In Costa Rica, veterinary students worked with spider monkeys, kinkajous, and toucans; volunteered at a spay and neuter clinic; and experienced Caribbean culture. They came away with a better understanding of international veterinary practices and a new appreciation for the American resources at their disposal.
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Transcript
(background talking)
Amanda Cochran: Over winter break we went on a two-week trip to Costa Rica and we went to the north central section. We were all vet students, and there were 11 of us. There were seven from OHio State and there were four from Texas A&M.
(talking)
Ali Clinton: Proyecto Asis is the wildlife rescue center that we worked at, and Spanish institute. We had Spanish classes there every day and in the afternoons we worked on projects with the animals. The center was actually in the middle of the rainforest so there was completely on each side surrounded by trees so it was a very natural setting for the animals even though they were in cages.
Cochran: We tore down cages that were confiscated off the black market so that the cages couldn't be reused. We would tear down the cages and we would use the wire to build more sturdy and better cages for the wildlife center.
These are spider monkeys. They like to hold your hand.
There was a kinkajou that we got to hang out with and his name was Benjamin. Then there were raccoons that, they couldn't be released back into the wild. There were red lored parrots. There were caymans, the miniature crocodile, that we would feed chicken to periodically throughout the day, so that was pretty cool. There was a giant alligator snapping turtle. And then the second week we spent doing more vet-related activities. We worked on a dairy farm, we worked on a beef farm, we went to a slaughterhouse.
We spent two days in La Fortuna, which is this little city that's centered around the volcano, and it's called Volcano Arenal. And we did horseback riding up the side of this mountain. And we did zip lining, which lasted about four hours of me shaking my knees back and forth from the tops of the trees, because it was really scary. But it was lots of fun. Then the next day we did rappelling and canyoneering through the rainforest.
(background talking)
It was a real advantage to spend a whole week working with the veterinarians in the area and to learn about how they manage their cattle. They were a lot more limited on the resources that they have. They don't have all the medications that we have. Even in the surgery room, it was a converted school classroom that we taped some garbage bags on the table.
Clinton: They utilize every aspect of what's available to them. I don't think we get a lot of that here cause we are such a throwaway society.
(background talking)
I'd never been outside the United States besides Canada, so living in a second-world country was a huge cultural shock to me. The people were so friendly.
Cochran: We got to eat their food every day, our hosts moms would make for us. We got to really experience the Costa Rican life.
Before winter break, Ali Clinton had never traveled farther from home than Canada.
But in December, she joined a group of 11 veterinary students--seven from Ohio State's College of Veterinary Medicine and four from Texas A&M--on a sojourn to north central Costa Rica, where she learned a bit of Spanish, neutered and vaccinated pets, and worked with exotic animals.
"I'd never been outside the United States besides Canada, so living in a second-world country was a huge cultural shock to me," Clinton says.
The group fit a lot into two weeks: Students worked at Proyecto Asis Wild Animal Rescue Center and Spanish Institute, toured dairy and beef farms and a slaughterhouse, and volunteered at a spay and neuter clinic. They also rappelled and zip lined through the rainforest, learned to make tamales, and rode horses up Mount Arenal, an active volcano.
Students spent the first week at Proyecto Asis, learning rudimentary Spanish in the mornings and working with animals in the afternoons. The center is home to exotic animals rescued from the black market: Benjamin, a kinkajou that wrapped its tail around the students' necks, and spider monkeys that reached outside their cages to grasp the hands of passersby. The following week, they worked with local veterinarians, concentrating on specialists in the dairy science and beef cattle industries.
"It was a real advantage to spend a whole week working with the veterinarians in the area and to learn about how they manage their cattle," says Amanda Cochran, another trip participant.
Seeing veterinarians work with limited resources was an eye-opener for the students, Cochran says.
"They were a lot more limited on the resources that they have. They don't have all the medications that we have. Even in the surgery room, it was a converted school classroom that we taped some garbage bags on the table."
Says Clinton: "They utilize every aspect of what's available to them. I don't think we get a lot of that here cause we are such a throwaway society."
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