Taking to the Field

I’m pretty sure I had (hopefully the past tense) fleas and/or an assortment of “dudus” (Swahili for insect) at some point last week. While in Mugumu with Katie, I was able to visit another village, Ngarawani, to conduct some household questionnaires. Many dogs and cats here have fleas and ticks, and many of them are also malnourished and thin. These dogs eke out a precarious existence between humans and wildlife, part pet, part livestock, part sentinel and part scavenger.

Though life may at first appear somewhat bleak for domestic dogs, there are those who are truly loved. One gentleman rode his bicycle 30 kilometers one way (over those same crevasses, boulders, goats, ruts and more goats through an area frequented by elephants) to bring his dog to Cleophas, one of the vets working with the project, to see if he could help his dog, “Center,” who seemed to be suffering from some abdominal discomfort. Cleophas did an amazing job, and “Center” was better in no time, though at this point we were kind of stuck in giving this man a lift home as it was already dusk—prime time for elephants, which at over two tons are more than a match for bicycle-bound man with a dog in a box. So over the ruts, crevasses, goats and boulders we went and delivered a very happy customer and pup back to their village. Of course we blew a tire on the way back as we jostled our way to finally make it home dusty, starving, and super thankful for that bucket full of maji moto (hot water) at the Anita Motel.

Thursday was my chance to pilot some questions I’m interested in answering as part of my research. In addition to demographic information such as lifespan, population structure and reproductive history, I also want to find out some basic ecology stuff, such as, what do dogs eat? Interestingly enough, it appears they eat ugali (starchy Tanzanian food), rice, corn and some table scraps, though they may scavenge other food items. This is important information for the project because proper nutrition is an important factor in disease resistance.

Our final days in Mugumu were spent advertising the upcoming vaccination campaign beginning next week. We visited schools to remind kids to bring their dogs and cats to the vaccination point and hung countless posters declaring the vaccination date, time and place. On our way back to Seronera, Katie and I stocked up on piles of mangoes, pineapple, peppers, tomatoes, avocados (which incidentally, are called parachichi in Swahili—what a fun word!) and a whole rainbow of fresh fruits and veggies in preparation of the “big event” (vaccination day!) next week.

Anna Czypryna