MARVET Mexico July 8-18 2012

Saturday, July 7^th 2012

Again, I boarded another plane to take me away to a far away country to continue my adventures in my animal world dream.  Two short plane trips had me in Cancun, Mexico. I then arranged for transportation via bus to  Playa del Carmen, a town about an hour away.  But I ran into 3 other students attending the MARVET program.
MARVET (Marine Veterinary Medicine) is an educational program offering introductory courses in marine animal medicine for veterinary students and veterinarians who would like to become more acquainted with the expanding field of marine animal health and conservation medicine. Workshops provide lecture and hands-on workshops.
The MARVET two-week program I am currently attending is in Playa del Carmen, Mexico [Yucatán Peninsula]) and is hosted Dolphin Discovery. 
I arrived at the Hotel Cielo on Sunday & we reeived a welcome dinner by the Two main organizers of the workshop: Dr. Petra & David.  The founder of MARVET was also there (Dr. Raymond Tarpley, DVM.)
The pictures below are mainly of my wanders around this torrist-y area (near the hotel) between the time of our arrival and the dinner.  -SORRY MY PICTURES ARE NOT LOADING HERE!

 We have to teach them how to spell our name correctly. This was in one of the gelato shops on 5th avenue.

 This was a family paying to get there picture taken with a lion cub.  These men had several wild cat cubs just in a corner in the streets.  A tourist trap -- please don't encourage this!!!

 Go vets!!

Sunday, July 8th, 2012
The first day was mainly lectures given by Dr. Tarpley at Dolphin Discovery.   
  
Monday, July 9th 2012 
Today we got a tour of the fish house, which is where all the feed preparation for the animals is preformed. 
We had more lecture, but I did get to swim with manatees!  The first time I've been able to do that.  In Mexico, they are allowed to train the manatees.  Dolphin Discovery does interaction programs with dolphins, manatees, sea lions, sharks, & stingy rays.  The trainers let us to a physical exam on the manatees and then we got to free swim with them feeding them lettuce. 

Tuesday, July 8th 2012
We actually helped with the morning fish preparation today.  Then we got to watch an ultrasound performed on a dolphin who is 9 months pregnant.  Dolphins usually have a 12 month gestation period.
We had more lecture.

Later in the afternoon, we watched the trainers capture one of the dolphins (Lulu), pull her out of the water, & then the Senior Veterinarian performed an endoscopy.  Lulu is a 40 year old female (so pretty old & use to this type of event).  The procedure went very smoothly & the scope looked great. 

Last days in Africa

So, I'm now a elephant observationist, personal elephant photographer, & personal elephant seamstress.  I made a poor attempt to sew 2 airplane blankets to a horse blanket trying to design a night gown for my little Bezi.  I'm sure not due to MY abilities, it fell apart during the night.  Bezi was sent to his own room last night because Suni keeps him up and night & Bezi is a screamer.  It took a loving keeper's presence to get Bezi use the idea, but all went well. 

Football (aka soccer for us silly Americans) is all the thing right now.  Zambia plays this afternoon and the keepers are arranging for a tv to be brought to the elephant boma.  This game determines if Zambia will go to the world cup -- it's a big deal.  All the keepers are in their zambian scarves - even though it is quite warm now at 1:00pm.  Our supervisor has also left me to go see the game live, so I'm in charge today! Heaven help us! :)  I can't believe I leave to return to the US tomorrow.

Nyanja

No charging elephants today, but I'm trying to learn a few words of Nyanja before heading home.  "Zikomo" = "thank you."  Monzi = water.  Mwakambwaji = good morning.  The pictures are of Suni with her new leg wrap & then the 2nd picture is of the 3 oldest elephants in the Lusaka location:  Maramba, Kavala, & Mucolole. 

Don't mess with elephants!

So I was charged by an elephant today & thrown across the path but I now have an exciting tale to put in my blog.  Luckily, it didn't hurt too much, but I think I will be sore tomorrow.  The fascinating life of a wildlife vet!

We also had one of the keepers give a speech since it is Jackie's last day & another keeper wrote a song for her.  Both were really touching.  It was a sweet sad goodbye & I still have a few days.  I love my EOP family, charging eles and all. 

Elephant observations

One new thing that I'm doing is starting an elephant observation study.  There are 2 types, one where I observe a single elephant & record his/her actions every 5 minutes & then there is a group observation study where I record the groups actions every 5 min.  It has been really interesting.  I have also gotten to interact with the keepers more.  I am also doing data entry for the elephants & it has allowed me to get to know more about the elephants. 

My Baby Eles

I love my baby eles! It was so good to see them again.  I did a little of everything - prepared the milk, fed, helped with wound treatment, helped a little with Jacki's research project.  We also had a lot of visitors, which is really good not only to educate the public but also to get donations.  EOP is operated only through donations.  Liz, says she is trying to set a record for donations!  Cross our fingers! 

Livingston

We headed out from the Bush on Thursday morning.  It was sad to say goodbye to all the keepers and staff. 
But we went to Livingston so the leaders could attend meetings.  And I got to do some sightseeing.  I got to go see lions, cheetahs, & other cats at this "walk with the cheetah" center.  I didn't actually walk with them though.  Rachael rescued one of our elephants with the manager of the facility.
I went on a "walk with the rhino" safari in the National Park and went to see the Victoria Falls.  We rode in another bumpy truck thru the park then we walked to hunt down the rhinos.  We found a mother and calf.
The Falls was beautiful!  But we got soaked! My favorite part was when we hiked down to see the bottom at a spot called the "melting pot". 
We did a little socializing that night.  I even met some medical students from the UK on a boat cruise!  Ooh la la :)

Saturday, we drove the long 7 hr + drive back to Lilyai (Lusaka).  I can't wait to see my baby eles this morning!