Point Reyes Light - November 4, 1999
Mongolian vet trains at Valley animal hospital
San Geronimo Valley Veterinary Clinic for four days this week hosted a visiting veterinarian from Mongolia who wants to learn how to treat pets, which are growing more popular in his quickly modernizing homeland.
Dr. Bob Baker of Lagunitas invited Dr. Orgil Doloonjin of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to West Marin to help teach him about modern surgical procedures for small animals. The two doctors also worked closely together on the diagnosis and treatment of ailments common to cats and dogs, such as rabies and distemper, as well as pronunciation of the English language.
"He has a real zest for learning," Baker said. "When I met Dr. Doloonjin two-months ago, he didn't speak any English at all. Since then he's been memorizing a hundred words a day and now he can communicate very well."
Doloonjin, 47, came to the US through the Christian Veterinary Mission, a Seattle-based non-profit which sponsors animal health professionals to travel to and from Third World countries to share knowledge and supplies.
He's been on a two month tour of the Western US. Prior to coming to the Valley, Doloonjin trained at clinics in Oregon, Washington and Los Banos, Merced County.
Before he returns home to his wife, D. Tsogtsolmaa, and his three children, Doloonjin will spend a final week with Baker's brother at his veterinary office in Turlock in the Central Valley. There he will complete his informal training, and will pick up 300 doses of animal vaccines that have been donated.
Originally from a small village in the Gobi desert, Doloonjin's "zest for learning" carried him to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital city of 700,000 people. He acquired a doctorate in veterinary medicine in 1978 from Mongolian State University of Agriculture, where he is now a professor and head of the Department of Surgery. In a nation of Buddhists, Doloonjin is a practicing Christian, and in addition to his native tongue, Mongolian, he also speaks fluent Russian and Chinese.
His specialty, Doloonjin explained, is in surgery on large animals, such as horses and two-humped bactrian camels, which are common in the Gobi desert and are key fixtures in Mongolian rural life.
Veterinary education at the university focuses on treatment of large animals and livestock, he said. But in response to a growing appreciation of pets in Mongolia, his department began teaching medicine for small animals three years ago.
Doloonjin is one of only a handful of veterinarians trained to treat small animals in his country, and the expertise he's acquiring here will aid him in the operation of the night-time clinic he runs out his home. "I work at the university teaching all day," he explained in his cheerful manner. "And then I go home, to run my clinic. I have three students who work with me there."
Since Friday, Doloonjin has assisted Baker in several spay and neuter surgeries, and they have also reviewed techniques for surgery on broken bones and the removal of gall stones.
Over the weekend, he traveled to Point Reyes National Seashore to visit Limantour Beach, where he watched the surf and practiced his hand at throwing a Frisbee. "Very strange," he said with a smile. "But I like the ocean. We don't have anything like that in Mongolia."
According to Baker, Doloonjin also was impressed by a surf-and-turf meal of shrimp and steak, and the antics of trick-or-treating on Halloween. "Before we went out, we had to teach him how to say 'trick-or-treat,' but he picked it up very quickly," Baker said.
In his free time, Doloonjin, like many Mongolians, races horses over the arid and rocky Gobi desert. He owns six horses, and regularly participates in races, including a traditional contest outside of Ulaanbaatar in which over 3000 jockeys and their horses compete.
From his collection of photos and maps from his homeland, Doloonjin points to a picture of a recent competition, and explains that the races are divided into category according to the age of the horse, and proceed out to a fixed point in the desert and then back to the starting line. "I like to ride, too," he said.
Stretching between Russia and China, Mongolia is an expansive land of roughly 2,300,000 inhabitants. While city dwellers live primarily in houses, residents of the Gobi desert live in "yurts," or modified tents.
While Mongolia has warm and occasionally moist summers, winters tend to be exceptionally cold. When asked what part of the American West he enjoyed the most, Doloonjin smiled and looked out of Dr. Baker's office window. "California," he said with a smile. "It is sunny. It has the forest. I like it here in Marin very much."