Earthquake rattles the first Pet Life mag to the printers

Wednesday 25 January 2016

Earthquake rattles the first Pet Life magazine to the printers

Even Mother Nature couldn’t stop the production of New Zealand’s newest free pet magazine from heading to the printers.

In December of 2016 Pet Life Ltd launched their first magazine - a free pet magazine distributed across New Zealand. However, this triumph did not come without challenge as Pet Life’s headquarters is based in Kaikoura. The November 14 earthquake cut Kaikoura (along with Pet Life) off from the rest of New Zealand; with massive landslides blocking the roads both North and South of the small coastal town.

“Luckily our editor and graphic designer work remotely and once I got power and internet back on I could start communicating with them again” says Managing Director Dr Amy Scott-Thomas. Dr Scott-Thomas had just moved back to Kaikoura a few months earlier to enjoy the quiet life and work on Pet Life magazine only to have it halted by a rather substantial “technical glitch”.

“I have to admit, it was pretty challenging and rather stressful trying to get the final touches completed but the hardest part was trying to get a hardcopy of the magazine into Kaikoura to signoff.....I was panicking a tad” laughs Amy.

At that point only army controlled convoys were heading in and out of Kaikoura via the Inland Road which would have been an overnight excursion. As a mother of a 3 year old she was comforting after the earthquakes she knew this was not an option. So Amy turned to the next logical solution get the proof flown in!

“I contacted Wings Over Whales Kaikoura and asked if they would help me by flying in the proof.

They said yes and PWAGriffin my printers in Christchurch were happy to drop the package off to the Canterbury airfield for me.”

The magazine was able to be signed off, printed and distributed all before Christmas, just 3 weeks after its original release date. The Pet Life team is now looking forward to their second magazine (due this autumn). With the power back on and the road South to Christchurch reopened Dr Scott-Thomas is “hoping the production of our next issue will run a bit smoother than our first!”.

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