Following on from my pledge at the end of 2016 to get a HUGE spay effort coordinated down here, I thought it would be a good idea to see how the experts do it so I went up to Boquete to see Amigos de Animales (www.aadab.org) in action, and my goodness, do they have their operation down to a fine art!

I was lucky enough to volunteer at the clinic they had at the end of January and in one day they operated on 203 animals. An amazing effort! There were volunteers there from dusk till dawn, registering, holding, petting, stroking, cleaning, feeding…. And that’s just what they were doing for the humans! Cats and dogs were lined up everywhere, the kitchen was bustling all day long, the sound of clippers and waking up animals filled the air and the whole thing ran like a well oiled machine.

Volunteers at the shave station

More helpers are with the dogs while they wake up

It was an incredible experience to watch and share and learn from. I acted as Sandy’s assistant this time round, but used every spare minute to run around and pester everyone else to show me what they were doing!

Cleaning the operating equipment

The guys at work at the prep station, weighing and tagging

Volunteers, owners, vets and organisers are involved in this massive team effort

Sandy getting ready for another patient

Cat just about to get the spay tattoo

The focus of the monthly spay clinic up in Boquete is to do as many animals as they can and really keep on top of the population and the difference it makes on the streets is clearly visible every single day. Since 2005 they have spayed over 8000 animals. The team up in Boquete really do have the fast food equivalent of the spay world! Thank you to everyone there for sharing your best practice with me and good luck with all the efforts in the future.

If you want to read more about what Amigos de Animales does or make a donation, please visit their web page at http://www.aadab.org and follow them on facebook at Amigos de Animales Boquete panama.