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Exploring animal spirituality

Veterinarian to share her experience

By Angie Landsverk


Dr. Karlene Stange will speak about the spirituality of animals this month in Waupaca. Submitted Photo

Dr. Karlene Stange will discuss the spiritual nature of animals at three different venues this month.

The Waupaca native is the author of “The Spiritual Nature of Animals: A Country Vet Explores the Wisdom, Compassion and Souls of Animals.”

New World Library published the book last October.

Since then, Stange has done numerous podcasts and radio interviews about the subject.

“I started working on it 20 years ago,” she said of the book.

Some of her clients believed animals had souls and felt love.

Others did not.

Stange, who was raised Christian, decided to study the non-physical aspect of animals by looking at the teachings of various religions.

“What I found is they all said pretty much the same thing,” she said.

Stange will speak at the following times and places:

• 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 23, at the Waupaca Area Public Library.

This free Winchester Academy program is sponsored by Chuck Merry in memory of David Hathaway.

Open to the public, the event begins at 6 p.m. with cookies and coffee.

• 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 24, at Tails and Trails, E1578 County Trunk Q, which is near the corner of County Q and County Trunk QQ.

The ToTo Foundation is sponsoring the free family-friendly, dog-friendly event.

Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

• 3 p.m. Saturday, July 28, at The Bookcellar and Little Fat Gretchen’s, 110 S. Main St., in downtown Waupaca.

The Bookcellar is handling the sales of Stange’s book at all three events.

“From the time I was little, I wanted to be an animal doctor,” she said.

Stange, who graduated from Waupaca High School in 1972, was told girls do not become veterinarians.

She was advised to consider becoming a secretary or nurse instead.

Stange did otherwise.

After studying a year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she moved to Colorado in 1974.

At the time, there was no veterinary school in “America’s Dairyland,” she said.

In 1985, Stange graduated from veterinary school at Colorado State University.

She returned to Durango, where she had lived prior to going to school.

“I started out with small animals, but wanted to work with horses,” Stange said.

She said there is something about touching a horse.

Stange describes them as powerful friends and remembers riding ponies with her girlfriends during her youth.

In 1987, she started a mobile ambulatory horse practice.

“Most of the book is written from that perspective,” she said.

Years of emergency work resulted in her then going a different direction.

“I was getting burned out,” Stange said.

She had earned a black belt in karate and heard about veterinary acupuncture.

Stange became certified in 1997 and in 2000, traveled to China for advanced study.

She continues to work in that area.

Stange said the “heavy information” in her book is interspersed with stories from her practice.

“I want people to feel better about what’s going on with their animals,” she said. “It’s all beautiful, how it works.”

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