Times of the Islands Winter 2015-16

islands and Grand Turk. The goal is to hold two clinics a
year on each island during the breeding seasons.
Another milestone was the re-launching of a Grand
Turk chapter of the TCSPCA in 2011, which then held its
first spay/neuter clinic that August. The Grand Turk volunteers
run a shop in the cruise ship center to raise funds
and they sell basic animal care supplies to pet owners.
Years of hard work, community outreach, and most
importantly, education by the TCSPCA paid off in large
numbers of pet owners bringing their animals to the Suzy
Turn clinic for vaccinations, heart worm preventatives,
and affordable spay or neuter surgeries. The word was
out — being a responsible pet owner made everyone’s
life easier and better. And then the axe fell again. Dr. Rich
and Jan decided to return to the United States. They sold
their home and said an emotional good-bye in May 2013.
Besides losing dear friends, the TCSPCA faced a crisis
—no veterinary care. Would the clinic/shop survive? Once
again Blehr rose to the challenge. She found veterinary
groups which travel across the world to provide veterinary
care to places where no care is available.
During the first clinic after Dr. Rich had gone, held
on Provo in October 2013, Dr. Jessica Braun and vet tech
Kristine Bucholz performed 134 spay or neuter surgeries
in five days. Since then, the TCSPCA has held more than
a dozen clinics, covering all the islands. During the most
recent clinic in November, Dr. Meghann Vollmer Kruck, of
Kindest Cut in Minnesota, and two of her vet techs performed
107 surgeries in five days. Dr. Kruck will be back
for a month in late spring 2016.
For fifteen years, the TCSPCA has worked with the the
TCI residents through day to day community outreach on
each island, in each village, and reliable, non-judgmental,
affordable services to pet owners in their yards, homes,
or at the Suzie Turn clinic. They are supported by many
island businesses, organizations, and resorts.
Pampered Paws, the TCI’s only boarding, grooming,
and training facility has provided runs for TCSPCA
pups since 2002. Each year owner Donna Doran and her
wonderful staff provide “room and board,” medical care,
training, and loads of TLC to hundreds of pups and older
dogs, many who are in truly terrible physical and emotional
condition when they arrive.
Lew Handfield Shipping and interCaribbean Airways
have been providing discounted or free transportation
to the organization from the early days. TCI First
Insurance insures the animal bus at no charge. Heather
Forbes’ Potcake Foundation raises funds each year for
the TCSPCA. Provo residents John Thomas and Jessica
Times of the Islands Winter 2015/16 51