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Over the past three months, Team Animal has been able to work closely with the Harnett County Animal Services (HCAS). Rabies is a fatal disease that both humans and animals can contract. Throughout our time with animal services we have been working towards more rabies awareness in surrounding communities and here in our Campbell community. We have been able to attend festivals, hold events on campus and help plan future events off campus that will continue to help support HCAS. 

When I was first introduced to this practicum group and our preceptor, I was unaware of the project that we were going to working on. I have a pretty extensive background with animals. I majored in animal science in my undergrad career and have been working with an animal hospital for over three years. I just figured that I would be ahead of the game with this practicum. I was wrong. I have learned so much throughout the last three months and feel as though I have been impacted more than I have had the opportunity to impact. We began with a tour of the facility in Lillington and we were able to see first hand the need that the shelter has on a daily basis. There were dogs and cats in every room and in every cage. These animals need to be fed and cleaned everyday and someone has to do that job. The back of the facility are where the quarantine dogs are held. This room was very eye opening to see how many dogs are kept there because they have bitten someone in the community. When a dog bites someone and they are not vaccinated or have no proof of vaccination, that is where they have to go. Rabies is not only carried by bats and foxes but dogs and cats as well. 

As we began to work with HCAS, we were able to attend festivals and spread some rabies awareness. The shelter has rabies clinics where anyone can bring their pet to be vaccinated for only six dollars. A six dollar vaccine is much better than a six thousand dollar hospital bill for a human vaccine. At the festivals we were able to survey the community members and spread awareness at the same time. It was shocking to see how many people were unaware about rabies and the rabies clinics that HCAS held everyday. Our mission was to make these people aware of the services that they had available and then to move into our own community here at Campbell. On World Rabies Day, which is a national campaign held on September 28th each year, we were able to do something similar here on campus. We set up a booth on campus and quizzed students as they passed by about rabies. We had a donations jar, candy bowl and a lot of smiles to help draw attention to our cause. I was not as surprised at the lack of knowledge on this subject as we had a similar response from those in the community. I am confident now that a larger percentage of the student body is aware of rabies and the HCAS now after our work on campus. We were also able to help the shelter directly with a dog/cat food drive. We were able to collect enough food for the shelter that will last about two to three months! I was blown away by the support from the students here on campus. I was so proud to just be a part of team animal and have the impact that we did on the shelter and community. 

Our time with the HCAS has been such a good learning experience for me. I have expanded my knowledge of rabies and also how to interact with community members. I feel as though I will continue my work with HCAS and rabies awareness everywhere I go. Even though our practicum “hours” are complete, we still have events planned to help benefit the shelter. We are going to participate in an event called “yappy hour” on the 20th of this month. It will be held at the white rabbit brewery from 6-9. There will be lots of food, games, prizes and raffles with all proceeds going to the shelter. This will be another way we can help spread some awareness and raise some money for this shelter. We will be able to reach another side of the community that we have not worked with yet and also reach all crowds. It is a free event and there will be many baskets you can raffle on! 

I hope that my next practicum I participate in will be half as great as this one has been. I have learned so much and will be able to apply these skills I have gained in my daily life. I hope we have made some type of impact at the shelter and also on the community. Bringing the community together and aware of this issue will hopefully decrease the amount of dogs that are quarantined and also decrease the amount of deaths that we see from this deadly disease. This will bring us one step closer to a healthier population. Go team animal and go public health!

Being a part of team animal has been such a fun experience so far! I have been an “animal person” my whole life. I studied animal science in undergrad and I have always had an interest and a love for animals. As I grew up I knew I wanted to be a veterinarian and somewhere along the way I just didn’t see it as a good fit for me anymore. My love for animals has not faded and I still want to pursue a career in that field. Being involved with the harnett county animal services has only heightened my love for animals and has brought a new issue to the table. Rabies is a disease that I have always known about. Having animals all my life I knew that they needed to have a rabies vaccine and wear their rabies tag on their collar. My dad lives in the middle of the woods (no lie) and calls our dog, “an ole yard dog” and doesn’t see the need to take her to the vet for any reason. The only time she goes to the vet is to get her rabies vaccine and that is it. As a child I learned that if anything that is what your pet needs. Now after going to school for animal science and working at an animal hospital I realize there is way more that your pet should be vaccinated for but at least he gets the rabies vaccine! 

From my short time working with the harnett county animal services I have learned way more about rabies than I already knew (and I thought I knew a whole lot). Rabies is the cause of 60,000 deaths each year! That number is way too high for something that is completely preventable! The vet hospital is an expensive place to go sometimes so the harnett county animal services in Lillington offers rabies vaccines every week for only 6 dollars. This is very reasonable considering if you are bit by a rabid animal or thought to be rabid than the series of vaccines for humans is over 6,000 dollars! After hearing all of this new information I just had to take a step back and see the dilemma that we have. When I see that 60,000 are dying from a totally preventable disease I wonder how I can help.

Education is key. I believe that many do not know to get their pets vaccinated for rabies or do not know that they can get it from their very own pet. Most animals are asymptomatic, showing no signs, once contracting the disease. Also not only can cats and dogs carry the disease but almost all mammals! Common animals to carry it are dogs, cats, foxes, and bats. How scary is that to think that your beloved Fluffy may infect you with rabies?! Team animal is working at many fall festivals in surrounding communities to try and spread awareness of this deadly disease. We are taking surveys to see what the community knows and trying to inform them of all of this new information that I just learned. I love interacting with the communities. The harnett county animal services are also offering one year rabies vaccines at these festivals for 6 dollars. Since we all know word travels fast in small towns, my hopes are that our talk about rabies will spread quicker than the disease. There is no treatment for this disease and is 100% fatal. This is horrifying news and I would not want anyone to have their pet or family member suffer through this. So what’s all the excitement about?! WE HAVE TO STOP THE SPREAD OF RABIES!! I am more fired up now than ever (if you cant tell) and I am so excited to continue my journey with team animal!

Today I was able to volunteer with the Harnett county animal shelter. It was such a good learning experience and we also got to do some last minute planning for our first fall festival tomorrow in Angier! Everyone come out and enjoy the activities!

These first few weeks with my practicum group have been pretty slow. I have been waiting to dive right in and get started on everything that I can. We had met a few times and even had a tour of the animal shelter we will be working with, but I still felt a little lost and like I wasn’t helping or contributing. I wanted to begin working with the animal or taking surveys on rabies awareness which is what we will be doing a little later on in the semester. It seemed like all the other groups had taken off and were pretty deep into their service.

Things quickly turned around after our third meeting with our preceptor today! I am even more excited than I was at my first meeting (which was pretty excited to begin with). We met with Steve Berube, who is our Team Animal preceptor, and he was very excited to hear some of our ideas. Along with some of the festivals that we will attend, we brought a few new things to the table. We will have small table set up in academic circle on world rabies day, which is the 28th of this month. We are also trying to get on the campbell radio to spread the word about the volunteer work the students can do at the shelter. Our first festival is the 12th of september which is less than two weeks away! We will be taking surveys on rabies awareness within the community and people can also bring their dog to be vaccinated at this festival. 

I am very interested to see what our survey results show about how well informed the community is about rabies. Rabies is the cause of 59,000 human deaths each year with most of these deaths being children under the age of 15. Not only can dogs transmit this viral disease, which is most common, many wildlife will transmit the disease such as raccoons and foxes. This is not only a concern for people but the animal too. There is no cure for rabies and is a fatal disease. This is something that we can eradicate from the population. It all begins with awareness and education.