Our assignment today was to roam in two areas.  In the morning, we were covering a new area, and we saw a reasonable amount of dogs and a surprisingly high number of cats.  When we set up a static point clinic, the vast majority of the pets are dogs, because they can walk their dogs over relatively easily.  People here don’t have cat carriers, and carrying the cat by hand a long way down the road isn’t feasible.  When we roam around and come to their neighborhood, however, they’ll bring their cat the short distance necessary.  The kids still have difficulty holding them, though, because cats are squirmy and terrified, having never been held much before. Like this kid struggling with this cat.  

By the time he reached us, he had gotten really badly scratched on his leg, and a little on his arm.  We had to clean his wounds with iodine and water.  He’ll be okay.  

We went to a small safari lodge here in Arusha and vaccinated the owner’s dogs.  He had two German Shepherds and a Rottweiler, and they were the sweetest dogs.  The lodge was lovely, and I could have spent the entire day there relaxing with these big sweet dogs.  

The rest of the day was pretty routine, as far as our tasks.  Announce our presence, drive through the area, come up to a home, yell from the car, “Do you have any cats or dogs that need to be vaccinated”, and depending on the answer, get out and vaccinate, or keep driving to the next house.  But we did see a fair number of kittens and puppies, and that always makes for a nice day.  

• 

• 

• 

Some areas are more scenic than others.  The areas today weren’t especially compelling, although we did pass through some lovely areas.  

And of course, the kids we encountered were their usual smiling, friendly selves, and that always makes the day pretty joyful.  

• 

• 

• 

• 

Back at the room, I tried getting a refund for my flight on KLM’s website, but that proved impossible.   I’ll probably have to take care of that when I’m back in the States.  

CONTINUE TO MISSION RABIES TANZANIA : Part 14

---

We smashed all records from previous Mission Rabies Tanzania trips, vaccinating 7,657 dogs and 1,229 cats.  Total number of animals vaccinated against rabies: 8,886.  It’s an incredible accomplishment.  To continue to do this kind of work is expensive. If you like reading these blog posts and you support this kind of work, I humbly ask for you to make a small donation if you can.  Every little bit helps.  Thank you.