Get Me Outta Here!

A big thank you to my dear friend Sandy.
After parking at her place I was given door to door service.
Thus the light weight wear on what would be the coldest day of the year.

Once inside the terminal it was good to see our flight was on time.

I sat myself down to await my travel partner flying in from San Francisco.
Dairne Ryan, a Board Member for  Fix Our Ferals was with us in 2012.
That was when we held Cuba's first mass TNR for cats.

Fix Our Ferals is a community-based non-profit organization that promotes trap-neuter-return (T-N-R) to humanely reduce outdoor cat populations in the San Francisco East Bay.
Dairne is also the Latin American Program Director for Animal Balance.
Animal Balance does wonderful work on islands around the world.
As on two of our other Havana Campañas Animal Balance are
our invited guests.

A big thank you to Air Canada for having a generous baggage allowance on their Havana route.
I packed a 23kg bag for each team member flying out of Toronto

Well that "on time" status did not last long.

We finally departed at  9:09 PM on the coldest night of the year...

-31C

 .... arrival 12:18 AM - Sun Feb-14-2016

Perhaps next time I should check on-time performance for flights.

AC 1598 On-time Performance Summary

  On-time Performance

  Delay Statistics

On-time Arrival Performance for this Flight

---

On-time 19 31% Late 15 24% Very Late 8 13% Excessive 19 31% Canceled 0 0% Diverted 0 0% Total Flights 61

*Due to rounding approximations, values may not add up exactly to 100%

AC 1598 On-time Performance Rating Details

Overall Rating

0 of 5 Very Poor On-time: Avg. Delay: 31% 54 min

FlightStats Rating is a merit measurement considering both on-time performance and delay severity. The score, 0, shows that this flight has on-time performance characteristics better than 0% of all other flights in the FlightStats database.

On-time Performance

0 of 5 Very Poor On-time: 31%

This flight has an on-time performance of 31%. Statistically, when taking into consideration sample size, standard deviation, and mean, this flight is on-time more often than 0% of other flights.

Delay Performance

0 of 5 Very Poor Avg. Delay: 54 min

This flight has an average delay of 54 minutes with a standard deviation of 65.51 minutes. Statistically, when taking into consideration sample size, standard deviation, and mean, this flight has delay performance characteristics better than 0% of other flights.

*This flight has an average delay of 54 minutes with a standard deviation of 65.51 minutes. Statistically, when taking into consideration sample size, standard deviation, and mean, this flight has delay performance characteristics better than 0% of other flights.

With that behind us we did arrive happily on ..

 El Dia del Amor y Amistad.

My love affair with La Habana, it's animals and people continues.

We had a smooth entry thanks to the wonderful preparations by collaborating 

Cuban structures namely....

Oficina del Historiador

Instituto de Medicina Veterinaria

Grupo Exportación e Importación - Oficina del Historiador

Cooperación Internacional - Oficina del Historiador

Sociedad Patrimonio, Comunidad y Medio Ambiente

Aduana was ready for our arrival.

They had all our paperwork lined up. 

It was great to see Spanky's face at Jose Marti Airport

Once we were cleared it was off to Habana Vieja and our Casa Particulares in Guillermo'sVW van.

Susana, Spanky Project's fabulous coordinator, arranged casas for the whole team 

on the same block as our clinic.

Our MASH Clinic by night.

The days ahead will bring TNRs, spay/neuter of pets, rabies vaccinations, and deparasitizations for  dogs, cats and horses.

This would be a trip of highs and some very low lows.
I will be honest.
 This was to be the first time I returned from a Campaña and was not totally filled with joy.

Perhaps when you realize, as I did years ago, that you can't save them all ... that takes it's toll.

Then, you beat yourself up for not "saving" just one more. 

Dogs never die ...

In December 2003, after the passing of Spanky, a new dog came into our lives.

We spotted "Franny" on the Planned Pethood website.

After a near 1500 km road trip, to and from Maumee Ohio, Skeeter was home.

