THANK YOU!  We are delighted to say that a big parcel of medications and useful things for HART finally arrived from the UK on July 15th, 2011. Our very grateful thanks to Victoria Poole MRCVS and Brenda Hayes (and her helpful friend), and  also to Helen and Albert Bell who stood the enormous postage costs.

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2011 has been a busy one for HART, with Dr Mohan Acharya getting into full swing after his settling in period. He has already proven himself a worthy asset to HART; his surgical skills, especially for spaying and castration, are first rate and Dr Mohan has played an active part in our education and rabies control programmes, as well as surveys.

He also has considerable talent as a speaker. Sometimes trainee Vet Technicians come on a tour of HART, and they hang onto his every word as he talks them through the rigours of their intended profession.

In April we were once again delighted to welcome Helen Johnson to HART. Helen has been incredibly supportive of HART since her first visit as a volunteer in the Autumn of 2010 and now heads HARTeam Australia.

She has been busy throughout the month, working alongside Dr Mohan on formulating education programmes, helping in the kennels and operating theatre and attending rabies camps. She has also been highly active on our behalf in Australia when she has worked hard to drum up supporters for HART and has set up a Facebook site for HART Australia.

Before leaving Australia, Helen enrolled our very first 'Life Supporters', and we hope many will follow from other countries too.

If you would like to be a HART 'Life Supporter' you can join via the page link above. It won't cost you the earth and the animals in Nepal will be eternally grateful.

On March 29^th it was HART’s 2^nd birthday, but we saved our celebratory day until mid-April, when Helen could be with us, for we felt she deserved to be part of our special day. To make it convenient for as many people as possible, we held a ‘breakfast party’, so it was very well attended by several important veterinarians, including the President of Nepal’s Veterinary Association. The press also came out in full force and HART’s Chairman and vet were interviewed for radio broadcasts which went on air the following day.

There were also a few people not hitherto involved with HART, and we were pleased to welcome Mick Norris as a ‘Life Supporter’. Recently introduced, this is a way that people from anywhere in the world can express their support for HART and the work it is doing, for we have recently discovered that Nepali Charity law only allows Nepali citizens to become Members.

The ‘Birthday Breakfast’ was a fine opportunity to tell the press and, equally importantly, the government vets about HART and how it had progressed since its inception. Juliette Cunliffe talked her audience through the pages of HART’s history, ably supported by Dr Mohan who translated into Nepali.

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POKHARA'S FIRST DOG SHOW

To follow are some photos taken at Pokhara's very first dog show, held in the grounds of the Veterinary Hospital on April 28th.

Compared with shows in more developed countries, it was very basic, but there was good support and lots of onlookers which bodes well for next year's entry. No-one really knew what was expected, either of them or their dogs, but I think many of the onlookers have been encouraged to 'give it a try' next year. This is great news and I was highly impressed by the genuine love and dedication of the owners of the dogs who competed. Almost all were in good coat and body condition and apart from a couple of more awkward cases, temperaments were first rate.

Before the classes got underway, Helen Johnson and I (Juliette Cunliffe) gave a short orientation programme to help educate the dog-owning public. Helen brought along Archie to help us; he is the tiny wee thing some of you will have seen on HART's photos. Helen rescued him from the streets of Kathmandu, where he had been left in the road for cars to run over. Archie now lives with a loving family just up the road from HART where the staff can keep an eye on him.

Above: left - The eventual Best Puppy in Show winner had a great day out.

right- Helen Johnson and one of the hospital's vets judged the novelty classes.

Above:

Juliette goes to congratulate her Best in Show and Best Puppy in Show winners.

Below:

left to right - BIS, BPIS and the GSD saying his 'Namaste' was Reserve Best in Show  

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World Veterinary Day fell on April 30^th, so in Nepal, this being ‘Veterinary Year’ here, a week-long series of events was held. For HART, this kicked off with a three-day long rabies vaccination programme extending between the Pokhara boundary and Begnas Lake, which is an area in which rabies is more prevalent than in others.

Over 400 dogs were vaccinated, but there are still 3,000 more to do.

As happens in Nepal, the day before the rabies camps, the HART van travels around giving a microphone announcement, telling people where to bring their dogs and at what time. The following photos will you an idea of what a rabies camp is like…

What really touched me was that as the day progressed I took a boat ride over the lake for a late lunch on the other side, only to find that several boats contained dogs. They were the very same dogs that had just attended the rabies camp for their vaccinations. I thought this was true dedication on the part of their owners and I had to smile as one elderly gentleman stopped rowing and proudly waved his vaccination certificate in the air as a gesture of thanks.

Each time Juliette Cunliffe visits the UK, she is overwhelmed by the continued support of so many people there.

Pictured above are Dorothy Quelch and Lynda and Helen Howard, photographed at Birmingham City Championship Show  in September 2011