Team Chile- Post 11!

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Buenas Noches!

We are finally nearing the end of our trip but we are still enjoying many adventures and are hoping to make a few more memories before we leave Chile in a week.

We are happy to say that we are back in more manageable temperatures in the North of Chile. We had a fairly long trip from Punta Arenas to La Serena, which is a city about 500 Km North of Santiago. It is also the second oldest city in all of Chile, founded 200 years ago and attacked my pirates several times in its history. La Serena is blessed with sunny skies and warm temperatures the entire year, but that also means that flocks of tourists storm the city during the summer. We, on the other hand, were just thankful to be able to wear tshirts!

The RIMA crew from Santiago joined us for 3 days to run a spay-neuter clinic in the city, similar to the clinics that we helped run in Santiago. This clinic was actually held in the home of a local philanthropist and RIMA supporter, Waleska. She not only fed and housed the RIMA vets for the 3 days that they were there, but went out to the street to collect street dogs herself. We were lucky enough to help her 'wrangle'these stray dogs. It might seem comical, however, since all we needed to do was coax the dogs into crates with a little affection. We were suprised to see that local La Serena citizens in fact protested when we collected the dogs and it took some explaining on our behalf to help them understand the importance of sterilizing animals. The most rewarding part was returning the post-surgery street dogs to their street corners, where they were greeted by their many 'friends'and multiple owners, showing off their bright new collars with the word èsteril'(sterile) colourfully sewn in.

Rob, Emma and I were also lucky enough to refresh our surgical skills by participating in our very own spays and neuters! At the end of the exhausting 3 days, with the help of the RIMA crew, we had sterilized over 90 cats and dogs!

We are now enjoying even hotter weather in the desert of San Pedro de Atacama. It is amazing to see so much life in the driest place on Earth, including green oases, flamingoes in the salt flats and herds of donkeys, llamas and wild vicunas. The vicunas are a relative of the guanaco that we came across in the Chilean Patagonia, except smaller and daintier.

We shall see you again soon before we leave Chile, and in the meantime, hasta luego!

Dominique, Rob and Emma

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Photos

Emma ´wrangling´ Negra, the street dog
Emma had a really hard time coaxing Negra to come with us, as she was named by her many ¨owners¨. Note: no acepromazine was required. Emma came back with a full syringe.

Catching street dogs
Rob and Emma coaxing a street dog into its cage. All 3 dogs we brought back on this trip out to the street were pregnant. Once spayed, we caculated that we had ´saved´the lives of 33 street dogs, by preventing a further growth in the population.

Me spaying a dog
Since we had spent some time with the RIMA veterinarians in Santiago, they were much more willing to let us help out and practice our surgery skills this time around in La Serena.

Rob neutering a cat
Rob also getting to practice his surgery skills.

Negra proudly showing off her new collar
Every street dog that was spayed received a bright new collar with the word ´esteril´sewn into it. ¨Esteril¨means ´sterile´and it on top of preventing a second spay, it also educated the people about the importance of spaying and neutering.

Welcoming Negra home
All the street vendors and shop owners were happy to welcome Negra home after her surgery the day before. It was incredible to see how much she´d been missed. Everyone was quick to give her a pat and give her some food and water. She looked quite at home!