Caribbean nonprofit funds stray handling

St. Lucia-The International Veterinary Assistance Inc., a volunteer-lednonprofit group of veterinarians organized in May, has earmarked more than$60,000 in veterinary resources of its volunteers to promote stray animalmanagement on the Caribbean island here.

"Each time you travel abroad you are confronted by feral dogs andcats which are in very poor condition," says Dr. Angela Witt, DVM,Dipl. ACVIM, founding director of IVA and lecturer at the Royal VeterinaryCollege, United Kingdom. "Unfortunately there are usually inadequatefacilities in place to handle this problem. This leads to a vicious cycleof a growing and neglected feral population and community health concerns.We developed IVA to provide veterinary resources and empower local groupsand supporters of such programs to stop this vicious cycle."

The St. Lucia project, a three-year initiative, was developed througha partnership with the St. Lucia Animal Protection Society and local veterinarians.It aims to provide education in the community and schools, provide volunteer-assistedspay and neuter programs, continuing education for resident veterinary professionalsand an infrastructure for sustainability.

Visit the Web site at http://www.dvmassist.org.