Woo Woo Goes To School

I am very involved in JBAR (Jaltemba Bay Animal Rescue) and we just completed a clinic in La Colonia. One main purpose of JBAR is to hold spay/neuter clinics for the locals to "fix" their cats/dogs for free. Animal population is out of control; unwanted animals put out in the streets left to fend for themselves, lack of sterilizing with animals left to breed freely, and sickly street and owned animals without any vet care. Americans and Canadians pamper their pets and take care of the health needs with annual vaccinations and check ups. The culture for pet care in Mexico is totally different as dogs are needed for security and cats for rodent and insect control.

There is such a need to educate the people about animal care that we decided the best way is to start with the children. This is how Woo Woo comes into the picture. Before our La Colonia clinic, Lacy (from Alaska), Celia (our Mexican animal foster parent), Woo Woo and I went to the La Colonia primary school (K-5) to do a presentation to each class about the importance of animal care. Coloring books in Spanish, giving valuable information about animal care, were handed out to each child and teacher. Celia spoke about the importance of what to feed, how to groom, sterilization and why, bathing, ticks/flea control, and annual vaccinations of their pets. I demonstrated brushing Woo Woo, showed the children the collar and leash and gave lots of hugs. The children soaked up the information (some attended 2-3 times), asked lots of questions, and loved touching Woo Woo. The director (principal) asked us to return two days later to present the information to administrative people visiting from Tepic. He was excited for us to visit the school because the children are currently being taught about personal health care and thought it would go hand in hand with animal care. Woo Woo was a hit and will visit more schools in the future. A great experience.


More about our clinic later.