March 2019 saw a team of Worldwide Veterinary Service vets visit Mafia Island off the east coast of Tanzania for the first time. For the locals, accessing veterinary care on the island is challenging, with few provisions available to treat the population of dogs and cats. With this in mind, our teams headed out to deliver a crucial spay and neuter outreach project - promoting humane animal population control.
Whilst on the island in 2019, our teams came across three puppies who had been abandoned in a cardboard box. Our vets set up a rudimentary vet surgery and treated the trio of puppies for various injuries; including removing the eye of one in order to stop further suffering. When our vets left the island, a resident team member agreed to take care of the puppies until they could be re-homed.
Fast forward to our second trip to Mafia Island in March 2020 and the three dogs, now named Meg, Julia and Ichi, are happily living with a loving family – getting the care they deserve after an arduous start to their young lives.
Thanks to our team of vets on Mafia Island, we were able to ensure that this group of loving dogs could be provided with vital veterinary care as well as a loving forever home. The unexpected encounter also proved to be a huge morale builder for the team, after working tirelessly on the project in challenging rainy season conditions.