Thursday 24 January 2013

Providing surgical training and animal welfare education in Sarajevo

With recent research producing a count of around 11,000 stray dogs on the streets of Sarajevo, there is a need for humane and effective measures for controlling the dog population. Therefore on the 3rd February 2013,  our vet nurse Hayley Walters will be flying out to Sarajevo in Bosnia to assist UK charity the Dogs Trust with a surgical training course to Bosnian vets.
The course will run for a week and dogs from the streets of Sarajevo will be caught, neutered, vaccinated, ear tagged and then released back onto the streets once they have fully recovered.
The Dogs Trust is keen to up skill the vets currently working in Bosnia and to promote neutering as a means of humane population control. Local authority training, education in schools, public education and subsidised neutering for pet owners are also part of their multi-pronged approach to good pet ownership.
Having been involved in several overseas neutering projects already, Hayley was very pleased to be asked by the Dogs Trust to help out. “Research has shown that mass culls of street dog populations are not only inhumane but also don’t work. New dogs just move into the newly vacated area and the problem starts all over again. Mass neutering and vaccinating campaigns result in a healthier and more manageable sized dog population so to do this, AND up skill local vets to carry on the good work at the same time, is a win-win situation for everyone”.
Hayley will use her previous experiences to ensure that each dog’s welfare comes first in the training of the vets and hopes that JMICAWE and the Dogs Trust will collaborate again on future projects.



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