Community Day

by Luke, in Grenada
16th April, 2009
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Big community day – heading to the poorest communities of Grenada. Large mix of fairly scary looking pit bull terriers and other rangy street dogs. Lot of skin problems, one dog had been bitten by a mongoose, another had a foreign body between it’s toes (which we sedated and flushed), couple of TVT’s (transmissible venereal tumours) – course of vincristine and arranged to be neutered, and the standard array of bite wounds and flea, tick and worm infestations. One chap we met runs a rum shop/bar out of a shack, big fella with dreads and a large gold tooth – came out first with a huge pit bull terrier proudly telling me it had killed ten other dogs that had come onto his territory – he then returned moments later with a little cavalier king charles spaniel which he sheepishly brought me for treatment (had KCS – dry eye). Big tough guy with his tough dog for show and then his little lap dog he clearly dotes on. Really sweet little dog. I have my suspicions that his big pit bull isn’t quite as fierce as he made out as well, it wagged its tail like mad when I was examining it and it seemed almost as soft as the little CKC! He was a very friendly guy as well so I think the bravado was a bit for show for the crowd as much as anything else.

People are really friendly and seemed very happy for us to pitch up and do the treatments. Didn’t see any real signs of cruelty or abuse, more neglect and ignorance as is normally the case. Amazing to dip just over the hill, not a mile from the luxurious coast and white sandy beaches to find just impoverished wooden shacks that no tourist would ever realise were there. All the kids were flying home made kites which made dazzling displays above us as we worked.

Rest of the team are on form. Clive is deep in the zone wearily rolling his eyes every time I try to mix two drugs in the same syringe whilst trying to carefully steer me on the right track as I fire out drugs and treatments to any animal that comes in range. It’s great to have his help on the clinics, despite me corrupting his perfectionist approach to each case, he’s a huge asset with the tricky ones and it’s brilliant having someone to bounce ideas off. Adam seems pretty chilled which is great, Nathan is carrying stuff a lot and I think Marc’s a bit worried about gripping stories so fingers crossed we find something really hardcore to get stuck into on Carriacou where we are heading by boat tomorrow.

Lesson #4: Five beers don’t cost $20 on Carriacou

by Nathan the Assistant Producer, in Grenada
17th April, 2009
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The highlight of today will have to be the rescuing of a hawksbill turtle and releasing it back into the sea. They’re a critically endangered species and it was pretty lucky of us to be able to film one. However, as I’m sitting here on the veranda looking out over the beautiful beach that is directly in front of us all I can think about is the fact that I paid $20 for five beers from a bar by the beach after we filmed the turtle. The sun had obviously got to me and I thought I was back in London in some trendy media bar! I’ll never be in charge of our group money again… or maybe that was my plan…

Carriacou!

by Luke, in Grenada
17th April, 2009
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I’m writing today’s entry sitting on the balcony of our apartment about fifty metres from the beach. The sun seems to be almost reluctant in its gradual sinking descent below the horizon, there is a cool Caribbean breeze gently coming in off the sea and it’s by far the most relaxing evening of the trip to date. Adam is getting to grips with the night camera whilst teaching us some handy Italian phrases that you would never repeat to your Mother, Nathan is composing a Spanish love letter to his current favourite senorita, Marc is shaving his beard and Clive is stressing about a misbehaving locum who is supposed to be manning his practice back home.

Carriacou is a world apart from Grenada, it’s almost like stepping back in time. Everyone is very relaxed, there are a lot less people and the vibe is very much Caribbean time. This isn’t quite as bad as Africa time, but it’s a close run thing.

The big thing that happened immediately after our arrival on the island (the largest of the Grenadines) – was that we rescued a critically endangered hawksbill turtle from a local fisherman under the direction of Dario who runs the KIDO foundation. I instinctively liked Dario, his enthusiasm and outspoken passion for conserving the turtles second to none and he rattled off about a million facts about hawksbill turtles before we had even got the poor creature into the boat. Sadly the fisherman had cracked its plastron but we think it should heal fine and to be very honest, the options for hospitalisation and treatment for a 45year old female hawksbill turtle are limited. Clive has seen innumerate tortoises recover from those sort of injuries without any additional treatment so fingers crossed she is okay.

