A long time ago in a summer camp far, far away I learned the lesson of helping without expecting anything in return. This September I finally get to apply that lesson to animal care. I have volunteered with an organization called C.A.A.T. (the Canadian Animal Assistance Team) to go to Baker Lake Nunavut and provide no cost surgical and medical care to the pets of that community. I will be travelling with 10 veterinary technicians and one other veterinarian. Over the 9 day trip to the geographic center of Canada, we will vaccinate over 200 pets and do between 30-90 surgeries. The facilities are rudimentary so our operating theater will be the garage of the local RCMP office and we will do home and school visits to educated people on pet care.
This will be the 5th time the CAAT group has traveled to Baker Lake and all the team members except me have been there before. CAAT is an organization of dedicated volunteers who pay their own way to go to remote areas of Canada and other parts of the world to provide veterinary care to those animals who do not have a veterinarian close by. I will keep everyone informed on my trip and have many photos at our Open House here at North Hill on October 19th.
