The Navajo Nation is located in the beautiful, rugged Four Corners area of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, southeastern Utah, and southwestern Colorado. Although animals and animal husbandry are deeply ingrained in Navajo culture, access to veterinary care is difficult due to spread out communities, few clinics, and systemic resource challenges. Animal Rez-Q, founded in 2014, is helping to change this landscape by bringing low-cost animal wellness care to rural Navajo communities.
Glenda Davis, Founder and President of Animal Rez-Q, spoke about the non-profit organization and the core services that they offer on a recent Maddie’s® Weekly Community Conversation-National Call.
ANIMAL WELLNESS
Animal Rez-Q [ARQ] directly provides disease prevention services to Native communities. These services include vaccinations, deworming, and external parasite control for herd animals, horses, dogs and cats, within a culturally Navajo holistic approach that focuses on the correlation between human and animal health.
OVERPOPULATION CONTROL AND THE GROWTH OF HUMANE COMMUNITIES
For many years now, tribal communities and ARQ have worked together on spay/neuter initiatives for pets, gelding of stallions, mare hormone injections and the transport of dogs, cats and horses for adoption off of reservation lands. ARQ continues to coordinate these efforts, working within the cultural aspects of animal use and function, the safe guarding of medicinal herbs, and the restoration of grazing lands.
HERD MANAGEMENT and GENETIC IMPROVEMENT
To give Native livestock and horse owners the opportunity to improve herd health and increase genetic quality, ARQ helps ranchers with breeding plans and access quality stock, including artificial insemination. Assistance to ranchers also includes promotion of animal husbandry through field demonstrations and public education, as well as record keeping and auction tips and tricks. The hope is that improvements to herd health will increase the value of livestock and livestock products, which make up a major part of the Navajo Nation’s economy.
INFORMATION and TRAINING
Animal Rez-Q provides outreach education rooted in the concept that Native Nations and animal kingdoms flourish and sustain one another when the natural elements, our youth and teachings of our elders are respected. Youth volunteer programs give young people an opportunity to give back to their communities and learn about caring for animals and their culture. Internal audiences for culturally centered educational programs include head start programs, elementary and high schools, tribal colleges and universities, chapter communities, worksites, and tribal councils; external audiences include groups such as Midwestern Veterinary College veterinary students and faculty partners, who have volunteered to provide medical services.
While the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on the community and continuing impacts on the economy have not helped, Animal Rez-Q persists in their mission of providing affordable veterinary care to animals located in the Navajo Nation. This summer, they have already traveled almost 400 miles to 10 different chapter sites, camping out to provide castrations, dental floats, hoof trimming, vaccinations, and deworming for both small and large animals. For more information about this organization, to donate, or to inquire about volunteer opportunities, please access their website here.
“Given the opportunity to use our affordable cost animal services, we believe that Native Nations and our animal kingdoms will flourish and sustain one another.”
*Animal Rez-Q is a 501 c(3) non-profit corporation on the Navajo Nation, organized for charitable, religious, educational, scientific, and prevention of cruelty purposes– all involving some aspect of animal welfare and care.
