | February 02, 2010 at 11:49 AM
Your work is just amazing. Thank you for devoting your lives to help animals that are in need. I admire your persistence.
All by best, Linda from Sweden
Posted by: Linda | February 04, 2010 at 05:56 AM
Iam Praying for this dog...to get well soon...
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Posted by: Pets Plant Proofing | February 09, 2010 at 01:53 AM
This is the greatest post i have come across so far. I am really pleased to post my comment on this blog. I love your blog by the way, I am gonna have to add you to my list of watch blogs.At last i am praying for this dog that he get well soon
Posted by: Alex | February 19, 2010 at 01:21 PM
Hope Dik is fairing well!
Posted by: Guinea Pig | February 20, 2010 at 11:29 PM