Mayhew International Newsletter Autumn/Winter 2017

Issue 23 | Autumn/Winter 2017

www.themayhew.org

Welcome to the autumn/ winter edition of the Mayhew International newsletter.

In this edition you can read about our continued work in Georgia, exciting updates from Dr. Mo in Afghanistan and more about our International Vet Training Programme.

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International Vet Training Programme

Mayhew International in Georgia

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Mayhew International in Afghanistan

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International Vet Training Programme Mayhew recently welcomed Dr. Valentina Grigorova and Dr. Elena Bokareva from Russia and Dr. Javier Gonzalez Soto from Spain as part of Mayhew’s International Vet Training Programme.

In June and August 2017 respectively, Dr. Valentina and Dr. Elena together, then Dr. Javier, Dr. Elena and Dr. Valentina in our Vet Clinic. spent two weeks at our Community Vet Clinic in London on an intensive veterinary training course with our Head Vet Dr. Ursula Goetz MRCVS, GP Dr. Elena said: “I can’t believe I am getting this Cert (SAS) and Mayhew’s veterinary team. opportunity to train with Mayhew, I am very glad to be here. I have learnt a lot of great things to The main aims of the course are to take back to the dog shelter in Moscow, demonstrate safe and secure neutering including neutering techniques and sterilisation.” techniques which the vets will carry out, including flank spaying for cats and the closed Implementing these best practice methods castration method for dogs. It is also significantly helps to control animal discomfort important for the vets to gain an after surgery. They help to reduce the risk of understanding of the importance of good complications during and post-operation, pre- and post-operative care, techniques for improve overall animal welfare and minimise improved animal handling for the animals, and the stress to the animals before, during and effective pain management. after surgery.

Dr. Ursula overseeing Javier during surgery.

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Dr. Ursula demonstrating a proceedure to Elena and Valentina.

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Dr. Javier with a kitten in our Vet Clinic.

The international vets also spent time finding out more about how Mayhew’s Community Veterinary Clinic operates, focussing on providing free and low-cost preventative veterinary care and welfare that benefits both the homeless dogs and cats within London communities, but also individual pet owners long term.

Dr. Ursula Goetz MRCVS, GP Cert (SAS) said: “The vets participating in the training are enabled to not only help the animals, but to also gain an overall understanding of the complexity of animal welfare and population management. for dogs, cats and communities

They are then more able to have a positive impact on the animals they deal with as well as educating the people involved to help relieve the suffering of animals in their own regions.”

Dr. Valentina added: “We have enjoyed working with Mayhew and we hope to return and study here again in the future.”

Mayhew has welcomed six vets from overseas so far this year and we look forward to meeting two vets from Lithuania who are scheduled to come to Mayhew in December this year.

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Mayhew International in Georgia In May this year, Mayhew International returned to Tbilisi, continuing our vet training and development programme, and providing support to Tbilisi Municipal Shelter and the city’s Trap, Neuter, Release programme for free-roaming dogs.

Dr. Ursula at a shelter in Georgia.

Our Mayhew vet team were especially pleased to extend the veterinary training to vets from other Georgian municipalities, Kutaisi and Gori, and even from other countries with two vets attending from Ukraine sponsored by Dogs Trust Worldwide, and to see the Tbilisi shelter vets share in the teaching and demonstrating of their learnt knowledge.

Mayhew International also sponsored a Dog Spay Day at the Free Agrarian University Veterinary Clinic. Many of the 27 dogs neutered on the day came via our sponsored Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return project with Dog Organisation Georgia (DOG) who have already exceeded their target of neutering 180 dogs this year.

At the Spay Day, we had a lot of volunteer help from the University’s veterinary students who were able to assist with pre and post-operative care, and take the opportunity to observe safe and secure techniques and procedures required for the large scale sterilising and castrating of dogs. We were also delighted to work alongside three generations of Georgian vets trained by 6

Mayhew’s vet team both in London and in Georgia: Mariam, Mao and Ana, part of the growing group of Georgian vets now competent in small animal reproductive surgery, who are now passing on their skills to other vets and vet students in Tbilisi.

The Mayhew team was also on hand to help with other trauma cases at Tbilisi and Gori Municipal shelters. Many free-roaming dogs fall victim to road traffic accidents in Georgia resulting in broken and nerve-damaged limbs.

