World Vets

A Galápagos sea lion was reported with an unusual situation of something protruding from its nose. Our veterinary team responded right away to find a sea lion with an EEL coming out of its nose.  The team quickly captured the sea lion and carefully removed the long eel from its nose.  There were no associated injuries, so the sea lion was released onsite and was quite relieved to have this visitor evicted!  Surprisingly, this is not the first time we have seen a case like this. Earlier in the year we had another sea lion with an eel in its nose (see photos below).

World Vets works under a permit from the Galapagos National Park as the NGO that provides wildlife rescue services on San Cristobal Island.  We work together with the amazing Park Rangers of the Galapagos National Park, responding together to help injured and entangled wildlife. This important work is also made possible through the generosity of donors and supporters of World Vets.

On May 15th, World Vets broke ground on a new wildlife rescue center in Galapagos. This project is the first phase of a multi-year construction project which will increase the capacity for marine mammal response in Galapagos. It is much anticipated by the park rangers and management of the Galapagos National Park, and we hope to have the project completed by June 2024.

The prior facility, a 25-square-meter building with two adjacent sea lion holding pens located on National Park property, will be incorporated into the new design. The previous building will become an area exclusively for necropsies while the new addition will include a surgery area, treatment and examination area, patient holding area, and personnel workstations. There will also be an outside covered area that can be utilized for additional workspace.

The following photos show the building concepts, architectural plans, and photos of the many meetings that World Vets’ CEO and Founder Dr. Cathy King held over the last three months with architects, engineers, electricians, and park officials to move this important project toward reality.

World Vets is still raising funds to complete the project, but large donations have already been received, including those given in memory of Dr. Jerry Brown and Joan Wattles.

On February 5th, World Vets and the Galapagos National Park rangers were notified about a new sea turtle nest on a very busy public beach in town. This was not a common area for sea turtles to nest.  They jumped into action, putting up a barrier and signage to notify beachgoers and prevent disturbance of the nest. (The initial fencing was placed close to the ground to prevent any unwanted predators, with plans to raise the fence near the time of hatching).

Over the next 2 months the nest experienced multiple, unavoidable disturbances as heavy runs created a river though the beach that took down the fence and nearly washed away all the eggs.  The eggs became totally exposed, and while we had low expectations that the turtles would hatch after this, the team worked hard to find all of the eggs and moved them to a nearby location out of the path of the water.  The nest was constantly monitored.

Miraculously, 2 months after the eggs were laid, round midnight on April 8th, there was exciting news to report! The baby sea turtles emerged from the nest and were able to make their way across the beach to the ocean. The event was observed by a couple of tourists who reported it to the park.  World Vets and National Park staff rushed to the beach, and although the turtles had already made their way to ocean, we could see their tiny tracks all over the beach.  Reports were that there were 26 in all.  We later dug up the nest to verify the count and also determined that there were only 5 eggs that did not hatch.  A photo below shows one of the sea turtles taken by a tourist who observed the hatching. (Note: the sea turtles should not be picked up or handled as seen in the photo from the tourist).

This is just one instance of many in which World Vets is taking part in the conservation of threatened and endangered animal species in the Galapagos Islands. World Vets thanks our many faithful donors and supporters for their contributions to this important work.

The World Vets team in Laos recently completed 471 free sterilization surgeries for pets in the capital city Vientiane. World Vets also provided 250 rabies vaccinations, all of which were administered to patients free-of-charge. No-cost veterinary services such as these help low-income communities control animal overpopulation and help to reduce the spread of the deadly rabies virus in high-risk areas.

The three-day event from March 15 to 17 included veterinary volunteers from U.S.A, Canada, Australia, and Israel, led by field service vet Dr. Winnie Neunzig and head technician Christina Sloan. The World Vets team worked alongside volunteers from World Vets’ local partner and host group Vientiane Dog Paradise with its manager Analin Phoutsavath to spay and neuter hundreds of animals. Local veterinarian Dr. Melody Bomon and several Laos veterinary students and other local volunteers also joined in the campaign.

Photo credits to Vientiane Dog Paradise, Winnie Neunzig, and Donna Gingras.