It was an amazing experience to be involved in the whole process and one I won’t forget in a hurry. They are beautiful creatures that are often caught up in the fishing lines that lace the islands reefs and corals. Although illegal for non-locals to catch them (they are CITES listed with over 90% of their population having been wiped out in the last ten years) under Grenada Fisheries law it is actually LEGAL for locals to catch turtles, from September 1 to April 30 (the only ‘year round’ protected turtle is the Leatherback (also because there is little demand locally, few people actually enjoy its oily tough meat). So during the legal hunting season Kido purchases the live turtles, which would otherwise suffer abominably for three/four days on their back, dragged all about before being finally put out of their misery (to date they have rescued 261 mature turtles).

There is no other way he can get the turtles off the fishermen and it’s a society of chilled compromise where strong arm tactics would never work. I admire his tenacity and although a very controversial way to try to protect them, he is pragmatic about what he can do and what will work. Once we had the turtle three miles out to sea, to avoid any more fishing lines, we popped her back in the water and she swam off at incredible speed. An amazing experience.

Eggs and nesting turtles are illegal to tamper with at all times. Unfortunately enforcement is non existent and since the eggs are supposedly an aphrodisiac they are prime targets, Kido patrol the beaches between march and August and their presence on the nesting beaches, community vigilance and  training of local youths is proving to be effective. The grand plan is that we will join them one night this week so fingers crossed it all works out.

Sadly there was also a catastrophe today. It transpires that Bruce can’t buy beer. He has no concept of money and managed to pay over three times the asking price for a round of tiny bottled beers. In short, he can’t be trusted with such incredibly important tasks and has taken a verbal beating from all of us for a good couple of hours (and will continue to do so tomorrow probably).

Relentless Dario

by Luke, in Grenada
18th April, 2009
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Hot day, I kicked off with a quick cat castrate at the clinic and the crew did some GVs (general views) in town. We then got the stuff together and met up with Charlene who is one of the islands agricultural workers. Essentially she is one of the islands unofficial vets (there are two agricultural workers – Charlene and Princess who work under the direction of Mr Moses). They travel around the island treating sick animals as best they can. Under resourced but government funded, they treat what they can and make the best of the situations they’re presented with. Sadly, their lack of drugs leads to some welfare issues. A dog that was euthanased for attacking a sheep was killed with some Epsom salts I/V – a bad death, I’ve promised to leave Charlene with some lethobarb so at least they can make a clean job of things. it’s tricky because they aren’t a charity or non-profit organisation, they are a government funded programme that is poorly equipped and under staffed. I can’t change that and although not technically the right thing to do, I am going to give them some drugs because I simply can’t bear them euthanizing the animals like that. I’m working on trying to get them to stop operating and leave that to volunteer teams because none of them are vets and they are doing the job on virtually conscious animals with no pain relief. There are no laws to prohibit them doing this so it needs to be positive cooperative action and I think they‘ll actually be fairly relieved when the volunteer teams come to give them a hand with the huge workload they have on. I liked Charlene, although not having the drugs or the training, she clearly did care about the animals which is why she brought the issue up withy me. She was light hearted and also very keen to show us around and visit cases that her team and the GSPCA are struggling with.

The GSPCA isn’t geared up to help livestock – all the vets tend to be small animal, so it was a good opportunity for us to get stuck in. We visited a sheep that had been mauled by a dog, built a wallow for a pig with sunburn, saw a goat with a huge inguinal hernia, and I tried to sort out a kid (baby goat) with bilateral contracted tendons. Desperately sadly, I couldn’t fix it with a simple operation as there was some bony fusion and other genetic abnormalities that meant despite anaesthetising it and trying to cut the tendons, I had to put it to sleep. I was so disappointed about it and it was heartbreaking to see the Mother goat calling for her baby which I had just taken away and ended up euthanizing but if left, that little baby goat would have grown deformed, twisted and ended up with huge pressure sores on the sides of its legs. It was a kill or cure operation and just desperately disappointing that I couldn’t have had a better result.

We also met back up with Dario who had rescued another hawksbill turtle – he is a great guy, really enthusing about his protection of these critically endangered animals and a very likeable man. It’s a controversial thing to effectively buy the turtles off the fishermen but the bottom line is that although he will come under criticism for the way he is trying to protect these animals, at least he is actually doing something and making a stand.

