Robert, one of our policyholders who came back from a work posting abroad, asked me last year if we could spread the word to help find expired suture material for a charity he co-founded called the Tsunami Animal-People Alliance.
Right away, we've reached out to the clinics we work with and they have donated many many yards of suture material that they would otherwise have thrown away.
Here's what Robert had to say about this organization:
The Tsunami Animal-People Alliance spays and neuters dogs in the devastated tsunami zone of Sri Lanka. Our purpose is to assist the animals and people of Sri Lanka in long term recovery from the Great Tsunami. Even though the tsunami has long been off the front page, recovery will still take years. Our team of ten well-trained Sri Lankans (including three vets, vet techs, and animal handlers) sterilizes about 500 animals per month from our tented field clinic (like a M*A*S*H unit) that moves from village to village in the tsunami zone. We seek to improve the welfare of the animals through humane population control, and to improve the welfare of the people through reducing the risk of rabies (presently about 100 human rabies deaths per year in Sri Lanka) and reduce the incidence of dog bites, which also reduces the potential for animal cruelty by those fearing rabies.
We have sterilized almost 25,000 animals since the tsunami. About half the dogs we sterilize are street ("community") dogs that we catch in large butterfly nets, spay/neuter in our field clinic, and then, after recovery, return to the exact spot where taken to resume guarding their territories (Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release). The other half are dogs owned by poor villagers, who have no money to pay for sterilization services even if it were otherwise available. We also implement an education program in the villages where we work for kindergarten through adult to teach the facts and myths about rabies, how to avoid dog bites, and responsible pet ownership. All our services are offered without charge and we are supported by donations. A full description of what we do, including photos and videos, is on our website at www.tsunami-animal.org. The photo below shows our team at work.
Thank you to all the clinics that have participated in our suture drive and for all those that continue to do so. If you would like to participate in this drive, please email hello@embracepetinsurance.com and our Vet Outreach team will get in touch pronto.
I'm really glad Robert asked us to help; it's a great way for us to help using the Embrace reach.
