Tuesday 12 October 2010

Volunteer student vets give full marks to Goa

Hello hello!

It’s been a while, so here’s a lovely message from Stephanie and Jo, two new friends I made recently when they came and helped out at the centre. Come again soon girls!

Olive x


Volunteer Stephanie and puppyMy friend Jo and I spent two weeks volunteering at Animal Tracks in August. We are vet students at the London Vet School, now in our fourth year, and came out to do work experience. It was a fantastic placement for us and we really enjoyed it. As well as walking dogs and playing with countless cute puppies, we were allowed to watch all the operations, help the nurses with their duties (placing IV catheters and giving injections etc), and we also got daily responsibility over several of the kennel blocks - checking wounds and giving treatments. Our practical skills improved immensely, and we saw so many things we'll never see working with animals in the UK. It was very eye-opening! As well as spay and castrate operations, we watched some orthopaedic surgery, which was fascinating.

Volunteer Jo in the dog kennelsWe were made very welcome, and it was just a shame we were only there for a fortnight. We definitely want to return! (And maybe not in the monsoon next time!)

During our trip to India we also visited the monkey sanctuary and in Bangalore we went to see the Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre, where many of India's dancing bears now live their lives in peace. These were both more great examples of IAR's wonderful work with animals in India.

Thank you very much to International Animal Rescue for letting us experience the amazing work you do.