Wildlife Vets International
We are proud to help ensure critical veterinary support for international wildlife and conservation projects.
Wildlife Vets International is a British charity set up in 2004 to help provide critical veterinary support to wildlife and conservation projects around the globe.
We ensure local conservation organisations battling to save endangered animals get the specialist wildlife veterinary help they need so wildlife can survive and thrive.
We’re not only committed to supporting welfare and conservation efforts that have an immediate and positive impact, we also want to encourage sustainable educational programmes that ensure the welfare of animals and their ecosystems well into the future.
Vets on the frontline of conservation.
The funding we have provided will directly help three threatened turtle species – the Endangered green turtle, the Vulnerable loggerhead turtle and the Vulnerable leatherback turtle.
It will also enable the vets and staff at three rehabilitation centres – Fundaçion CRAM in Barcelona (Spain), ARCHELON Sea Turtle Rescue Centre in Athens (Greece) and Local Ocean Conservation just outside Malindi, Kenya – to benefit directly from the specialist knowledge made available to them by the wonderful team from WVI.
Improve both human and animal welfare
Our work can help improve the lives of animals and the people around them. For example, mobile distemper and rabies vaccination clinics in Zimbabwe protect African painted wolves, while local domestic pets and their owners are safer as well.
Provide veterinary expertise
When we visit a conservation project, the veterinary team give as much clinical assistance as they’re able to, demonstrating critical veterinary procedures, such as anaesthesia, and providing the knowledge and training in other crucial aspects of conservation.
Increase local capability
We help to develop the capacity of field staff, wildlife and forestry departments, local vets and diagnostic facilities wherever we can, ensuring that our veterinary professionals will have specific skills and experience suited to the needs of the particular species targeted by any conservation activities.
Build recognition that veterinary expertise is core to successful conservation
We believe that developing knowledge of local wildlife disease threats, along with the capacity to survey for disease, are all key aspects in making sure that conservations efforts are sustainable in the long term.
Project update
May 2022
The Mediterranean Sea is home to many of the amazing creatures we share the planet with but, unfortunately, it’s also a hotspot for plastic pollution. The turtles that live here often find themselves getting entangled in plastic, or accidentally eating it, and the consequences can be painful, long lasting, and sometimes fatal.
ARCHELON estimates that, if it were to stop its current activities, the Mediterranean’s loggerhead turtles are already classified as vulnerable could become endangered in as little as five years. It’s widely acknowledged that the recovery of the population is entirely dependent on conservation work. Wildlife Vets International is committed to helping these efforts to ensure the future of the loggerhead.
As well as countless others on the Turtle Ward, the team is currently caring for Lilo, a green turtle who was submitted with a very extensive head injury and Peanut, a loggerhead who had unfortunately managed to ingest some fishing line and hook. We are delighted that these two are now doing well and will hopefully one day be able to return to the sea.
A very special thank you to Animal Friends for supporting the work of the Turtle Team and making sure turtles like Lilo and Peanut have a future.