Last year we awarded a grant of $10,000 to Thursday Island Animal Support Group to help facilitate two vet clinics on Thursday Island in collaboration with Vets Beyond Borders and Animal Welfare League QLD.
The words and images below are from Trine Frost, a volunteer vet nurse, who has recently come back from the most recent trip we part funded through Missy's Mini Grants.
"At the beginning of March our team of two veterinarians, three vet nurses, one admin assistant and the Vets Beyond Borders volunteer coordinator spent a week on Thursday Island to provide veterinary care to the animals in the Torres Strait.
There is is a large population of both owned and stray dogs and cats in the region, however, the closest veterinary clinic is 802km away, making access to veterinary care extremely challenging, if not impossible.
The animals are therefore not receiving the appropriate care if an illness or injury occurs, and the population rises quickly without the opportunity to spay and neuter.
This was the 6th trip of the project so far, and we had a total of 135 animals visit the clinic for whatever it is that they needed such as vaccinations, heart-worm tests, SR12 and immiticide injections, desexing's, microchips, lumpectomies, entropion surgeries, stitch ups, consultations, and the list goes on!
Some of the most common health issues we saw were heartworm, ticks, fleas, intestinal worms and mites, all of which are easily preventable with the correct parasite prevention products.
Heart-worm in particular is rampant on the island, and if left untreated it can be fatal. Heavy flea, tick and mite infestations can also lead to more severe health issues such as anaemia, transmission of diseases and painful skin conditions.
Educating pet owners on the importance of staying up to date with parasite prevention, as well as providing them with several months worth of free products was therefore a vital part of our job there, which will contribute to a significant improvement of the animals health and wellbeing.
This was my second time going on this trip and it was amazing to see all the improvements Thursday Island Animal Support Group has made since I was there for the first time only 6 months ago.
This time we had air-conditioning in the clinic (yay!) because it was donated and installed by a local on the island as a thank you for looking after his dog.
The clinic also had more shelving and organised boxes to store equipment and consumables this time, making work much more efficient when you try to do ten things at once, but don’t know where anything is.
Being involved in a project like this, and seeing first hand how much good can be achieved when people come together to help animals, is one of the most inspiring and heartwarming experiences I’ve ever been a part of.
The long days, hard work and emotional roller-coaster is all worth it when you see how grateful the local community is, and when you know the lives of countless animals have been remarkably improved."
We are so grateful to Trine and all the other volunteers and groups who collaborate to make these clinics possible. Your hard work and dedication is incredible - thank you!
