Sea Turtles

The major wildlife rehabilitation going on St Kitts is through the Sea Turtle Monitoring Network. Cooperating with networks in Georgia and other locations in the Atlantic, the St Kitts Monitoring Network is working to save critically endangered Leatherback and Hawksbill turtles. For you guys who watched the White Coat Ceremony, you got a little background information on this project, as the director (Dr Kimberly Stewart) was our keynote speaker. For more information you can check out their website: http://www.stkittsturtles.org/www.stkittsturtles.org/Welcome.html

Both types of turtles are facing extinction due to human fishing habits as well as destruction of their nests. Hawksbill turtles, however, are hunted specifically for their scutes, or layers of their shell, that are used for making jewelry. Killing sea turtles used to be a huge problem in St Kitts, but Kimberly has made it her mission to educate the local population. Now not only has sea turtle trapping reduced, but many of the local fishermen cooperate with the organization with tagging adults and preserving nesting sites.

When i heard breeding season was beginning again, I contacted Kimberly and got myself a half-invitation to come help out with tagging and see if I have the skills it takes to join the team. I borrowed my neighbor's snorkeling gear and set out determined to convince her. 

We met on campus at 10am and set off across the island to Sandy Point, an old fisherman’s beach where only the locals really know about. When we got there we met one of Kimberly’s old turtle trapper turned rehabilitators who claimed he had seen some turtles hanging about lately.  He arrived barefoot, shook our hands warmly, then lead us down to the beach.

When we got down there I could hardly believe my eyes. The beach literally looked like a landfill. I have never seen so many plastic bottles strewn about in my entire life. There was glass, pots, broken chairs, shoes, clothes, mattresses, you name it. The local just walked along the beach like it was any old day… the rest of us exchanged looks and decided to keep our sandals on. We walked down about 5 minutes, then he pointed out over the water and told us to swim to the left. So we did. There were 8 of us in the team, and we all put on our snorkels and flippers, spread out in a line, and began our search.

I’ve been snorkeling a couple times since I came to the island. A couple weeks ago I adventured out to a new beach which I heard had the best snorkeling on the island. Sandy point, however, was by far the best I’ve ever seen. There were TONS of corals and brightly colored fish. I even saw a puffer fish! It was a shame though, because in the water was just as bad as the beach, it was totally littered with trash.

We swam along for about 15 minutes before someone spotted a turtle. He kept his eye on it, raising his hand above the water to signal for the rest of us to come over and surround it. It took 3 attempts, but finally we were able to catch it. (two people dive down under water on either side of it and literally just grab its shell with their bare hands). We all swam back to shore, careful to keep the turtle’s head out of water so it could breathe.

When we got back to shore, Kimberly was there waiting with all her tools. We worked quickly because we didn’t want the turtle to get overheated. One person even filled up a waterbottle with ocean water and repeatedly dumped it over his head to keep him cool. We measured his size and noted his general health, including a bite mark on his back right flipper and multiple barnacles that had taken up residence on his shell. 

Kimberly noting marks on the plastron (belly)

We worked quickly, but it didn't take long for the locals to see what we were doing and come down to investigate. Kimberly invited them all over to watch, and even had one of the girls help her release it at the end. 

It was a pretty amazing experience. I’ve worked with a lot of turtles both at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center and at the pet hospital in mpls, but I’ve never been so close to such a large turtle with such vibrant colors.

After the dive Kimberly extended an invitation to join the team. 

First round of exams over!!

... and my lowest grade is an 89! (oh yeah, rockit).

So sorry i haven't posted in a while. But seems about time i should fill you all in on what my curriculum is like:

I'm basically in school for 8 hours  day, every day. This semester i have:

