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Published: August 1st 2015
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This week has been filled with torrential rain and a ridiculous number of power cuts and load sheds! We have, however still had a fab time and managed to keep busy even in the rain, but it has been hard to do the normal activities, which rely on vehicles not being in the mud and good visibility to dart things!
Monday we attempted some more Impala captures, and en route the axel on the trailer broke and had to be welded back together. Whilst we waited I did a darting tutorial and then with some time still to kill I found an itchy Maltese terrier for the students to diagnose what was wrong with him. We finally turned up to the farm to dart the impala, but they were being elusive today and hiding in the bush. I shot at one but missed, and then the group became even more impossible to get close to with the truck to dart. We then tried on a different site, but these animals were even worse and didn't play ball either, and we had to give up eventually. The weather was too windy today and the ground was wet and the impala were
very suspicious of our truck full of students trying to sneak up on them. In the afternoon we returned to the Gonoubie dogs to continue the mange treatment. People brought us buckets and buckets of puppies covered in mange and full of worms, it's hard to know how on earth we will control the outbreak.
Tuesday the heavens opened! It was like a monsoon outside. In South Africa everything stops if it isn't sunny, and no one works if it rains, it's windy, or if it's cold. We struggled to find a wet weather activity, and decided that evaluating the zoo would be the easiest thing to do in the torrential rain. We met with the curator of East London zoo to discuss improving the lives of the animals and incorporating enrichment there. We wandered around in the rain to see pacing lions in small enclosures, ponies and cows with no grass or hay or any shelter large enough for them, and knee deep in mud, we saw wolves so desperate for some attention and we saw pigs trying to root around but unable to express their normal behaviour. The students picked animals to focus on and designed posters
to give to the zoo staff with ideas for enrichment, including long and short term solutions. Afterwards we were soaked through and retuned to the office to discuss conditions associated with poor housing, including laminitis, colic and digital dermatitis. At lunch we dried off at the house and spend the afternoon focussing on zoo animal welfare, and I took 2 students at a time to teach how to suture up bananas. One of the students, Adam, said to me "Nic I don't think my bananas going to make it."
Wednesday the rain was unforgiving and we headed to Gareth's to watch the pig AI. Rick had returned back from the UK the night before. The power had gone off the night before in the storm, and 2 litters of piglets were struggling to stay alive after developing hypothermia overnight. The students each took a piglet to warm up, and we syringe fed them cows milk straight from the cow, as there was still no power to warm up any other milk, or put them under a heat lamp. Some of them had to be stomach tubed as they couldn't swallow. Their temperatures were so low they didn't register on
the thermometers (<34 degrees C.) Once the piglets were warmed up Rick and I examined a lame boar, and then showed the students how to dehorn cattle, now that we had local anaesthetic. The farmer was still trying to convince us that the immobiliser prod was just as effective but I was pleased to show the students how to do it he ethical way. Whilst waiting for the nerve block to work, we practiced clinical exams on cows, and discussed pig medicine. This evening was Kim's birthday, and we had more load shedding (scheduled power cuts) so we had fun partying in the dark. One of our students drank a little too much and ended up passed out on the sofa. A few minutes later she let out an enormous fart and ended up wetting herself in the process! It was unbelievably hilarious. Thursday we lost half of the group to a severe bout of hangovers but one brave souls still standing went to the Fletchers, and we took a fab ride in the back of a truck to dehorn some calves. I love this country, where there are no health and safety laws and you can stand on the
back of a truck with the wind in your hair, taking in the breathtaking scenery in the middle of nowhere. We also examined a lame bull with some improvised foot equipment. In the afternoon we headed to a dairy farm to discuss calf husbandry and diseases, and made plans to return tomorrow to watch the milking. Friday we awoke at 5am to observe the dairy farm, and talk about cow husbandry and dairy management. There was plenty to talk about with the students, as there were lots of faults in their system, including only stripping the milk weekly into a sieve to check for mastitis, and the staff only spraying the teats with water before applying the clusters. The farmers here are ridiculous at times, as we discussed the drug cupboard with them. The farmer pointed to a fluke treatment and says he "uses it when the calves look a bit off colour. " We treated some cows for lameness, and then treated their lame bull who had digital dermatitis. Biosecurity on this farm was non existent, and even recommending that the staff washed their wellies was a challenge! Mid morning we returned to nap in the glorious sunshine and
in the afternoon we went to dart an impala at a local game reserve. The dose for him was too low, and we ended up having to try and catch a wobbly and confused impala male. I managed to grab him by the horns before Adam ran and sat on him. Afterwards we injected the goats there in the petting zoo for worms, before driving our impala to his new home at sunset. This weekend we had more monkeys in our garden, and we fed them our leftover butternut squash, and they licked it off their fingers. One of the monkeys is lame, and we have named him Colin. Hopefully we can sedate him at some point to look at his paw and treat him. The monkeys give you high fives against the window if you put your hand up. Also they can catch really well if you throw crisps at them! Saturday was Dennis's wedding and we went to the church and reception, and watched a very heated rugby match of South Africa vs New Zealand. We did some awkward dancing to the YMCA and befriended some crazy South Africans. On Sunday Rick, Kim and I headed to Morgan
bay, a town an hour north from Cintsa. We hiked along a stunning coastline and up some steep slopes, and sat on a big rock overlooking the bay. You can appreciate why they call this the wild coast, the waves were crashing against the rocks and there were Rock hyraxes scampering all over the place. The scenery is stunning, and this place truly is wild.
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