There aren’t any other options available and I admire him for his courage and passion. Combining this work with the school education puppet shows that he runs around the island performing, I think Dario and Marina are together solely responsible for bringing awareness to the locals of the problem.

Adam got some great shots and Marc had a whirl with the underwater camera so fingers crossed it makes the cut.

Really hot day and we were all exhausted by the end of it, went for a quick swim to cool down and debrief on the events – we’re all on tender hooks for a night call to go and look at nesting turtles so fingers crossed it happens!

Very exciting news at home – spoke to Cords and Noah has started walking! Can’t wait to see him in action!

Gotta love bureaucracy

by Ces the Aerials Producer, in Grenada
20th April, 2009
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Spent all day yesterday sorting out all the logistics for our shoot tomorrow morning and I can safely say that even on a tiny island nation such as this there is a muddle of bureaucracy to get through before the necessary permits can be cleared. I was sent on a jolly merry-go-round from the Airport Authority to the Board of Tourism, from there to the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, from there back to the airport and then onto the the Ministry of Carriacou, before going back to the Tourism Board and finally onto the Prime Minister’s Ministry. What a trek, but in the end we finally got our clearance to fly, hurrah! Now all we need is good weather tomorrow or I might be facing that all over again.

Lesson #5: TV captures moments and also loses them

by Nathan the Assistant Producer, in Grenada
20th April, 2009
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We’ve been on Carriacou now for three days and there is a very relaxed atmosphere around the island. This has meant that although there have been some good stories it’s been hard to enthuse the locals into what we are doing. However we’ve managed to get some bits that I think will make an amazing programme and we still have a day to catch up on items in Grenada and hopefully find some more interesting cases.

Whilst we’ve been on Carriacou we’ve looked at the plight of critically endangered sea turtles: seeing how they are rescued and released back into the sea, filming them underwater and last night (at 3am) we filmed a leatherback turtle leaving her eggs on the beach. I don’t want to complain too much because it was a privilege to see such a sight, but on my way back to the apartment it dawned on me that sometimes with TV you don’t really experience these wonderful moments to the full. The crew is so caught up in getting it filmed correctly that we’re all stressed and not truly appreciating what is in front of us. And I think that’s a shame.

German efficiency

by Luke, in Grenada
20th April, 2009
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Dipping into the seas of the Carribean to swim with turtles was an incredible experience and we were very lucky to spend some quality time with JP and Clare from Lumbadive.

Who would have imagined I would get time on a WVS trip to go diving! It was lovely to see the turtles in their natural environment – swimming gracefully in the ocean depths rather than having been caught up in a net, dumped on the beach, flipped up on their backs and left to cook in the sun. A very sad ending for a 45 year old turtle.


As much as the islanders are nice, relaxed people, I will never agree with the base line level of cruelty with which they treat these beautiful animals. The hawksbill and leatherback turtles are critically endangered and registered as CITES 1 and despite it being part of the culture here, to hunt and kill these creatures, it is something that seems so ruthless and unnecessary.

Despite being one of the poorest countries in the Carribean, no one on the island seems to be short of food. Having said that, it’s not solely because of the islanders that these turtles are endangered – it is because the big fishing ships and the drift nets that round up more turtles in a day than the islanders take in a season, but every step counts on a long hard journey and it’s thanks to people like Dario and Wendy who are making a stand to try to turn things around, that the awareness is getting out there.

Adam and Nathan had never been diving before and JP took them into the sea to try it out – they both seemed to really enjoy it – fairly hardcore having your first dive in 20metres of water in the Caribbean sea! Adam, Clive and I also managed to get ourselves quite sunburnt on our backs from being perched on the edge of the boat for about an hour. The sun is phenomenally strong here and we are all sitting a bit tenderly this evening – with the exception of Marc who had already applied five layers of sunscreen on himself at 4.30am this morning just before he put his towel on the boat. German efficiency wins again. Back slapping has been forbidden – although I’m wary of Bruce Lee sneaking up on me at any time. He’s a slippery one for sure.

What’s great about being sunburned?

by Marc the Producer, in Grenada
20th April, 2009
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… beats me. I have been living in the UK for ten years now, but I still am in the dark about this English tradition.

