Placencia Humane Society visits Independence for a one-day Clinic
Leaving at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 31st a group of PHS volunteers convoyed to Independence to hold a one-day pet Clinic. This was arranged in collaboration with the Independence Village Council, the Police and other concerned citizens of the area. Vince Taylor, Gabriel Ramos and Justine Mendez were instrumental in helping with all the arrangements and providing a location for PHS to hold this one-day event.
The Clinic was held in the Independence Labor office and a tent was erected outside the office to use as a waiting room for pets and their owners. A total of 31 animals were brought to the Clinic; three animals were neutered, 14 rabies and 25 other shots were administered. Two stray animals obviously abandoned and in extremely poor condition had to be euthanized.
Pamela Keck, PHS’s Medical Coordinator, made the arrangements for the Veterinary Surgeon and organized the PHS volunteers. Dr. Tesecum was the visiting Veterinary Surgeon and was accompanied by his technical assistance. The PHS volunteers were Madalon Richardson, Marie Wetzel, Pamela Keck, Mary Ann Kaye, Cat Harshbarger, Marcia Fox and Vincent Guzman and our thanks go to each one of them for their grueling work.
Our thanks also go to Shannon Romero who helped to set up the Clinic and who worked the whole day with our PHS volunteers.
This Clinic was enthusiastically received and there is no doubt that regular pet Clinics would be beneficial to the village. PHS has offered to train volunteers so that they can operate their own Clinic – meanwhile, PHS is available to help with any future Clinic that is requested.
We are ‘People for Pets’
Marcia Fox
Placencia Humane Society.
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Why do Cats Bring us Gifts.
Most of us have always acknowledged to ourselves that cats are superior beings, but now we must accept that our cats know it too. How else can we explain their need to feed us and help teach us to hunt by bringing us gifts of prey? It must concern them that we are so inept at fending for ourselves.
Cats, both wild and domestic, have innate hunting skills that are developed at an early age by mother cat. She brings food back to her kittens for them to eat, including live prey so they can practice their killing technique. When our cats bring us gifts of prey, it could well be that they are attempting to help us survive. Even spayed females exhibit this behavior. Maybe they are redirecting their maternal instincts to us, their surrogate kittens.
There is another reason that may explain this behavior. Wild cats instinctively bring their prey back to a safe area to eat – a tree or den, for instance. For a domestic cat, it may seem only natural to bring her catch to her food dish. After all, that’s where she normally eats.
When your cat lines up live locusts on your pillow at six in the morning, or proudly brings a bird to her food dish, accept the gift gratefully. Praise your cat for being such a good provider, and then discreetly dispose of the gift. If you would rather not receive any feline bounty your only option is to keep the cat indoors.
Excerpt from ‘Why do cats do that’ by Kim Thornton
Placencia Humane Society
info@placencia-pets.org
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Placencia Humane Society Introduces New Board
On Saturday, April 28 the Placencia Humane Society held their Annual General Meeting at Yoli’s Bar and Restaurant. Marcia Fox chaired the meeting and reported on the huge growth that PHS had experienced over the last two years.
In 1999 when a group of enthusiastic animal lovers came together to bring animal care and welfare to Placencia there were 25 members and Marcia Fox was one of them. Today PHS has almost 100 members and the number is growing daily.
That year 9 dogs were neutered and 13 dogs spayed – today PHS can do that many and more in one weekend Clinic. Also the services have expanded to include not only the monthly Clinics, but also Adoption, Rescue, Kitten Program, Mash Units, Outreach Clinics and workshops for our member/volunteers.
Training is an important part of being on the medical team for PHS and every effort is made to see that these volunteers receive current information. Most recently Dr. Cliff Barnett from the States came to Placencia and held a work shop for these volunteers. He also donated a microscope and centrifuge and gave instructions on how to use them – now PHS’s team is in a position to identify on site some of the problems that pets experience, without having to send this data to Belize City for analyses. Part of the training also covered suturing – this is an extremely useful ability for the Mash Unit as there are crisis situations that occur when a Veterinary Surgeons is not available. PHS health alerts to pet owners also serve as good guidance on the health and welfare of pets.
