This summer I traveled all the way to Chaing Mai, Thailand
for a veterinary program through Loop Abroad. During the first week, I stayed
at ENP (Elephant Nature Park), which is a rescue sanctuary for approximately 40
Asian elephants. Many of these elephants were landmine victims, abused, and/or
logging and trekking workers. These amazing creatures are being given a second
chance at a better life. While there, I prepared the elephants’ meals, created
medicine balls out of hundreds of bananas, cleaned and treated an elephant’s
abrasions, went tubing down a river, visited a village school, bathed
elephants, cut down corn stalks with a machete, scooped elephant poop, and
attended a Thai culture class.
During the second week, I stayed at the Spicy Thai Hostel,
located in the true city of Chaing Mai. Most days consisted of driving out to
ARC, a dog/cat shelter, to learn about some aspect of veterinary care. I
learned how to draw blood for the first time, how to find and calculate a heart
rate and respiration rate, how to diagnose and treat common canine/feline
diseases, and how to carry out a heartworm test. I also observed a leg surgery
that was done on a dog that had been presumably cut with a machete, as well as
an eye surgery that was done on another dog that was unable to fully open its
eyes. Lastly, I assisted in two neutering surgeries, one of a dog and one of a
cat. For the dog neutering, I administered a pre-anesthetic before operating
and then scrubbed in for surgery. Needless to say, it was very hot wearing
latex gloves, a face mask, and a hairnet in Thailand’s summer climate, without
air conditioning.
In our free-time, we were able to experience Thailand’s
culture by going to more tourist-like attractions. We visited the night
markets, a couple of malls, various Thai temples, and an orchid and butterfly
garden. We also hiked up Doi Suthep Mountain (took 3.5 hours!), watched a
cabaret show, swam in a waterfall, released paper lanterns (like in the Disney
movie Tangled), stayed at a Thai hotel, and walked through underground caves.
One of my favorite things we did that week was visit Tiger Kingdom, a tiger
reserve, where we were able to interact with tiger cubs, as well as full grown
tigers.
From having two flights cancelled and having to drive all
the way up to New York, to sitting on a fourteen hour flight, to meeting
amazing people from all over the world, this trip was absolutely amazing and
something I’ll never forget.
