Last winter my husband, John, and I took an incredible trip to Hawaii (the Big Island and Kauai). While on a hike through a beautiful canyon on the Big Island, we found an abandoned dog that was severely dehydrated and exhausted. We carried him to the top of the canyon, and after searching (to no avail) for his owner, we took him to a local veterinarian to get some basic treatment, and found him a home. We have stayed in contact with his wonderful new owner, and he is doing wonderfully!
Upon realization that this had been the highlight of our incredible trip, we decided to base our next trip around giving back. My husband and I are going to Otovalo, Ecuador, where we’ll be volunteering with an organization called World Vets (worldvets.org). It’s a bit of a trek to get to Ecuador, with pretty much a day of traveling on either end, but we’re super excited for a variety of reasons. We will be working to improve the health and welfare of animals, which is an issue near and dear to our hearts, we absolutely love to travel, and we both love experiencing new cultures, languages, FOODS, and animals/people. We have a particular affinity in our travels for places that are volcanically active, so Ecuador fits right in! After a week of work in a clinic in Otovalo, we plan to explore in and around Quito, with (hopefully) a day hike at one of the nearby volcanoes. We look forward to sharing stories and pictures about our adventures, so stay tuned…
Written by Lisa Challberg, DVM, cVMA
Below are a couple of pictures of Neville the pup when he was found in Hawaii