Promissory Notes are still available to pet owners who are unable to meet the full cost of their pets consultation – and this amount is repaid to PHS over time and at the convenience of the pet owner. Currently we have over $7,000 out in Promissory Notes – pet owners are encouraged to repay these funds as soon as possible so that we can continue to help others.
PHS is now a registered not for profit organization – it is the only registered organization on the peninsula. It is operated entirely by volunteers and no-one receives compensation for their time.
PHS reaches out to the community with articles in the Placencia Breeze, Vision Magazine, the PHS billboard (outside Wallens), Email and of course the PHS website: www.placencia-pets.org The first Newsletter went out to members for the first quarter of 2007. It is anticipated that this will be a quarterly event so that members can keep current with PHS news.
Marcia Fox steps down from the Board after serving eight years in the organization – she is the last of the original charter members. During her term in office the organization has grown exponentially and is a highly successful and efficient animal welfare society serving not only Placencia but also other villages around the area.
Marcia thanked each member of the outgoing Board for their support and unique contribution to PHS’s outstanding success. She felt confident that the new Board will continue with the momentum that has been created.
The new Board is Mary Smith (Co-Chair and returned member), Pamela Keck (Co-Chair and returned member), Madalon Richardson (returned Board Member), Mary Anne Kaye (returned Board Member) and Penny Hughes (new Board Member).
2007 Board of Directors
Placencia Humane Society
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Chapter 6 Meeting the Doctor
We continued with our outside adventures on a daily basis now – we all loved the beach and surprising all of us, Macho learned how to swim. He and Champ would rush into the water and spend the time together splashing and swimming. Champ had taught Macho how to jump up on his back and Macho would ride along, almost dry, while Champ did the swimming and Macho was going along for the ride.
The Beautiful Lady laughed so much when she saw the two of them doing that, and it made us all laugh (I bet you didn’t know that we laugh!). These were such happy times.
One day Champ rushed in to tell us that the next weekend was when the Doctor would be visiting the area. Well! “What’s all that about” we wanted to know.
Champ explained that once a month a very nice man came to the village to take care of all the animals. “Well, we’re just fine, thank you very much” we said. “We don’t need to see anyone, kind man or not, because we have a very kind Beautiful Lady to take care of us”.
Champ laughed and explained that although the Beautiful Lady loved us and gave us food and drink she wasn’t able to take care of our other needs. “What other needs” I asked. “What is more important than food and drink and a warm loving place to live?”
Champ laughed again. Someone has to see that you are healthily he explained and this is what the nice man does – he is a Doctor and is called a Veterinary Surgeon.
Now, of course we were very scared when we heard those big words. What did all this mean and what, if anything, was the person going to do to us. We talked about nothing else for the remainder of the week, and then suddenly it was Friday. That night we huddled together not knowing what was going to happen the next day – we did not sleep well..
Inevitably, the weekend dawned and the Beautiful Lady brought in our ‘flying machine’ - that is what we had started to call the box that the Beautiful Lady put us in when she wanted to take us anywhere because when we were in it we felt as though we were flying through the air.
We were bigger now and didn’t need to be lifted into the box - well all except Curley who was still very tiny and thin. When we were all in the box, the Beautiful Lady picked up the flying machine and took us to her car – and then we were on our way.
We were all troubled – the last and only time we had been in the car was when we had been transferred from the cold, damp place to our new home. I am embarrassed to say we all started crying until too until it suddenly dawned on my that that the Beautiful Lady would never let anything bad happen to us and so I told my brothers and sisters to stop crying immediately and look forward to this new experience. I said this with more confidence than I felt I have to tell you as I too was very, very scared.
But the Beautiful Lady seemed to know we were concerned and spoke quietly and lovingly to us – “Don’t be afraid” she said and then she turned and spoke to me directly saying “Now Pee Wee, you must reassure your brothers and sisters that nothing bad is going to happen to them” – so I repeated what the Beautiful Lady had said to me and than my brothers and sisters became calm. But the journey wasn’t a happy one.
Suddenly the car stopped. The Beautiful Lady opened the door and lifted the ‘Flying Machine’ out of the car. “Let’s go” she said, and off we went. The big question on all of our minds was: ‘Let’s go WHERE?”
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