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 A
team of doctors attended to peninsula pets over a three day Clinic
period (October 20-21-22) and saw a record number of animals – 187. Over
the same period 31 surgeries were performed in addition to the usual,
regular treatments and vaccinations. It was a huge success for pet
owners and village communities.
Comprising the Veterinary team of Doctors were Belize: Dr. Miguel
Figueroa and Dr. Edward Tesecum and US: Dr. Cliff Barnett, Dr. Anthony
Bruno, Dr. Julie White, who were supported by professional Veterinary
Technicians, Erin Harvey, Mandy Moulder, Doris Burkhart, Amy Olsen and
Chris Vinnenberg.
Our thanks to Robert’s Grove and Nautical Inn who hosted the visiting
professionals over this long weekend – PHS truly appreciates this
community support which is invaluable in helping PHS accommodate
visiting Veterinary Doctors.
PHS volunteers, as always, provided invaluable support. This month’s
team was Mary Smith, Pamela Keck, Madalon Richardson, Elsie Elder,
Stella Matthews, Maryann Kaye, Cat Hershberger, Kim Martens, Linda
Burrow, Debbie Coston, Marcia Fox and Vincent Guzman (new volunteer).
Also on the team was Jahney Peppers, a PHS Junior Member who is
interested in veterinary medicine as a career. She had an opportunity to
work one on one with Dr. Anthony Bruno and observe a number of
procedures including surgeries. Dr. Bruno thinks Jahney has a great
future in veterinary medicine.
If you own a pet please note that monthly Clinics are held on the third
weekend of each month.
If you are interested in learning more about PHS we invite you to visit
our website: www.placencia-pets.org and if you would like to volunteer
for any aspect of PHS, please call our Volunteer Coordinator, Stella
Matthews at 606-0754.
Our thanks to everyone who made this particular Clinic a huge success
Marcia Fox
President
Placencia Humane Society |
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 The
PHS Clinic volunteers were invited to attend a very special workshop
with a panel of US Veterinary Doctors and Technicians. It was held on
Friday, October 20 in the Conference Room at the Inn at Robert’s Grove
for the purpose of answering questions and providing knowledge to the
Volunteers so PHS can better serve the pet owners in the community.
PHS, for the second year running, was delighted to have an opportunity
to work with visiting Veterinary Surgeons and Professional Technicians
in providing pet medical services to pet owners on the Peninsula (see
separate PHS October Clinic report). Clinics were held on the peninsula
over the weekend of October 20/21/22.
The same team agreed once again to hold a workshop for the Clinic
volunteers – an invaluable experience for everyone. The visiting medical
team was also joined by Dr. Tesecum, who is a regular visiting
Veterinary Surgeon working with PHS programs. Veterinary Surgeons on the
panel were: Dr. Cliff Barnett, Dr. Anthony Bruno, Dr. Julie White and
Dr. Edwardo Tesecum; Professional Veterinary Technicians were Erin
Harvey, Mandy Moulder, Doris Burkhart, Amy Olsen and Chris Vinnenberg.
It was an exceptionally rewarding evening. Our thanks to Robert’s Grove
for their support in donating the use of the Conference Room for this
PHS Workshop.
If you are interested in working with PHS either at a Clinic or at other
fund raising events, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Stella
Matthews at 606-0754. For more general information about PHS and how you
can support this community service, we invite you to visit our website (www.placencia-pets.org).
Submitted by Marcia Fox, President - Placencia Humane Society
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Chapter 2
 The Awakening
I really thought I was dreaming – I woke up quite suddenly but instead
of finding myself in that cold, dirty place, I found myself to be warm
and very comfortable. It took me a few minutes to remember what had
happened.
As you know the move from that dreadful, cold place to this warm box had
seemed like a miracle. I recalled that my brothers and sisters had been
lovingly picked up by an unknown person and been given food and drink.
Oh we had been so hungry, so thirsty and so cold. Immediately however
we were given food – a kind lady had brought ‘bottles’ for each of us
and gradually as our tummies got filled, we began to get warm. It was
so delicious to have a full tummy and for the first time in our lives.
And now here we all were in new wonderful surroundings.
I stretched myself and looked around for my brothers and sisters – and
there they all were. Some sleeping, some stretching, but all of them
looking greatly contented.
A door opened and in came the same person who had rescued us the day
before. She was a beautiful lady with short curly hair and big brown
eyes. “Oh” she exclaimed on seeing me awake “what a beautiful kitten”.
It was at that moment I found out I was a kitten – if I was a kitten I
thought, was the lady just another kitten, but bigger. Or perhaps she
was our new Mama Cat. This was a mystery.
There were many mysteries, but for now, we were all hungry, again, and
as if by magic the Beautiful Lady produced five 'bottles’ of food and
each of us was held in loving arms and given a bottle of the most
delicious food in the whole world.
Could life possibly get any better, I thought. I looked at my brothers
and sisters – we were all so tiny and vulnerable (I’ve since found out
that we were about four weeks old) but I knew in my heart we were in a
safe place.
My brothers and sisters were asking me lots of questions all the time –
in truth I knew as little as they did, but they seemed to think that as
I was the oldest that I had all the answers. Nothing could have been
further from the truth; in fact I was just as mystified by events as
they were. One thing I did learn however was the reasons that Mama Cat
had never returned was because she had been killed by some very unkind
people – they thought they were having fun by throwing rocks at her –
what could Mama Cat have possibly done to make them act so bad. Was it
really possible that there were just mean unkind people in the world who
liked to kill for no reason! When I told my brothers and sisters what
had happened to Mama Cat they were all so sad – will someone do that to
us they asked. I knew it would not happen to us because somehow I
knew that the Beautiful Lady would protect us.
But the big question I couldn’t answer for my brothers and sisters was
…..”What’s going to happen to us now?” I had no control over whatever
lay ahead of us – all we could do was wait and see. But whatever it
was I vowed to take care of my family and do everything I could to keep
us all safe.
By PeeWee
(Next month: Starting to live and learning to play)
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Placencia
Humane