October 4, 2013 - Southingtonlibrary.org

Friday, October 4, 2013 The Step Saver/ The Observer
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11
Local woman battles ‘rhino horn poachers’ in South Africa
By KAITLYN NAPLES
STAFF WRITER
In South Africa last
year, 618 rhinoceroses lost
their lives after being the
victims of the act of “rhino
horn poaching,” or having
their horns cut off to be
sold on the black market or
for Asian medicinal purposes.
Southington resident,
formerly from Bristol,
Patricia Futoma had the
opportunity to recently
meet a rhino that had been
poached, and survived. As
a fourth year veterinary
student at Iowa State
University, with a bachelor’s
degree from the
University of Connecticut
in Animal Science, Futoma,
26, had the opportunity to
participate in a study
abroad program this summer
called “Vets Go Wild,”
held in the Amakhala
Game Reserve in South
Africa, East of Port
Elizabeth.
The program allowed
veterinary professionals
from around the world to
attend the program that
was put on by veterinarian
William Fowlds, Futoma
said in an email interview.
It is a program designed to
educate students about
wildlife medicine topics.
Futoma said, on the
trip, the students witnessed,
firsthand, the result
of rhino horn poaching and
its impact on South Africa
and the rhinos. In particular,
they learned how it
Patricia Futoma, of Southington, spent two weeks in South Africa this summer
working with rhinos who are potential victims of poaching.
affected a rhino named
“Thandi.”
“After working with
Thandi, a recent poaching
victim, we were inspired to
make a difference,” Futoma
said, adding that she and
her peers started a fund
raising group to raise
awareness about rhino
horn poaching.
Futoma said rhinos are
poached for their horns
because they are worth
their weight in gold on the
black market.
“They are commonly
used in traditional Asian
medicine despite the fact
that they offer no medicinal
value (and its use is illegal),”
she said. “Sadly, most
rhinos that are poached
eventually die and have a
slow, painful death,” she
said, because they suffer
massive blood loss.
“The value of the horn
has increased, and it may
bring in as much as
$100,000 per kilogram,” she
said. Poachers are often
linked with highly organized
crime.
SUBMITTED
Her fundraising group
is called “One Rhino” and
can be found at
www.gofundme.com/onerhino.
Futoma said the proceeds
will benefit the
Reserve Protection Agency,
which is a group that uses
military-grade technology
to monitor and survey the
rhinos to prevent poaching,
and also will benefit
the Interjection Fund, a
group that provides medications
to rhinos that have
survived. She said she is
also hoping to have $20
Tunxis to raise awareness on
National Depression Screening Day
By LISA CAPOBIANCO
STAFF WRITER
An estimated one in
10 adults in the U.S. has
reported feeling
depressed, according to
the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
(CDC).
Of the 19 million
Americans who suffer from
depression each year,
many experience their first
symptoms just before or
during college, the
University of Michigan
Depression Center reported.
In response to this
mental health issue, Tunxis
Community College in
Farmington plans to hold
its National Depression
Screening Day on
Thursday, Oct. 10 from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. for a free
mental health check-up,
along with anonymous
informational screenings
for depression and other
mood disorders including
anxiety, bipolar disorder,
and post traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD).
The public will have
the opportunity to take a
five-minute questionnaire
that addresses mood disorders
as well as to speak
with a counselor and
screeners. Vivian Craven, a
counselor at Tunxis who
helps coordinate the
event, said the screening
has helped so many people
since it started at the
college ten years ago.
“We decided that it
was worth the funding,”
Craven said. “These disorders
are treatable, usually
with a combination of
therapy and medication.”
Dr. Frances O’Neil, a
psychologist at Tunxis who
helps recruit volunteers to
help out with the event,
encourages people to
undergo the screening so
they can become aware of
the symptoms they may
experience.
“Many people may be
experiencing listlessness,
lack of energy and enthusiasm…and
interpret the
symptoms as due to physical
or maybe even economic
problems,” Dr.
O’Neil said. “Yet these can
be just a few of the indicators
of depression.”
Dr. O’Neil also said
that with the onset of the
fall and winter, residents
in the northern climate
may experience Seasonal
Affective Disorder.
“The lack of sunlight
may cause them to sleep
more, put on weight and
feel blue,” she said. “This
condition can be remedied.”
According to the CDC,
an individual who feels
depressed may exhibit
sadness or anxiety for
weeks at a time. Other
signs of depression include
feelings of hopelessness
and guilt, irritability, loss
of appetite or overeating,
insomnia, fatigue and
decreased energy, persistent
aches or pains,
headaches, digestive problems
that do not improve,
lost of interest in activities
that were once enjoyable
and thoughts of suicide.
Craven said everyone
may experience these
signs at certain points in
their lives, especially when
they lose a loved one or a
job. But she reported that
these signs become serious
when they interfere
with everyday activities for
a long period of time.
“Everyone will go
through situations,”
Craven said. “It [becomes
serious] when it goes
beyond a certain period of
time, when it is affecting
your life.”
National Depression
Screening Day takes place
annually in October to
spread awareness of
depression and other mental
health disorders, and to
inform the public about
treatments and symptoms.
www.SouthingtonObserver.com
Point & Click
Read it all on the Web.
www.SouthingtonObserver.com
Rhino Force bracelets be
brought to the United
States to raise more awareness
about poaching. Right
now the bracelets are not
available in the U.S., and
are locally made in South
Africa.
When she arrived in
South Africa, Futoma said
she never knew anything
about rhino horn poaching.
After meeting Thandi
and working with her,
Futoma said she wanted to
raise awareness for others
who probably don’t know
what it is.
“Although rhinos have
a ‘tough’ exterior, they are
gentle creatures at heart,”
she added.
Thandi was poached in
March of 2012, and Futoma
said she is still in recovery
mode, especially since her
face was re-injured by a
male rhino that she was
being re-introduced to.
Futoma said the experience
showed her what
these rhinos, who survive,
go through and introduced
her to “many compassionate
people that are working
to save her (Thandi) and
other rhinos.”
“Overall, I saw the
worst side of humanity,
and then the best side of it.
It gives me hope that things
will get better,” she added.
Being a veterinarian is
something Futoma said she
always wanted to do, and
would bring home any animal
she could when she
was younger. She worked at
the humane society in
Meriden, and became
involved in animal rescue.
She is enrolled in the Iowa
State, College of Veterinary
Medicine, as a Connecticut
contract student, which is a
program out of University
of Connecticut.
In the future, she said
she wants to stay involved
in nonprofit groups,
because it is what she is
passionate about.
“I love animal rescue,
low cost spay and neuter,
and now conservation
medicine. I would actually
love to do international
relief work if the opportunity
came up,” she added.
Comments? Email
knaples@BristolObserver.
com.
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