Spay’s Anatomy: Julia Whatley, Nicole Fishman, Alexsis Bhambrah

Our team is very excited to be embarking on this life changing journey! We are looking forward to collaborating with veterinarians and their teams abroad and hope to take part in large scale sterilization initiatives, shelter medicine as well as wildlife conservation and rehabilitation. In this way, we hope to gain new skills while making a difference not only in the wellbeing of animals, but of the communities there as well. Our first stop will be in a small town outside of Guatemala City where we will volunteer with an organization called AYUDA that runs large sterilization clinics in remote areas that would otherwise have no access to veterinary care. We will then travel north to a wildlife rescue center called ARCAS in Peten, Guatemala where we will contribute to the rehabilitation of local wildlife as well as public education regarding sustainable environmental practices. We will finish our trip in Belize where we will be volunteering at the Hopkins Humane Society. We are very excited for this placement since many previous Global Vets teams have had wonderful, valuable experiences here.

Tres amigas salvajes! Autumn Kelly, Julie Hansford, Emily Tate

Our team is beyond thrilled to have the opportunity to learn first-hand about international veterinary medicine in developing countries this summer, and to provide assistance in a place we know it is much needed! Being three vet students with bachelor degrees in zoology, we have a special passion for all species that inhabit our beautiful earth, and believe they equally deserve medical care. We will be travelling to Central and South America, specifically to organizations in Belize, Costa Rica, and Bolivia! Being such a species-rich part of the world, rates of illegal wildlife trafficking and habitat loss are particularly high. This spurred the development of organizations such as a few of the ones we will be volunteering at, that have dedicated their lives to taking in orphaned and injured animals subjected to this cruelty and either re-releasing them into the wild, or giving them a forever home if they cannot be released.

As if that isn’t devastating enough, the domestic animal population that inhabits this part of the world is ever-growing, and this is beginning to have a detrimental effect on those species as well as the wildlife that are forced to live in harmony with them. For this reason, population control measures are of utmost importance with regard to cat and dog populations, and we feel privileged to have the opportunity to provide assistance to one of the few teams that are working to combat this issue as well.

Our goal as a team is to use the skills and knowledge we’ve acquired so far to help the people who run these amazing organizations every day of their lives, and provide community education, in hopes that while we are there, we can alleviate some of the burden on the local community and health care workers. Furthermore, we are excited to positively impact the well-being and health of a range of species during our adventure, and plan to make this an experience that stays with us for the remainder of our lives!