Finishing the Year in Galapagos with Education and Vet Care!

Morgan Nabhan, DAD veterinary services coordinator and UPenn Vet student

Between December 9th and 22nd, three Darwin Animal Doctors volunteers are working in our clinic on the Galapagos islands. Dr. Gaelle Roth, a veterinarian currently practicing in Bermuda; Hannah Klein, a vet tech from Boston; and myself, are working for two weeks to try to reach as many animals as possible before the holidays.

The first week of our campaign has been very successful. We treated a total of 64 animals so far, 37 of which were spays and neuters.

In addition to routine vet care, we have had to deal with some emergency cases. A few days ago a little female bichon came into the clinic who was
pregnant and had been straining to give birth for two days. Unfortunately, the papa dog was much larger than she was, so the puppies were too big for the mama. We ended up performing an emergency cesarean section to get the puppies out and save the mother, all while running the other routine DAD clinic activities. So far, the mama and her six puppies are doing well and the owner tells us that they are nursing at home just fine. Don’t worry, we also spayed mama dog while we were at it to avoid this happening again in the future!

We have worked from about 7am to 9pm most days and are so happy to see the changes DAD’s work has brought about on the islands. I haven’t been here for about seven months, so any gradual changes are obvious to me. The local attitude towards animal care has significantly changed since I was last here. What I see now are most patients coming with leashes and collars, while back in June we had to give out leashes to the vast majority of people seeking veterinary care at our clinic. The fact that the majority of people now come with their own leashes and collars indicates that our education program has been quite successful!
Keep an eye on our blog and Facebook page for more updates on the campaign!