1. Gross anatomy where we are assigned in groups of 6 to a dog cadaver. Its been pretty interesting because we are further subdivided into two groups of three, so we only dissect every other day. We still go in at the end of the class to do an end of dissection review where the other team fills us in on what they did. I really like it because #1, you don't have to do all the work, #2, you really learn it when you have to explain it to someone else, #3, on the off days we get either large animal palpation (usually horse), small animal palpation (dogs), or radiology (xrays). In most schools you don't even touch an animal until your third year. I much prefer it this way because then you dissect the muscle, you feel the muscle in a live specimen, and you see the xray of the bones where it attaches to. Its more of a well rounded teaching style, and i feel like it gets in your head a lot better when you see it over and over again in all these different contexts.
2. Microanatomy/Embryology. We have three days a week for two hours lecturing, then one day of microscopy lab for two hours. Its the most boring class by far, i have major trouble staying awake. The other problem is that its in the same room for upper semester parasitology, so you can't eat or drink in the room (don't want to contaminate yourself!) But alas, i guess its important...
3. Nutrition. umm.. enough said? We have a bunch of different specialists that come in and talk to us about the different aspects of nutrition. Like species specific stuff, disease management, and of course the basics of how do we obtain energy and digest it. Each dr has a totally different teaching style, so that took some getting used to. Especially when we had a joint exam for two drs, you have to think about who taught that section in order to know how to answer it.
4. Physiology. This kind of goes together with micro. The schedules coincide with micro so you get the same type of information at the same time in two different classes. This is more on a greater scale though, like how do all these things you have seen in a microscope fit together.
5. Intro to veterinary medicine. According to recent studies, new vet grads do not know how to communicate with their clients effectively. We talk about things like ethical dilemmas, how to get a good job and interact with your boss effectively, difficult clients, and how to avoid giving everyone a discount so you can actually pay off your loans.

I have a phone!

Its a 414 area code, so it'll be free for you to call!

Email me for the number, i'm nervous about posting it.

I should have VM on this phone too, let me know if it doesn't work.

Sunset on campus

Pumpkin

Pumpkin came into the Ross University teaching hospital with a broken leg on Halloween. The hospital treated him, but didn't know who to return him to because he didn't have any tags. Weeks went by and still no one claimed him.

Ross University is very fortunate to have a colony of dogs that they use for teaching their students. Its a very unique thing to this university, other places usually only have a few dogs, but we usually have about 15-20 at a time. This is important because students need to be able to practice techniques such as anesthesia, dental cleanings, and ultrasounds. The most fortunate part about this program is that us first semesters also get to use them to do palpations (basically learning how to do a physical exam and what "normal" feels like). Ross has a policy to start their students with hands-on animal experience as early as possible, so that by time we get to our clinical year we can concentrate on learning abnormalities instead of starting with the basics.

Its great for the dogs too, because many of the island dogs have never lived in homes before or been around people. It gives them a two years to adjust to being touched and walked on a leash. By the end of this time, they become available for adoption!!

Its a great way that Ross University helps the locals, because when people can't pay to treat their animals, they can donate them to the school and know that they will end up in a good home.

Anyways, while Pumpkin was awaiting someone to claim him, he was also used in the palpation lab. He was extremely calm and simply stood there while students lifted his arm, searched for his lymph nodes, squeezed his shoulder blades. Megan simply couldn't resist taking him home with her. After the allotted amount of time for someone to claim him, Megan was allowed to adopt him.

Needless to say, he has a pretty good life

Crater Hike

Monday was St Kitts/Nevis Independence Day, and the only holiday that Ross University recognizes enough to give us a day off for. St Kitts has some beautiful scenery, so i decided to take advantage of the extra day and attempt one of the more difficult hikes on the island, the Crater Hike.

 

Mt Liamuiga is an inactive volcano that spans the entire middle of the island. The last time it erupted was about 1,800 years ago, so needless to say there isn't much concern about hiking or living around it. The peak of the mountain has since collapesed a bit, forming a crater with a small lake in the middle. 

There were 7 of us in all (and one dog) and at 6:30am we piled into two jeeps for the 30 minute drive to the other end of the island. The start of the hike was off the road a bit, in a dirt road through the cane fields. The jeeps had some difficulty getting up the hill, which should have given us some warning as to what was in store for us, but alas, we pressed on. 

Most of the island is made up of abandoned cane fields, and although they aren't worth harvesting anymore, they add beauty and character to the island. Because the island does not produce anything for themselves (dependent entirely on import), most of their income is based on tourism. As a result, a lot of the cane fields are getting leveled to make room for tourist resorts.

