Oweekeno In-Field Sterilization Clinic
20 - 21 June 2008

The Big Heart Team is now back from a successful sterilization clinic in Oweekeno, BC!

What a whirlwind our few days were in this beautiful community where we achieved our goal of a coalition coming together with one focus, one passion, that of humane animal welfare for companion animals in this remote under-served First Nations community.

A small team consisting of Julie (vet tech) Leo (RAVS Vet) Jim (Small Creatures Pet Clinic) Gail (BHR) and Melanie (Summerlee) held a dinner meeting on June 18th so we could begin to formalize the final plans for our exciting adventure that was about to begin. Details were worked out and as the meeting closed we looked forward to an early start in the morning where we would meet at the South Terminal in Richmond.

We began our journey on June 19th as the entire team including Cricket and Kate, Director's with BHR meet at the counter of Pacific Coastal Airlines (our favourite airline of all time!) and with a quick introduction, an unloading of approximately 1000 pounds of equipment, supplies, groceries and gear we boarded our plane for the first leg of the journey.

Landing safely in Port Hardy we meet Dr. Michael Paul who lives and practises in this community. And soon we were off on our chartered 9 seater "Goose" with a chartered "Beaver" following behind us with extra supplies that could not fit on the Goose.

Upon landing in the ocean the plane was slowly directed to the pier where we unloaded and re-loaded all the supplies into an awaiting van being driven by a Oweekeno health nurse. Off we went along a VERY bumpy road heading to the logging camp where we dropped our personal belongings and groceries.

As we began to head towards the village Kate was the first one to spot a Grizzly bear wadding in a stream. What an amazing sight to see such a beautiful beast out in the wilderness, foraging for food and appearing not to have a care in the world.

Upon arriving at what would be our clinic for the next two days we set up the surgical, receiving, recovery, health check and drug areas of what was once a daycare centre in a double wide mobile home but had been graciously provided to our team to use while we served the community.

After a very long evening we left to head back to the logging camp to have a meal and get some rest before our doors opened early Friday morning. Back at the clinic a team meeting was held and specific duties assigned, Kate would assist Dr. Snyder with intake and health checks, Cricket would be in the recovery area along with Melanie, Gail was the runner, chauffer and gopher and obviously the vets and tech already knew their roles.

Our first clients of Friday morning arrived bright and early to find out what the clinic was all about and soon 2 cats would under-go sterilization. We began to fall into our respective roles and gained a comfort level with each other as we learned from each and every team member that brought with them their own sets of skills to contribute to this initiative.

Things began to slow down and so it was off with the health nurse to begin knocking on doors and letting folks in town know we were open for business. When we arrived back at the clinic we meet our guardian angel Maggie and her children. Maggie showed us how to work the walkie talkie's that are used throughout the community for communication, she introduced us to many members of Oweekeno and helped us to understand who was who.

Also, we fell in love with Maggie's very special daughter Sabrina, a 12 year old girl with a heart as big as we have ever seen! This little girl had earned money looking after pets and grooming them since last year. She had worked so hard and saved all the money she had earned only to present it to Big Heart Rescue as a donation! Well, the tears flowed and each member of the team was beyond touched by her generosity and love for the innocent. Sabrina was presented with BHR T-shirts, stickers and a full surgical outfit that she could wear at Halloween.

Sadly we learned from Maggie that starting last year most of the female dogs in the community had been culled and this is why the clinic was so slow on Friday. With this information we knew we had made the right decision to come to Oweekeno and provide a sterilization clinic because a cull would never happen again. Maggie will watch over the community and if female pups are brought in we will make arrangements to send them out by plane while they are small enough (large dogs/crates do not fit on these planes) and have them spayed with Dr. Paul at North Island Vet Hospital and then returned safely to her guardians.

Saturday started with a slow and steady build up of clients and we were thrilled to have sterilized 14 dogs and cats on this day. The vets also did an additional 8 wellness checks so in total there was 22 wellness checks and 16 sterilizations.

One of our favourite mascots goes by the name of Snowball. He adopted the team and joined us back at the logging camp and waited all day until he was ready for surgery. Snowball was matted so after his surgery he had a great shave down and looked like a brand new dog. He now wears a lumberjack fleece coat to keep him warm until the mornings begin to show the true summer temperature that has yet to bless this village.

Another Grizzly was spotted on Saturday and this one was larger than the first. We also heard over the walkie talkies that a cougar had been spotted and he quickly made his exit down river and out of the village. Some team members took advantage of the quiet at night to head to the local dump and watch for the bears to show up and they were not disappointed!

With the day coming to a close at around 7:00 p.m the team then began the process of dismantling the clinic and getting ready to leave the community who had welcomed us with open arms. Finally arriving back at the camp around 11:00 p.m. a quick meal was had and we began packing the kitchen area in anticipation of an early start in the morning.

The Goose arrived at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday with the Beaver right behind and off we went to Port Hardy where we said goodbye to Michael and the rest of the team headed to Vancouver where we all went our separate ways, some to the USA, some to Vancouver and to Gabriola Island.

The team was quieter on the way home, reflecting on the time spent, the accomplishments, the challenges, the rewards and the achievement of a first, the first ever remote sterilization clinic in BC's history.

A huge thank you to every single person who supported this pilot project, who sent warm wishes, who gave financially, who provided discounts, who volunteered countless hours of their time and most importantly to the entire community of Oweekeno who allowed us the opportunity to join them for a few days and who made us feel so welcomed.

Sincerely,
The Big Heart Board of Directors