The morning before our flight departed for home, the Chinook team and I finally had some down time so that we could participate in “tourist activities.” We shopped within local boutiques (buying beautiful soapstone carvings), visited the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum and Unikkaarvik Visitor Centre, and finally made our way to the Iqaluit Humane Society.
I had wanted to visit the humane society since arriving in Iqaluit, but since we were extremely busy during our clinic days it simply hadn’t happened yet; in hindsight I’m really glad it worked out the way it did. When we walked into the small building, two familiar faces, Pualu and Chihuahua, greeted us with wagging tails. Our group had grown very fond of these two dogs since they had spent several days with us at the clinic, before and after their surgeries, as their owners were not from the area. Pualu had travelled from Pangnirtung, NU; and we actually first met Chihuahua at the airport in Ottawa, ON.
I thought they had already left Iqaluit to be reunited with their owners and was pleasantly surprised to see they were still there. We let them out of their cages, gave them lots of love, and briefly let them play with each other. Being able to see Pualu and Chihuahua one last time, to give the sweet girls a proper goodbye, was the perfect way to end the rotation. It reminded us all of the passion we have for helping animals and why we wanted to be veterinarians in the first place.
Nicolle Davis, AVC 2017, traveled to Iqaluit in 2016 as one of the student participants on the Chinook Project. As part of the experience, the students craft various pieces of reflective writing. This is one of Nicolle’s pieces.
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