World Samoyed Conference DNA Collection

By Hazel Fitzgibbon

SCARF Foreign Liaison 

Taking advantage of the auspicious occasion, SCARF kindly supported a DNA collection clinic at the World Samoyed Meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia on October 10th, 2009.

Dr Lorna Kennedy (UK) collected more than 40 samples. A language problem was anticipated by the organizers of the WSM and two translators were assigned to Dr Kennedy. These were young ladies who are learning English as a foreign language and were from the class of Jana Fulierova, the tireless organizer of the WSM. The students were so keen to learn of the work that Dr Kennedy was doing, they actually went into the show area and recruited people for her swabs. By the end of the day, these non doggy girls were confidently taking mouth swabs from the lovely obliging Samoyeds! Dr Kennedy also gave an interesting talk on diabetes which we hope to have on DVD soon.