Went out with JP and Clare from Lumbadive to track down some hawksbill turtles. I went down with an underwater camera, because Adam hasn’t been diving before. Bit of pressure there as we desperately need a shot of Luke diving with a turtle. Went down twice in two different locations, but no luck. We had one more chance late in the afternoon at a dive side with strong currents. Luckily we found two turtles and I hope I got the shot with Luke in it!

Barfing at altitude

by Ces the Aerials Producer, in Grenada
21st April, 2009
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6am start, we met with our pilot, Ron and went over the flight plan. The weather was just perfect, good start; crisp blue skies and no wind. David and Ron did some last-minute rigging on the chopper at the runway and then we were off. We filmed various beauty shots of the island before picking up the GSPCA’s van on their way to an outreach programme. We followed them for a while and when we were happy we’d got that we headed back to the airport to refuel and then straight off for a half hour flight over sea to the neighbouring island, Carriacou; We stopped again to refuel at the tiniest airport I’ve ever been to (one shack and a runway). Here we went through the slightly farcical procedure of going in and then out of customs (the hut) before being allowed to take off again. Quite sweet really.

Ron had a bit of fun swooping down low along the stunning white sandy beaches, to the bemusement of the local fishermen before we picked up Luke’s 4×4 driving along. We did various angles on this and then, running low on fuel, we headed back, this time flying over the interior of Grenada which is quite mountainous. Here we started to get blown around as we hit air pockets and turbulence. And, yes, ok, I barfed. I’m not proud of it but it happens to the best of us. I’d had my head buried in the playback monitor which is playing the feed from the gyro-stabilized camera. So my eyes are seeing a nice stable image of the horizon while my body is being thrown around left, right and sideways as Ron tries to fight the turbulence while attempting various acrobatics to get our crazy shots. BAAARF. Ugh. In case you were wondering, I had a sick bag (which I accidentally left in Ron’s gear when we left, ooops).

Job done. Time for a cold drink by the pool, aaaah, this is the life.

Leatherback!

by Luke, in Grenada
21st April, 2009
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It was an early start – 3am we had a call from Dario who was on night patrol to protect the turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs from poachers. To that end he has employed a team of locals to help guard the nesting beaches from 8pm to 5am every night between March and August each year. The man is simply a dynamo of energy and together with Marina, his wife, they have reached hero status in my eyes.

The nesting leatherback was breathtakingly beautiful. One of the most ancient species on earth (around when T Rex was cruising the shoreline looking for snacks), I felt sorry for her as we all crowded round but Dario assured us we weren’t disturbing her and since we were using infra red and red lights on our cameras and torches, our interference was kept to a minimum. Leatherbacks can dive deepest of all the turtles, over 4000ft into the depths, and they are also the largest and most endangered of the ancient species. Every 2-3 years, they lay clutches of eggs, up to 90 at a time in nests three feet beneath the sand. They do this up to ten times at ten day intervals, mainly a night, to ensure maximum chances of thei offspring surviving. Secreting salt from glands by their eyes, it looked a bit as if she was crying, but Dario explained this was a mechanism to keep the eyes moist whilst she went about her business. In sharp contrast to the elegance with which they can swim underwater, the walk onto the beach was clearly an effort for this huge 700lb turtle, but the power in her fins made short work of burying her nest and getting her back out to the open water after only about an hour on shore.

The drive to get to the turtle was of course, far from straight forward. We were running on fumes with an empty petrol tank, stress was high octane in the car and the crew were frantic with pressure for us to get there and capture the footage. If I’m honest, I think the fact there was so much stress did take away a touch of the magic of the whole event , but it was still an absolute privilege to witness this magnificent creature doing her part in the quest for survival of the species.

The rest of the day involved nipping back to check on a dog that we treated a couple of days ago and I’m glad to say has recovered well. Clive nailed a surgery at the clinic and we visited a fitting pig and a sheep that had been ‘bumped’ by a car. Thankfully, not ‘mashed’ (killed in Caribbean slang) and although a broken tibia, both Clive and I are very hopeful she will mend with our basic splint. Charlene is going to come and check on her tomorrow and keep us posted. There were a few background ptc (pieces to camera) that I had to nail and that was fun.
Evening dinner was the best fish of the entire trip – I recommend a red snapper at Lambi bar if you’re ever visiting – and now it is time to get some kip because even if we don’t get a call from Dario, we’ll still have to be up at 4.30am in order to get the ferry back to the mainland.