Pets weigh-in with their owners
the back burner once again.
“I actually cried. We had talked about a courthouse wedding and I wanted the dress, the photos, the cake, all the wedding things you dream of when you are a little girl, the special things like the vows and marrying your best friend in front of your closest friends and family really makes it so special.”
SimplyWed codirector Ruth Carpenter said the couple received a two-hour wedding, comprising a ceremony, photography, two-tier cake and a mini reception at the Generator in Auckland.
“Leana and Kevin were our first bride and groom and we are a new company, so we wanted to make sure all our processes that we put in place for a successful wedding worked.
“So, we put the word out among our family and friends for a couple who couldn’t afford to get married and were willing to be our first marriage, so we could make sure everything worked well — and I’m happy to say it went very well.”
Co-director Kevin Townsend said the wedding package delivered on the day was worth just under $8000 to the company — about half the cost of a couple doing it themselves because of shared resources and services and economies of scale.
Once the company was in “full-flight” it would run four weddings in a day.
The company aimed to conduct luxury pop-up weddings between the Bombay Hills and Matakana but hoped to bring services to Hawke’s Bay as well, Townsend said. A project started by an EIT team has gained attention in the international research community.
Patu Pets, the Furry Whanau is the brainchild of a team led by Associate Professor Rachel Forrest.
“Our Patu Pets Project is centred on the ‘One Welfare’ concept that recognises that human wellbeing, animal welfare and the environment are all interconnected,” she said.
The research project has seen three free pet health checks so far at the Ahuriri and Heretaunga Patu gyms, with 26 dogs assessed.
Cat owners were a little uncomfortable about bringing their pets, but cat sessions may be held in the future.
“Our research is to explore whether a local community initiative such as Patu Aotearoa can be used to facilitate human behaviour changes that result in positive pet welfare outcomes.”
The research strategy and results were presented at the Companion Animal Conference held in Auckland in September.
Titled Human Behaviour Change For Animals, it was attended by veterinarians and other animals health academics and professionals from around the world.
Patu Aotearoa, created in Hawke’s Bay by Levi Armstrong, runs a gym nationwide that combines group exercise and healthy lifestyle education with te teo me o¯na tikanga Ma¯ori (Ma¯ori language and culture).
The philosophy around Patu Aotearoa is whanaungatanga, or connectedness, rather than “members”.
Being more active and eating nutritionally for better wellbeing was the emphasis with weight loss and fitness a secondary benefit.
The EIT team decided to extend its research from the wha¯nau — and provided data to help meet funder expectations — to animals.
“The wha¯nau are very supportive of our research and are quite comfortable with our work now, so it wasn’t a big stretch to include their pets into the regular Patu weigh-ins.
“It allowed us to reach local community pets that may not always have the opportunity to be regularly seen by animal health professionals.”
Forrest said the initiative also provided EIT students valuable opportunities to practise their skills and connect with the local community.
EIT veterinary nursing staff and students carried out the pet checks and during the same sessions, EIT Bachelor of Recreation and Sport and Bachelor of Nursing staff helped with human weighin and data collection.
“It’s awesome that our undergraduate students volunteer to give back to the local community and are also contributing to valuable community research.
“Several of the students are also Patu members so they got to showcase their skills and role model for the younger members.”