World Vets

World Vets is excited to announce that we have been awarded a $100,000 grant from MSD Animal Health to help animals across the globe that are suffering as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic.  Working with partners across 12 countries, spanning 5 continents, World Vets will provide urgent and critical care to pet owners who cannot afford services because of financial or other pandemic-related hardship. Thanks to this grant, we will be able to provide widespread veterinary relief in Ecuador, Brazil, Australia, Nepal, Italy, Spain, Peru, United Kingdom, Moldova, Tanzania, Guatemala and Dominican Republic.  We are very grateful for the generous support from MSD Animal Health as we work to bring much needed care to animals in need.  The project is recently underway and is already bringing life-saving veterinary care to those that need it most.  Below are just a few of the animals that have already been helped.  We look forward to sharing these stories of hope from around the world as we embark on this important mission.

About MSD Animal Health

For more than a century, MSD, a leading global biopharmaceutical company, has been inventing for life, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases. MSD Animal Health, a division of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, N.J., USA, is the global animal health business unit of MSD. Through its commitment to The Science of Healthier Animals®, MSD Animal Health offers veterinarians, farmers, pet owners and governments one of the widest ranges of veterinary pharmaceuticals, vaccines and health management solutions and services as well as an extensive suite of digitally connected identification, traceability and monitoring products. MSD Animal Health is dedicated to preserving and improving the health, well-being and performance of animals and the people who care for them. It invests extensively in dynamic and comprehensive R&D resources and a modern, global supply chain. MSD Animal Health is present in more than 50 countries, while its products are available in some 150 markets. For more information, visit www.msd-animal-health.com/ or connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

• World Vets disaster response team has been working hard providing veterinary relief for animals impacted by the Cold Springs and Pearl Hill fires in the Omak, Washington area.  We currently have veterinarians providing mobile response to address the needs of primarily horses and cattle that have been impacted by the fires.  There are numerous animals with varying degrees of burns, many of which are severe.  Other animals have wounds (wire cuts etc) resulting from fleeing the fire. There have been limited small animals cases presented so far. We have set up a dedicated veterinary response hotline (509-842-3440) that is available to the local community to call in requests for assistance.  The additional current scope of our work includes :
• -Clinical assessments and treatments of any and all animals affected by the fires;
• -General assistance with recovery efforts (husbandry, fence building, feeding) assisting and working within the disaster response under the “Okanogan County Fairgrounds Cold Springs Fire Relief”
• -Identifying specific supply needs and procuring resources needed to assist local animal populations for short term and long term needs (hay, feed, fencing materials, veterinary medications, etc)
• -Providing herd health assessments and evaluations for livestock
• -Updating disaster management officials on daily response summary and scope of work

Special thanks to the Okanogan County Fairgrounds for providing facilities for our team.

• Below are some photos of the devastation and animals that have been impacted and are being helped.  (Warning some photos are graphic)

Click here to donate to our disaster relief drive

We are grateful for the support of the many individual donors and supporters who help make this work possible.  We also greatly appreciate supporting contributions from a variety of companies and organizations including Lakefield Veterinary Group, Uptown Animal Hospital, AmerisourceBergen, Patterson Veterinary Supply, Zoetis and People for Animal Care and Kindness.

The global pandemic has brought new challenges and obstacles to the animals and communities we help and also to the way we run our programs.  Fortunately, we are very adaptable to change and our work has continue full force in new ways.  Our volunteer veterinary teams traveling from North America are currently on hold until its safe to travel again and we are working closely with our in-country partners to carry out our programs and deliver aid that helping animals that need it most.  Social distancing, mask wearing and extra safety precautions are the new standard of care on these programs, making it possible to get help where it is needed.  Economic hardships brought upon by the pandemic make it even more important to continue our work, especially in developing regions.  These are just a few of the many animals that tare receiving care through community outreach clinics, surgery clinics and mobile field clinics that we are supporting.

On August 18th World Vets released a rehabilitated harbor seal pup back to his natural environment of the Puget Sound after two months of rehabilitation.  In June the seal pup was abandoned by its mother and was too young to survive on his own.  Human interaction was involved in this pup being abandoned in a busy marina.  After several days of observation in hopes of the mom returning, it was determined that the pup was on his own and was unlikely to survive without intervention.

The initial report came in to Cascadia Research Collective who monitored and then picked up the pup which was then transported to  World Vets Marine Mammal Urgent Care Center.  World Vets provided initial treatments and stabilization services before transporting the pup to a rehab center in the San Juan Islands.  After spending two months at Wolf Hollow Rehabilitation Center, the pup was heathy enough to be returned to the wild. World Vets transported the seal and it released it at seal haul out near where he had been originally picked up.

This harbor seal pup has a second chance at life thanks to our supporters who make this work possible and the collaborative efforts of NOAA’s West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network, of which World Vets is proud to be a member.  World Vets provides around the clock on-call services for the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network to respond to sick, injured and stranded marine mammals throughout the state.  Our marine mammal urgent care center has been busy throughout the season helping pups like this one.

Please remember to stay back 100 yards from marine mammals.  If you see an injured, sick or stranded marine mammal, please do not approach it.  Report strandings to the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Hotline at 1-866-767-6114.