A VETERINARY team is volunteering on the streets of Wakefield to help dogs living rough with their owners.
Working with an organisation called Street Paws, the team of vets and nurses from Chantry Vets in Wakefield will volunteer once a month to provide basic treatments to those in need.
Chantry Vets, with its main hospital in Alverthorpe, will be on hand to give free health checks, provide medication, microchips and preventative treatment, including flea and worm protection, to pets on the streets of Wakefield city centre.
Led by practice manager Victoria Lee, the team will be based at Trinity Precinct one evening a month and expect to see up to 80 people with pets in need of veterinary care at each session.
Victoria said: “Being in our profession, we are all very compassionate about animal welfare and this section of the community is particularly vulnerable.
“All animals deserve appropriate medical care and those belonging to the homeless are no exception. It is important to make veterinary services more accessible to those who are in need and Street Paws helps us bridge that gap.
“We are having to draw up rotas as we have had such an enthusiastic response from our staff who want to get involved. Lisa Flood, our clinical director, has been instrumental in the organisation of our involvement and will also be joining alongside our team to provide veterinary expertise.
“We are delighted to be part of such a positive concept and to be able to make a real difference to the pets from the homeless community.”
Street Paws was set up in April 2016 by a former veterinary practice manager Michelle Southern and now has 130 veterinary professionals, supporting monthly sessions across 14 cities and towns in the UK, including Wakefield.
Michelle said: “Street Paws started with myself, a vet and a nurse on the street with a bag of supplies, with the aim of providing vaccinations, flea and worming to the animals of the homeless.
“I was working with a local group providing sandwiches for the homeless and saw some dogs at the outreach. As I was working as a veterinary practice manager at the time, I knew I had to do something to help the animals.
“We are delighted with the support we have received from Chantry Vets to expand our work to Wakefield.”
For media enquiries, please contact Sarah Bosnyak, Vet Partners PR and Communications Executive, on 0191 406 0522 or email sarah.bosnyak@vetpartners.co.uk