Her age was pegged at 8 months so we gave her a May 5th birthdate.

Cinco de Mayo.

A Mexican thread seemed to run through her life.
I will explain that in a future post.

 After losing a furry loved one we are often reminded of the 

Rainbow Bridge poem.

Stephanie Evers, a Spanky Project FB Group member, sent this little known commentary to me ....

 Some of you, particularly those who think they have recently lost a dog to “death”, don’t really understand this. I’ve had no desire to explain, but won’t be around forever and must.

Dogs never die. They don’t know how to. They get tired, and very old, and their bones hurt. Of course they don’t die. If they did they would not want to always go for a walk, even long after their old bones say:” No, no, not a good idea. Let’s not go for a walk.” Nope, dogs always want to go for a walk. They might get one step before their aging tendons collapse them into a heap on the floor, but that’s what dogs are. They walk.

It’s not that they dislike your company. On the contrary, a walk with you is all there is. Their boss, and the cacaphonic symphony of odor that the world is. Cat poop, another dog’s mark, a rotting chicken bone ( exultation), and you. That’s what makes their world perfect, and in a perfect world death has no place.

However, dogs get very very sleepy. That’s the thing, you see. They don’t teach you that at the fancy university where they explain about quarks, gluons, and Keynesian economics. They know so much they forget that dogs never die. It’s a shame, really. Dogs have so much to offer and people just talk a lot.

When you think your dog has died, it has just fallen asleep in your heart. And by the way, it is wagging it’s tail madly, you see, and that’s why your chest hurts so much and you cry all the time. Who would not cry with a happy dog wagging its tail in their chest. Ouch! Wap wap wap wap wap, that hurts. But they only wag when they wake up. That’s when they say: “Thanks Boss! Thanks for a warm place to sleep and always next to your heart, the best place.”

When they first fall asleep, they wake up all the time, and that’s why, of course, you cry all the time. Wap, wap, wap. After a while they sleep more. (remember, a dog while is not a human while. You take your dog for walk, it’s a day full of adventure in an hour. Then you come home and it’s a week, well one of your days, but a week, really, before the dog gets another walk. No WONDER they love walks.)

Anyway, like I was saying, they fall asleep in your heart, and when they wake up, they wag their tail. After a few dog years, they sleep for longer naps, and you would too. They were a GOOD DOG all their life, and you both know it. It gets tiring being a good dog all the time, particularly when you get old and your bones hurt and you fall on your face and don’t want to go outside to pee when it is raining but do anyway, because you are a good dog. So understand, after they have been sleeping in your heart, they will sleep longer and longer.

But don’t get fooled. They are not “dead.” There’s no such thing, really. They are sleeping in your heart, and they will wake up, usually when you’re not expecting it. It’s just who they are.

I feel sorry for people who don’t have dogs sleeping in their heart. You’ve missed so much. Excuse me, I have to go cry now.

- Ernest Montague

 There will be no more road trips and no more tag days.

 Adiosito mi Niña

  Ms.Skeeter Mudhen

2003 - 2016

"Dogs never die"

Earth Cries ... Heaven Smiles!

You will never die!

The Darkest Hour ....

The past couple of years have been challenging for the Spanky Project in Cuba.

Thank you all for your ongoing encouragement and support.

We have been working on the process to resume our entry into Cuba with the pharmaceuticals needed to conduct spay/neuter campañas.

Several wonderful people in Cuba have been working to get us to this point.

I will acknowledge their efforts in upcoming postings.

In October and December of this year I traveled to Havana to have high level discussions.

One of the most important was in October with the Instituto de Medicina Veterinaria.

Though not slated to attend, I was very pleased that the El Director General del Instituto de Medicina Veterinaria Dr. Jorge Luis Milian Darias (far right) lead our two and a half hour meeting.

 In that meeting we received confirmation that our list of medicines for entry was approved. 

