A Year for Change

To download the Annual Report 2007 PDF

It has been a year of change for Vets Beyond Borders - change which will prepare us for the challenges ahead of us. As always, the need seems to become greater rather than less but over the years we have achieved a great deal.

Significant developments include:

Helping provide health care for animals We presently run two major street dog animal birth control and anti-rabies (ABC-AR) programmes in India - in Sikkim and in Ladakh. These programmes operate through a memorandum of understanding with local governments and prohibit the killing of street dogs by local authorities co-funding the projects. These two projects are primarily funded by the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, France with some additional funding from the Marchig Trust for the Ladakh programme. In addition to these programmes, VBB co-ordinates veterinarian and veterinary nurse volunteers. VBB members have volunteered in the Pacific Islands, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and Bali. We also train local staff, veterinary doctors and nurses through our programmes with other organisations.

Vision for the future

Through our last three to four years of programme delivery, we have encountered many obstacles, some successes and have travelled on a steep learning curve. The obstacles we meet are just as useful as our successes, as they help us refine our activities to have the maximum impact for the welfare of animals. We are continuing to develop our volunteer recruitment and placement programme through raising our profile in the media, vet profession internationally, maintaining and expanding our website and developing an attractive volunteer package to encourage more professionals to join our programmes. Vet nurses find it harder financially to travel to programmes, so developing some sponsorship or fundraising for their trips would increase the number of volunteer nurses.

Highlights of the year

• Expansion of the Sikkim programme
• His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama became our Patron
• A new programme in Ladakh
• ABC Workshop run by Vets Beyond Borders at the Asia for Animals Conference in Chennai, India
• Zoo vet training
• Ongoing discussions with AMRRIC and indigenous communities to develop dog/community health programmes
• Restructuring of VBB Board and sub-committees
• David Darcy photographic exhibitions Street dogs of India
• Over AUS$1million of veterinary volunteer services provided to the animal welfare community since the formation of VBB.
  
  To download the Annual Report 2007 PDF
  To download the Annual Report 2006 PDF