Day 4
Cat Lake is a different world yet again from that of Round Lake. The people willing to have us do surgeries are fewer, and seem to have a bit of a different attitude toward their dogs.
Animal abuse seems to be rampant here, whereas I didn’t hear much about it in Round Lake. I saw a dog with burn wounds, and heard about cats being sprayed with spray paint. To experience this first-hand is utterly nauseating. To know that these kids are doing this, whether it be out of boredom or stupidity, is heartbreaking to say the least and if I ever find the ones responsible, I may end up in jail.
It adds another reason as to why I’m here and why we take dogs out of this community. They run the risk of being mistreated on a daily basis and that is NOT alright. Education, education, education. And consequences.
Apart from all of that we had a very successful day of surgeries and vaccinations. The animals were all very well-behaved, which made our jobs that much smoother and there were people who were very helpful and really wanted the dogs to be neutered.
We had one kid, Antonio, who actually helps to rescue dogs out here and we allowed him to hang out with us and learn about what we do. Maybe if he learns that he can take his education as far as he wants, he can have a career in this field which he obviously adores.
Swimming was supposed to happen after a hard day’s work at the clinic, but instead we attended an “Elder’s tea” where we got to meet the elders of the band and also meet the two police officers in charge of Cat Lake.
This turned into a few hours of bonding with the officers, where we got a tour of the dump from the back of the cruiser, looking for bears. Listening to the two people in the front do a Yogi Bear impression over the loudspeaker had everyone crying tears of laughter. We never did meet the fluff-ball, but we had a great time nonetheless. I admire the work the officers do out here, what with putting up with rampant vandalism, drunks, and domestic violence. Usually, there is only one officer here to look after the 600 residents. I don’t know about you, but I might be a little wary if I were in their shoes.
Our team is really starting to have a great sense of camaraderie now that we are getting a bit worn out and have had a chance to spend a lot of time together. This really is a great team of animal lovers just out to work as hard as they can for these dogs.
We will hopefully have another full day of surgeries on the schedule for tomorrow, but it can be hit or miss at times. Either people forget, or they just can’t be bothered to bring their dog for their free spay/neuter, vaccine, and parasite control.
Also, one of these times we will hopefully be able to A) swim, but more importantly B) go fishing. I doubt the latter, as recreation isn’t what we are here to do. I’m sure we will find a spare hour to go for a refreshing dip in the pristine lake while we’re here. How I would love to fish up here though…
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