We were also pleased that upon my request to increase, slightly, the amount for entry Dr.Milian permitted
 doubling of our list.

This doubling will allow for the spay/neuter of up to 800 cats and dogs.

I bring you this good news on a day that is an anniversary.

No not the day that Saddam Hussein was “smoked out of his hole”. 

It is  the anniversary, 13 years ago, that I had my first contact with Cubans that were helping animals.

This was the building that I visited that day

in Centro Habana

The man I met was Rafael Oliver. He started me and the Spanky Project on our journey.

Stay tuned for some major announcements resulting from these two trips. 

A new day is dawning!

I am asking for your continued support in helping Cubans help their animals.

And who knows with the détente between USA and Cuba we may have some "VetTrek" opportunities for American Veterinary personnel.

Something is fishy In Havana! That's a good thing.

Dispatches from Havana –

(On-the-spot news from Susana Hurlich, the Spanky Project’s coordinator in Cuba)

The Spanky Project, with the help of its many supporters, continues to provide assistance to the educational workshops for children carried out by Quinta de los Molinos.

Coming under the Historian’s Office of the City of Havana, Quinta – as it’s frequently called – is a centre that since 2006 has been committed to environmental education mainly for children and the community. The aim is simple yet essential: to instil the values of love, care and protection of nature, both flora and fauna.

Occupying some 4.8 hectares in the middle of the city and touching three different municipalities (Cerro, Plaza and Centro Havana), Quinta has a story that goes back to Havana’s colonial days. Today it is replete with trees (some 1,100 representing 175 species) and plants – and even some animals - that are endemic to Cuba.

Every week, some twenty workshops on a wide range of themes relating to nature take place for primary school students, elders, and children and young adults with special educational needs (Down Syndrome, Autism, Learning Disabilities, etc.) One of the workshops provided for children and youth deals with the care of ornamental fish and plants for aquariums as well as open outdoor fish tanks. Weekly, approximately twenty-one children participate. These workshops are also provided for children and youth who need special education programmes, as part of Cuba’s commitment to ensuring social inclusion for all. A recess period takes place during the summer months of July and August, with the workshops beginning again in September. Dr. Leyssan Cepero, Quinta’s dynamic and committed veterinarian, is training two teachers who will assist him with the children. Here’s an image of Leyssan sitting in front of one of the open fish tanks used in the workshops:

Dr. Leyssan with an open outdoor fish tank in the background.

Recently, and through the generous assistance of two of our Spanky Project supports (Anna from Toronto, Canada and Susan from Manhattan, New York), we were able to assist Quinta in their purchase of ornamental aquatic fish and ornamental aquatic plants for their Workshops on Aquarium (or Fish Tank) Care for Children and Youth. Of a total of CUC 179 that was provided, CUC 94 was dedicated to purchasing ornamental aquatic plants and the remainder for purchasing 484 ornamental fish that included twenty-two different species.

The fish, whose care and diet are part of what the children learn, were distributed among Quinta’s open outdoor tanks as well as several large fish tanks, the majority of which are used in the Workshops. For the ornamental aquatic plants, a total of 70 different species were purchased which were planted in the open outdoor tanks, most of which were used in the Aquarium and Open Tank Workshops, where the children and youth learned how to plant them, prune them and prepare the specific underwater substratum in which these plants are located and where they propagate. Below are images of some of the children standing around one of the outdoor open fish tanks and preparing the aquatic plants. The second image shows the aquatic plants placed in the water with several varieties of ornamental fish swimming around them.

Learning how to prepare the substratum for ornamental aquatic plants 

Ornamental aquatic plants and fish in the outdoor open tank.

