World Photography Day takes place annually on 19th August to celebrate the art, craft, science and history of photography. In this blog, we showcase photos that highlight how, with your incredible support, we are creating a brighter future for animals globally.
Many animals around the world are suffering with no access to crucial veterinary care in their time of need. At WVS, we are on a mission to change this. There are many ways we are providing veterinary care to animals – through sterilisation campaigns, training local veterinary professionals or sending veterinary aid to charities in need. We are working to create a happy and healthier animal population.
Sterilisation campaign in Ecuador
Our team in Ecuador regularly run sterilisation and training campaigns in remote communities in the Andes, where there is limited access to veterinary care. Our main objectives are to provide veterinary care to domestic animals, and to protect the diverse and unique wildlife in Ecuador. In April, we completed a training and sterilisation campaign in Mulalo, Cotopaxi. This area plays a crucial role in the conflict between wildlife and domestic animals, as it borders Cotopaxi National Park. This has resulted in direct interactions between local communities and wildlife, causing issues for both the wildlife and domestic animals. Additionally, people have been abandoning dogs in these areas.
We completed a full door-to-door census before the campaign, in the northern areas of Mulalo. This allowed our team to find out the number of dogs in the area, the amount of unsterilised dogs, and engage with the community about the issues they are facing. From the census, it was clear the team needed to target this area and provide the community with crucial veterinary care. Alongside sterilisation, 15 Ecuadorian veterinary students from Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) were trained by our expert team. 195 animals were sterilised over four-days, helping to create a safe, stable and healthy animal population.
Improving the standard of care in Thailand
In many countries across the globe, high quality and affordable veterinary training is limited, making life-long learning and training difficult for veterinary professionals. To ensure every animal has access to expert care in their time of need, we need competent and confident veterinary professionals. We provide training opportunities to help foster a new generation of skilled vets. Our International Training Centres (ITCs) act as hubs for treating thousands of animals, as well as training local and international veterinary professionals. By offering learning opportunities we are empowering the veterinary community.
In March, nine Thai vets were trained by our expert team in our new ITC in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which officially opened the same month. During this course, Thai vets were given the opportunity to develop practical skills and learn best practice in animal welfare. Participants performed spay and neuter procedures, improving their confidence in surgery, ready for life in practice. Our new centre will ensure the best training in the latest veterinary techniques, and will increase the number of vets trained, with demand continuing to grow for training across South East Asia.
Life-saving care for animals in Malawi
From our clinic in Blantyre, Malawi, our team regularly conduct outreach programmes to different communities. Every week, our team travel to communities in Blantyre to deliver vital treatment and support to dogs with transmissible venereal tumour (TVTs). TVTs are a form of cancer, a life-threatening but highly treatable cancer with weekly chemotherapy injections. This type of cancer is common among free-roaming dogs and can easily spread between dogs. Our teams normally notice these during sterilisation campaigns as we prepare dogs for a spay or neuter surgery. By travelling to these communities, we are ensuring that no dog is left to suffer.
Emba is a local village dog that had a vulva TVT, which was discovered during one of our sterilisation campaigns. Emba is a fighter who underwent 12 weeks of life-saving chemotherapy. Thankfully, because of the dedicated from our team, she is now in remission, happy and healthy again. Without this crucial care, Emba would have been left to suffer with this life-threatening cancer, while also potentially spreading this to other dogs.
Conservation through vet care
The Majete Wildlife Reserve is a protected area for key species to thrive. Since African Parks took over in 2003, the reserve has become one of Africa’s best conservation success stories. We support African Parks Majete with vital conservation efforts, with a veterinary care centre based within the reserve. This field clinic is used to store specialised equipment, treat animals on-site and respond quicker to wildlife emergencies. Since opening, the team have treated pangolins, cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, and so much more.
Monitoring wildlife is equally as important as rescuing and treating animals in need. That’s why we assist the monitoring team with tracking species of concern, in particular lions, to better understand how to protect the individual lion, their pride, and the people in surrounding villages.
In 2023, our veterinary team started assisting with lion population control, starting with contraceptive implants for female lions, and more recently, vasectomies for males. This is part of a broader population-control toolkit, which aims to mirror demographic patterns seen in larger, open systems. Vasectomies allow us to limit reproductive output while retaining natural social behaviour and territorial dynamics. This ensures that breeding rates align with prey availability and habitat carrying capacity.
Supporting equines in Ethiopia
Across the globe, from Argentina to Egypt, we are supporting equines through providing accessible veterinary care, training local vets, offering support for owners, and sending veterinary aid parcels. In July, we launched an equine health and welfare improvement partnership with Mekelle University in Ethiopia. There are major welfare concerns for equines here - many are carrying heavy loads in intense heat, without access to proper veterinary care, which makes for harsh working conditions for these animals. The team travelled around to different areas to engage with owners, with the priority being to identify the issues they face and plan veterinary intervention accordingly.
To empower owners to better care for their animals, our team educated them on the health and welfare of their equines, while providing care to any animals in need. The most common conditions requiring treatment were parasites, respiratory problems, wounds and lameness, with 2,247 equines receiving treatment in July. This is just the beginning of this project, and we look forward to expanding this much-needed work in Ethiopia.
Animal welfare and rabies education
Education is one of the most powerful tools for change. In our project areas around the world, we go into schools to teach children about animals, with a goal of making animal welfare part of everyday learning. Our lessons build empathy, compassion and respect, by explaining to children how their actions make a big impact on animals. If we can teach children from a young age how to treat animals with care and kindness, we can create a better world for all. These images showcase our education team in Thailand visiting schools across Chiang Mai and Lamphun.
Education is also a crucial part of our work within our flagship project, Mission Rabies. Many communities are not aware of the dangers of rabies, which is a key reason why people, and most often children, die from rabies. We have established education programmes globally. These lessons provide key information on how the rabies virus is spread, dog behaviour, and the steps to take if bitten by a dog. In rabies hotspots, these educational sessions could be the difference between life and death. These images showcase our education work during our campaign in the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where we reached over 12,000 community members and children.
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