Veterinary Spay and Neuter Program Costa Rica: Flying StartVeterinary Help Where it is Needed the Most January 2010. Leaving behind the cold December storms that were dominating the Central Valley, we headed for a more tropical destination. The almost four hour drive through the beautiful untouched rainforest of Death Mountain finally brought us to Dominical...
The first day we would castrate the animals we gathered from the farm and some animals in Matapalo, a small beach town, about twenty minutes drive from Dominical. It wasn’t entirely clear how many people would bring their pet to be castrated. This was the first castration project ever in Matapalo, so we did not expect great numbers yet. It soon turned out that we could not have been more wrong: pretty much whole Matapalo was mobilized to bring anything that was furry and walked on four legs to be castrated. Apart from neutering 98 animals in Matapalo and another 34 in Dominical in just 3 days, these projects bring much more. In these places where normally no vet comes, the locals start thinking more seriously about taking care of their animals. Another great thing about sending vet help to these areas is that we can also attend the more serious cases. Many times sick animals that are living on the street (or on the beach in this case) are really suffering for weeks or months, sometimes even years with severe skin problems, growing tumours or other diseases. Most of these sick animals can be helped with minor veterinary medical care. For example one of the beach dogs in Matapalo in which we removed a tumour the size of a tennis ball from the side of its face. Our veterinary spay and neuter program 2010 has had a great impact on these two Costa Rican beach towns. There are however still many more places to go: Our mission is not over yet! Please keep informed about our upcoming projects, Dr. Viktor van Marrewijk, DVM
Veterinary Topics and Pet Health |