Among the more common species of ornamental fish (and a few images) that were purchased are the following (with the names of their species in Spanish):

Arcoíris

Ancistus

Barbo cereza

Barbo chuberthy

Barbo rosa

Carpa

Cebra

Coridora paleatus

Danio malabárico

Escalar

Gato

Gouramis enano

Paraíso

Platy

Ramireci

Tetra cobre

Tetra ecuatoriana

Tetra emperador

Tetra limón

Tetra negra

Tetra neón

Tetra serpa

Arcoíris

Carpa

Paraíso

 Tetra neón

Among the more common species of ornamental aquatic plants (and a few images) that were purchased are the following (with the names of their species in Spanish):

Anubia enana

Aponogetum crispus

Bacopa carolineana

Bacopa monnieri

Cinta sagitaria

Criptorcorina hoja fina

Criptorcorina hoja gruesa

Cryptocorine wendtti

Eleocharis Aciculanis

Equinodorus diamante rojo

Equinodorus leopardo oxidental

Equinodorus red flame

Equinodorus rose

Heterantera zosterifolia

Higófila

Hydrocotyle sombrerillo

Hygrophila difformis

Myriophilium acuaticum

Myriophilium tuberculatum

Rotala rotundifolia rosada

Rotala wallichii

Rotala rotundifolia

Vallisneria caulescens

Cinta sagitari


 Equinodorus rose

 Rotala Willichii 

Rotalarotundifolia rosada

Note: We’ll be able to add images of the special education children working on this project in the latter part of September, when the photographer who took the images returns with the group in mid-September to begin the workshops anew.

There’s no question but that initiatives such as these are bearing fruit. One only has to see the art work created by the children in their different workshops at Quinta to see how they feel. Here’s one that says Amamos los Animales (We love Animals):

If you’d like to help Quinta’s ornamental fish and aquatic plants workshops…

Up to now, the Quinta Aquarium and Outdoor Water Tank Workshops have been able to obtain – through short-term loans from private fish breeders - small fish tanks for the practical part of the activity where the children learn how to care for fish. However, this is no longer the case. What Quinta would like to do is to arrange to have fifteen or twenty small fish tanks made that would belong to them. To make one tank costs between CUC 8 and CUC 10. Fifteen to twenty small fish tanks would thus cost a minimum of CUC 120 (for fifteen @ CUC 8) and a maximum of CUC 200 (for twenty @ CUC 10). If you’d like to assist this project – with whatever you can provide - please contact the Spanky Project.

Note- 1 CUC is more or less on par to 1 USD 

A Treasure!

A few weeks ago I was combing through an old desktop computer in preparation for disposal.

One file I came across brought back a flood of memories.

And in reading it ... a flood of tears. 

Mags Kandis my, then, longtime partner put this tribute together in memory of our Spanky.

These pictures were taken on September 1st, 2003.

We went for a visit to her favourite beach....

it was cool and cloudy--- a perfect dog day.

On September 5th 2003... we said good-bye.

Spanky is off catching frogs and rabbits........

we miss her every moment of every day.

Spanky is my other eyes that can see above the clouds;

my other ears that hear above the winds.

She is the part of me that can reach out into the sea.

She has told me a thousand times over that I am her reason for being; 

by the way she rests against my leg;

by the way she thumps her tail at my smallest smile or the slightest move;

by the way she shows her hurt when I leave without taking her.

(I think it makes her sick with worry when she is not along to care for me.)

When I am wrong, she is delighted to forgive.

When I am angry, she acts goofy to make me smile.

When I am happy, she is joy unbounded.

When I am a fool, she ignores it.

When I succeed, she brags and struts.

Without her, I am only another human.

With her, I am all-powerful and magical.

She is loyalty itself.... plain and simple.

She has taught me the meaning of unwavering devotion.

With her, I know a secret comfort and a private peace.

She has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant.

Her head on my knee can heal any and all human hurts.

Her presence by my side is protection against

 my fears of dark and unknown things.

She has promised to wait for me... whenever... wherever - in case I need her.

And I will - as I always have.

She is my dog...

She is Spanky ...

dog most loved and adored.

good bye my boobala....

These words were interpreted from a poem by Gene Hill.

Spanky 1995 - 2003

... and forever