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November 06, 2005
Operating Theater
For four days in a row the team would start trickling into Animal Care Payam ‘Station 1’ at about 0730. Either Paul, Maggi, or both spent the night at the critter-infested station waking up on a regular basis to look after the post-operative animals. I showed up early to get the sterilization center prepared and ensure operating instrument sets were ready for the vets as they required them. As the 0800 or so the rented scooters starting to bring in people a few at a time and animals were entering the second of four phases: pre-op. (First phase was capture/intake.) In pre-op they were examined, tagged, documented, shaved and given some anesthesia. At about this time an operating table would be prepared for the animal. Then the veterinary team would bring over the clearly stoned animal and tie them down to the tables. (The tables, desks and dining tables, were too low for our Danish vets and had to be raised with 20cm or so of bricks.)
The length of an operation depended on the animal and if there were any complications. Male dogs and cats were quick. Females were slower because castration requires major internal surgery. The lighting conditions in Station 1 were terrible so the operations took place near the big door or even out under the roof overhand where the sterilization center was located. I distinctly remember witnessing three complications.
- A female cat came into the station in what was believed to be a pregnant state. The plan was to abort her pregnancy and then fishing up with a castration. When the vets opened up the cat they realized that her uterus was totally inflamed to the point of bursting and that there were no live fetuses to abort. It was very fascinating, in a detached, clinical sort of way. The Swedish television camera men got it all on tape. Removing the feline’s incredibly large and inflamed uterus left her about 20-30% lighter by days end. One vet told me that if that cat had gone on just a few more days she surely would have died.
- One puppy’s intestinal track filled with gas after receiving the anesthesia. This apparently happens if there is a specific sort of infection within the canine. The vet (head vet, forget his name) solved the problem by poking a hole in the pup and the gassy, smelly contents volcanically burst into a bucked held by Tenna like a zit popping on a greasy-food-eating teenager. The entire scene was really fucking gross.
This cute grey puppy’s lungs filled with fluid after receiving the anesthesia. No surgery for this pup. The vets were initially skeptical about him even pulling though…but fortunately for us all he did. He really was adorable.
The human resource logistics surgeries were move varied that I would have expected. Some times a single vet seemed to work the animal alone, some times half the entire team would be gathered about. Occasionally there were veterinary students taking direction from someone on how to ‘cut this’, ‘tie that’, and other basic surgical techniques. And lastly, but most disturbingly, even the vet’s young children got into the act.
After surgery the animals entered the post operative phase of their ordeal. Here is where we tattooed their ears with a number and chained/boxed them up for recovery. Some animals ‘came to’ quickly, and some not so quickly. My sterilization center gave me an all-to-close view of the secondary post-operative waiting area. I saw animals coming out of their drunken stupor that would make any Brit proud. I saw dogs having doggy nightmares, fights amongst drunken dogs (again, to make a Brit proud) and some that seemed to sleep and sleep and sleep so much that we became concerned.
Once an animal was recovered, it was either picked up by its owner or returned to where we had first captured the ownerless animal. There were a few animals that wondered back across half the island in search of more attention and food. These returning dogs, despite my involvement with cleaning puppy guts off of surgery kits, was one of the most emotionally painful experiences for me of the twelve days on island.
We would work until about 1600. By the, people started to trickle away just as they had arrived. The only constant was Maggi and Paul and the animals.
I understand that not a single animal died during or immediate after our efforts. But there are sure to be fatalities as we discovered after the Danish veterinarian team left. For example, Paul found a dog that had opened it stitches and her intestines were starting to fall out. Paul took the dog to the Thai Ranoong-based vet but he was not so interesting in helping out…for political reasons: he had issues with Maggi early on because she was organizing a major veterinarian effort in his back yard without his leadership.
Posted by stu at November 6, 2005 09:55 AM
Comments
P.S. Can you save hi-res copies of your photos? In particular, I'd love to use some of your photos from the th-koh payam-Aow Yai Beach - some of the starfish trails, the crab, and the "beach balls" would be great to use to teach with in my paleontology class. They are fantastic! Did you put the starfish on the beach, or did it get stranded there naturally? The beach balls are made by the small crabs, as they sort through the beach sand in search of detritus or other organic matter. They package the sand up into little balls when they are done, and toss it aside. I've never seen so many before.
Hey, can you also keep your eye out for jellyfish strandings? In particular, if you see any, can you please take a few photos for me? Both a wide-angle shot of a beach with jillions of jellies on it, as well as a few close-ups of the jellies that have been stranded - keeping an eye out for examples where they are umbrella-up vs. -down, and also where they may have excavated a moat around them, as they pulse their bells trying futilely to escape. Thanks!
YT
Posted by: Whitey at November 7, 2005 04:45 AM
Stu:
Your photographs are phenomenal. I know they are a pain to load, especially from remote locations. But they are much appreciated. It is like being on the road with you.
Am heading to NZ in Feb, (via LA) to see Kathy Campbell and Andrea Alfaro - they just had a baby. Am really looking forward to it. No specific agenda, other than to surf, hang out, and see a small slice of NZ. Hoping to do some surfing and mex-food eating and freakshowing in Venice on the way out. Not to mention kicking JB's ass in Scrabble.
Enjoy the journey,
Whitey
Posted by: Whitey at November 7, 2005 04:37 AM