April 18, 2001
Local vet aids animals overseas
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Working under the most primitive of conditions, a crew of veterinarians from the United States spayed more than 80 homeless dogs and vaccinated 180 dogs and cats in the Dominican Republic one week last January.
Invited by an animal welfare organization, Friends of the Animals, Traverse City veterinarian Dr. David Burke accompanied fellow alumni, professors and students from Michigan State University's College of Veterinary Medicine to help save these 'beach' dogs' lives.
These dogs run wild but are gentle, surviving by begging from tourists and at tourist restaurants. But the government thought that the dogs were a nuisance and decided to kill them. However, Judy Liggio, Friends of the Animals president and a graduate of Michigan State's Veterinary Technology program, turned to her former instructors for help.
"The animal welfare group arranged that if the dogs could be neutered, they could be allowed to die off naturally," said Dr. Burke, whose son, Ron, a veterinary student, also volunteered on the trip. "A tremendous number of volunteers helped out down there, they wanted to save those dogs."
For an intense two days, the doctors and student assistants operated outdoors, with the sun serving as operating room lights, on rickety wooden tables propped on cement blocks with old newspapers for sheets. They operated all day in the intense heat, wearing T-shirts and shorts as no sterile operating gowns were available.
Neither spaying clinic site, which were behind the town's city hall and at a fire station, had electricity. The 'recovery room' was a series of volunteers who held the dogs until they recovered enough to stagger off, back to the beach.
The operations were technically challenging for the vets because all the dogs spayed were in heat, reflecting their constant struggle to survive.
"It was very intense, very primitive conditions," Burke said. "We did bring some equipment but it was held up at the airport so we operated by the light of sunlight filtering down through the trees."
The contrast with Burke's practice in Traverse City was marked.
"You just take things for granted here, like surgical lights, a heating pad on the operating table, sterility and monitoring equipment," he said. "It was like practicing medicine a century ago."
The residents of the town of Sousa gathered to watch the proceedings, which provided fascinating entertainment in that poor nation where $67 a month is considered a good income. Pets are a luxury not even conceivable to most residents and veterinary care is completely beyond the reach of anyone in the lower class who does own a pet. The opportunity for spaying and vaccinating cats and dogs was also greatly appreciated by the residents.
"I had traveled down there before as a tourist on a cruise," Burke said. "But it doesn't give you the feeling of the lives down there, which are so different from ours."
"They loved their pets and were all very nice and appreciative."
The team's popularity grew during their week's stay and the second day of the spaying clinic drew crowds so thick that the Army was called out to control the eager onlookers, Burke said.
"We were the best show in town and people wandered in and out of where we were operating just to watch," he added.
Despite the challenges, Burke plans to go back next year if Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine sends another team. He also plans to take sports equipment to children in the Dominican Republic, following the lead of other vets who donate soccer and baseball equipment to that country every year. Anyone interested in donating equipment is welcome to drop it off at his office at 3805 Veterans Drive in Traverse City.