 Eventually the terrain became more than the jeeps could handle, so we all piled out and continued on by foot. The cane fields eventually thinned out as we approached the base of the mountain, and the vertical ascent began.

Kitts urging us on

The further we went, the more the landscape turned to rainforest. Lots of vines, moss, and palm leaves

 

 .

The vines are so strong that you can swing out over the cliff on them like Tarzan

Eventually the canopy began to clear, and we knew we were reaching the summit

After four hours of hiking, we could finally see the Atlantic.

Below, on the other side of the cliff we could see the crater, and the small lake that has accumulated from rain during hurricane season. The next hike i plan to do will hike up the mountain and then go down to visit the lake in the center of the crater.

Well, the worst was still upon us. The descent was about twice as bad as the trip up. The path was mostly covered by plants which you could push away as you went up, but which disguised the slippery spots on the way down! It truly made my appreciate wearing my Keen sandals, because by the end we were all totally covered in mud!

On our way back to the main road, we were surprised to find a herd of goats and Egrets (white herons) had taken over the path! There were quite a few babies in the herd (one with the umbilicus still attached!). It was a great way to end the adventure!

One male overseeing the whole herd of females/babies

For Ethan

Today I received an email about some good friends of mine in Minneapolis, Ethan and Xena. This is a couple who is centrally involved in Barebones, the main company that makes the puppets for the Mayday Parade. Stefan and I have spent a lot of time with them, including our new year’s ski trip in the boundary waters a couple years ago, and I was looking forward to going again with them this year during my winter time off. They just bought a house and have started trying to have a baby. They have both been an inspiration to me in how to live my life organically, creatively, and inspirationally.

Ethan and Xena were in a car accident two days ago. Another car ran an intersection and collided with theirs. Ethan sustained major trauma to his brain and died.

How your entire perception of the world can change overnight. I have never wanted to be back at home so badly. I knew that moving so far away would be hard, but I never considered the fact it would prevent me from attending a good friend’s funeral. Life is so fragile!

Please say a prayer for Ethan, and especially for Xena, I can’t imagine how she is going to go on without him. I went down to the ocean tonight to release their spirits from my mind.

I do love it here in St Kitts. But it is hard to have your heart torn between two places.

http://www.startribune.com/local/103457574.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUnciatkEP7DhUsl

White Coat Ceremony

To view the ceremony online:

http://mediasite.rossvet.edu.kn/skmediasite/Viewer/?peid=2dbd1a3f7ccf4563abd6e783b6e6144e

Lara, Ninian, Michelle, Megan, Brittany, Jon, Melissa, Kristen, Kristina

With Josiah, our orientation leader

 By the way, this is on campus. We eat lunch overlooking the ocean. I keep telling myself " I live here." And then i smile.

the house

Last Sunday we went down to the beach for the last time before classes began. While eating dinner, a visitor came over to check us out. He was a little shy, but intent to sit at a distance and watch us.

Welcome to my humble abode!

mango tree on the left

The back yard is full of coconut trees!

The high ceilings are not only beautiful, they also help keep the house cool.

The house came fully furnished. 

Catamarans

Yesterday was the Catamaran trip! We split into two groups and sailed 2.5 miles to our sister island Nevis to go snorkeling.

Each boat held about 60 people, with nets rigged between each hull to expand the space. They also served free food and an open bar, so it was quite a welcome party. The sail lasted about 4 hours in all, with an hour to snorkel.

The mountains of Nevis

Basseterre, St Kitts

Bat Cave Hike

Campus is beautiful!! It is right on the water. This is me on the first day of orientation.








Yesterday orientation was canceled due to another tropical storm that was headed for our area (it barely rained 15 minutes, so we had the whole day for adventure!). We headed to "the bat cave" over at bloody peak. Our driver told us the history of the area that when the British and the French came to conquer the island they fought all the locals at this point. All the natives were killed and the blood ran down into the ocean.

At bloody point there is a beautiful river, and we hiked along it through a deep ravine. Our orientation leader brought his two dogs (a chocolate lab and a weimaraner). The river had huge boulders along it and at one point we had to use a rope ladder to scramble up. The dogs had harnesses and we used them to help hoist them up the rocks as well. The dogs loved it, they were running ahead and jumping into the water pools. It was quite an experience.