A Veterinary Odyssey

by Stanley C. Tanner

Before qualification, a veterinarian acquires a taste for travel by accompanying horses and other livestock to various depleted European countries after World War 2. With experience and skills enhanced by general practice, by government regulatory work and by employment with a major US pharmaceutical company, he eventually joins The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as an expert in pig production. The odyssey starts with a visit to war-torn Russia, accompanying horses and continues by sea to Italy with pigs. Raging storms and sinking ships, wild horses and irate French stationmasters, adventures on a Swiss mountainside all make for excitement . A homesick veterinarian from Texas, stationed in Italy, makes for a calmer life when he gives his apartment key to the travelling vet! No wonder the Texan is tired! Despite ideological differences a very fine military veterinary officer is encountered in Russia and the traveler learns more than surgery and medicine. He recognises love of horses, feeling for pain and the exhilaration of success. This recognition lays much of the groundwork for the travelling vet's future life and he encounters similar men in English practice and Canadian practice. Ship's cooks and carpenters show courage and love of animals Work with pigs in Ontario, Canada causes the vet to specialise and as a result he is accepted into the ranks of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Now the odyssey really gets under way with a posting to the Republic of China in Taiwan. Earthquakes, typhoons and politics are but a few of the inhibitions for a great vision, to do research and train people in S.E.Asia and the Pacific rim. It is international politics which now launch the odyssey into Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, S. Vietnam, Azad Kashmir (Pakistan), P.D.R. Lao and Uganda. War and political unrest seem to be the lot of third world countries but many fine people are met and they have some things in common. They are veterinarians and they have great appreciation for pain and suffering. Life is amusing, sometimes dangerous, always strenuous and often sad. Not just sad for the donkeys with galls that weep but sad for the people whose only hope is a better tomorrow. The vet helps them to make more money from farming, to make more food for their families and to realise that "better tomorrow."

232 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1998

Reviews

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I meet the writer and he signed my copy.