Crazy first day! First thing, Richard (Ugandan vet I’m helping to kick start the LSPCA vet programme with) took me to see a dog he was concerned about in one of the local communities. Poor creature was starving and in constant pain from a shattered back leg. Two options: either pts (put to sleep) or attempt a high risk op. But I had a good feeling we could do it between us, so we got her back to Richard’s garage and amputated the leg.

Last check tonight and she was doing okay (she had three pups we also had to rescue – ready to wean so shouldn’t be a problem).

Amazing how she could look after three puppies at such an amazing sacrifice to herself – just ribs, all the scraps she was getting were going straight into providing milk for the little ones. The traumas she must have been through. She needs to be spayed, but there was no way she would survive both operations today; so the plan is to do that in a couple of months (with a WVS follow up team).

After that we raced off to help Lee (the manager of the Wildlife Centre) dart a leopard – amazing creatures and the health check went well, then to round off the day we wrestled a 4 metre python into a bag ready for its release into a new enclosure first thing in the morning. Definitely not a dull start to the trip!!