Santo Angel Deparasitization - Good to be back

In 2011 we began to solidify our presence in Habana Vieja.

Working with the Oficina del Historiador Ciudad de la Habana and 

Sociedad Civil,Patrimonio, Comunidad y Medio Ambiente

we came to know of Gilberto Valladares Reina (aka Papito) 

and his community project

Artecorte

Barrio Santo Angel was a neighbourhood being rejuvenated.

Papito and Artecorte were the driving force behind change.

Here is a peek at our visit.

Later in 2011 we returned to help celebrate the renovation and reopening of the neighbourhood 

Consultorio Veterinario.

On September 28, 2011 we held mass deparasitization for the community and Habana Vieja.

It was a sight to behold.

486 registered .. we treated more.

Mass deparasitization events are usually the final event 

of one of our campaña weeks.

For World Spay Day Week 2018 we held two.

One to kick off the week ... another to close out the week.

 To start the week, at our request, we were back in Santo Angel with Artecorte.

This neighbourhood has certainly been transformed and

 a must see if you visit Havana.

It was wonderful to be welcomed back.

Terry - Spanky Project
Papito- Founder Artecorte  
Dr.Luis (Luisito) - Zoonosis Habana Vieja
Dr.Yoel - Veterinarian Aquarium de la Habana Vieja

Zoonosis gets a bad rap.

It is the agency which collects strays in the streets.

Some of the methods of some of the workers give it that reputation.

 But, Luisto awesome.

He is Zoonosis' veterinarian for Habana Vieja.

 He always brings rabies vaccine to our campañas and helps out.

 Here, he's handing over the rabies vaccination certificate.

Papito, Adriana and Artecorte made this a fun day.

There was something for everyone.

We had clowns!!!

Dra.Marina does not appear to be a fan of clowns.

There were also contests.

Here's the winner of "My pet looks like me".

 It was a great morning.

We were all very happy with the day.

135 dogs/cats were treated.

And you wondered about the SCISSORS

Scissors For Cuba

 Please help us to continue providing these free services to 
Cuban communities

 and the animals that live within them.

Our sterilization campaña took place between the two deparasitizations.

We sterilized, deparasitized and vaccinated 156 pet cats

Our second mass deparasitization of the week was in the heart of Habana Vieja at...

Civil Society for Heritage, Community and the Environment

SCPCMA

Sociedad Civil,Patrimonio, Comunidad y Medio Ambiente

When the last puppy was served...

Canadian Veterinary student Jaime Yoon bought us

 all churros.

 A huge thank you to 

Dr. Lorraine Chalkley

Southfork Animal Clinic,Murphy Texas.

She contacted her suppliers and they came through with a huge donation of flea/tick prevention.

On the week here are the totals

Animales	Lugar	Esterilizados	Desparasitados/Vacunados
Gatos	Quinta de los Molinos	156	156
Perros y gatos	Barrio Santo Ángel	-	135
Perros y gatos	SCPCMA	-	152
Total		156	443

US Tax Receipts are issued when you donate here.

Calm After The Storm

The original plan was to arrive in Havana September 27 for our sterilization Campaña scheduled for October 2 -5.

With hurricane Irma hitting areas of Cuba hard it was decided to head down a week early.

We put out a call for support and you came through.

Pain control, antibiotic, anti-parasitics were the core of the supplies.

Also syringes, needles and shampoos.

Loaded with hurricane relief supplies purchased with a flash fundraiser we flew in a week early.

Upon arrival one of our bags was marked for secondary inspection.

All bags entering Cuba are scanned before reaching the baggage carousel.

"MX" alerts the inspector to look for medicines.

If you have an "AX" on your tag they are looking for food.

We were secure in the fact we would enter without issue.

None of our supplies were restricted or prohibited.

Also, the weight of our medications was under the 7kg limit for duty free entry.

Spanky Project is well known at Jose Marti Airport both with Customs and the Veterinarians so that made for a smooth exit.

Havana was eerily calm.

Yes it was low season but obviously many had canceled their visits.

 The Malecon, seaside drive, was closed.

 Dr. Zeynep Guleryuzlu dare not cross the line 

for fear of being whistled off by the military on guard.

 Irma's storm surge flooded blocks into the Vedado district and affected other areas.

 Vegetation in the Prado area was killed off.

Havana weathered the storm better than other areas of Cuba.

Our Havana team reported that our furry friends had fared well.

Sad to say the human side had their loses.

The third story of a already deteriorated building collapsed onto a bus killing three.

As the week progressed Havana regained it's vigor ..

 ... and life returned to normal.

Normal for us in Havana includes ...

... meetings.

The Sociedad Patrimonio, Comunidad y Medio Ambiente (SPCMA) is an NGO operating under the Oficina del Historiador.

They are the collaborating Cuban structure coordinating our activities.

Visas, import permits, permissions and activity locations are just a few administrative activities they manage.

A huge thank you to Martha Oneida Pérez Cortés - SPCMA President

Dr.Zeynep - Turkish veterinarian Team Spanky

 Martha - President SPCMA

Terry Shewchuk -Founding Director Spanky Project

Audrey Mabie - President Spanky Project USA

Going forward we are working on a program called the 

"Urban Animal Management Plan".

It's a pilot project being developed in Habana Vieja.

Also we are developing the 

Cuban Disaster -Veterinary Relief, Recovery and Support Program.

The future is bright for Cubans helping their animals.

We need your to help secure the future.

For Canadians a tax receipt will be issued for online donations at

CanadaHelps

and for cheques mailed to...

Spanky Project

172 Main St.

Suite 301

Picton ON  K0K 2T0

Canada

We ask that donations from around the globe use the above information.

EXCEPT for those in the USA. 

A tax receipt will be issued for online donations to

Spanky Project USA

or for checks mailed to

Spanky Project USA

2823 Colorado St

Long Beach, CA 90814

USA

GRACIAS

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.