Sadly many of these dogs suffer on the streets until picked up by the Municipality teams.

Thankfully, we were on hand this trip to help with two such cases – little Miro and brave Niko.

Both dogs required leg amputations, which were carried out by our Head Vet Dr. Ursula Goetz MRCVS, GP Cert (SAS), who demonstrated and talked through the techniques she was using for the shelter vets. Both dogs soon recovered from their surgery and are now in foster homes and will soon be on their way to their new homes.

We are looking forward to returning to Tbilisi in October this year. www.themayhew.org

Mayhew International in Afghanistan Mayhew Afghanistan’s mass canine rabies vaccination programme started on Sunday 6th August 2017 – the first ever such programme for Kabul.

To get to this launching point, Mayhew Afghanistan has been working closely with Kabul Municipality. On January 22nd, Mayhew Afghanistan signed a landmark agreement with Kabul Municipality to halt the cruel practice of culling street dogs using strychnine poisoning, a slow and very painful death for dogs.

Crucial to the programme is humane dog catching. Kabul Municipality has a large team of dog catchers, previously used in the culling programme. Following an interview process to assess how they felt towards the dogs and their work, Dr Mohammadzai DVM selected a group of these dog catchers for re-training in humane handling and restraint.

In June this year the Municipality dog catchers received training, with Humane Society International (HSI) India in humane catching and handling techniques. It was the first time that the Afghan dog catchers had really interacted with dogs in a positive manner.

Enthused with their training, the team returned to Kabul to put it into practice with the Kabul Municipality team going on to train a further group of Municipality dog catchers in the humane techniques learnt.

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Dr. Mo and a member of the team vaccinating a street dog.

Further training in the use of the Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) telephone app for logging and recording data about the dogs vaccinated in the field was provided by a small team from our friends and colleagues at HOPE & Animal Trust/Mission Rabies in Ranchi India, during the first week of the programme.

A pup being vaccinated.

The first days of the vaccination drive were a huge success, with a lot of interest from the locals and a good start to our target of vaccinating up to 15,000 dogs against rabies in Kabul, based on the statistics from the first ever Dog Population Survey, carried out by Dr. Mohammadzai DVM in Kabul in 2015.

“The good thing about our new job is that dogs and people are both now safe and we are confident that the vaccinated dogs will not be spreading a fatal disease.”

Ainuddin – Team Leader for the Kabul Municipality dog catchers www.themayhew.org

Dr. Mo with the team of newly trained dog catchers.

Mayhew International in Afghanistan.

On seeing the Kabul Municipality dog catching team with their nets, some of the locals were concerned they were there to kill the dogs, but the team were able to explain that the strategy had changed and they were there to catch and vaccinate the dogs, thereby protecting the lives of local residents.

It was also encouraging to see locals bringing out their own dogs to be vaccinated, which our team was happy to do, with the owners receiving a certificate and information on when a booster vaccination was due.

Dr. Mohammadzai DVM said: “Our mass rabies vaccination programme is very much welcomed by the government and the people in Kabul. We presently have a team of 16 staff who are working in the field and for the initial days, a small team from Ranchi in India.

Everybody is very supportive.”

We were thrilled when Mayhew Afghanistan’s rabies eradication strategy was presented to the President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, who has given his support to the project.

Mayhew International would like to thank our wonderful supporters and the following organisations that have helped us make this life-saving programme a reality so far: Dogs Trust Worldwide, Humane Society International, the team at WVS, Mission Rabies, HOPE & Animal Trust and MSD Animal Health, who have sponsored the supply of

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www.themayhew.org

If you would like to help us protect the lives of more dogs and humans you can help by donating towards some vital equipment, including: • Samsung Android phone handsets • Solar battery packs for charging phones • A second fridge to store the rabies vaccines • Dog catching equipment including poles, nets and gloves.

• Sponsorship of a vet vaccinator for 1 month (£250) To donate please call 020 8206 5870 or visit www.themayhew.org/donate Thank you. rabies vaccines for the project and MDC Exports Ltd for some very vital protective equipment for our team.

The mass vaccination project is a long-term programme and we are continuing to raise funds so that we can have more teams out in the field and can expand over the coming months.

international@mayhewanimalhome.org 0044 (0)20 8962 8000 Trenmar Gardens, Kensal Green, London, NW10 6BJ

Registered charity no. 1077588

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