Namibian conservation sees Veterinary Funding boost

Special Fund set up to cover equipment and medical costs for Namibian wildlife veterinary services

Male lion health check

Lioness check up

Vet works on brown hyena

Sedated cheetah

Leopard father speaks to son

Brown hyena dental check

Brown hyena sedated

Leopard receives care

Darting injured Nyala bull

Treating Nyala foot injury

Rhino treated for wire snare

Rhino recovers after treatment

Telemetry collar for hyena

Orphaned eland calf

(click for full image and captions)

The Namibia Vet Fund is a specially dedicated conservation fund established by WWA to reimburse the costs of surgical equipment, disposable medical materials and drugs to veterinarians in Namibia when they carry out conservation and wild animal welfare work in the field - free of professional charges.

This includes the darting of wildlife to fit radio collars or tag them for conservation and study purposes or for the capture, holding and relocation of animals when they are posing a nuisance to farmers and would otherwise be shot. It also includes covering the costs of medical materials incurred to anesthetise, release and rehabilitate animals caught in snares. 

These amazing and unsung hero veterinarians and their teams dedicate as much time as they can to this specialised work but as the animals have no ‘owners’ or anyone willing to pay for the attention they need, veterinarians often also have to pay for it from their own pockets. In neighbouring South Africa, Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital and other organisations treat all injured wild animals for free and are able to fund their work via some impressive sponsorship. Unfortunately, no such facility exists in Namibia, and there are only a few vets doing this kind of work in a vast country.

WWA aims to support authorised Namibian veterinarians offering their skills and services to help wildlife and help ‘fill the expenses gap’ at least partially by raising funds to cover the practical field costs of field equipment and medications that they use (not cash or vehicle costs or staff time) against invoice/retrospective receipt, on a case-by-case basis.  The veterinary teams in Namibia will source their drugs and medical equipment locally through their usual veterinary suppliers.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

If you have a heart for conservation please donate to the Vet Fund, knowing that 100% of each donation will go directly to equipment and medication purchases. This will be an ongoing project.

DONATE IN THE USA: Please donate directly to WWAUSA as a regsistered NFP with IRS 501c3 status: EIN 93-4432792, with reference "Namibia Vet Fund". Donations can be itemised on your annual income tax return.

DONATE IN THE UK: Donate directly to WWAUK as a UK Registered Charity: Number 1206285, with reference "Namibia Vet Fund". Donations can be itemised on your annual income tax return.

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Please note that we are unable to receive donations of short-dated products or surgical or ‘previously loved’ diagnostic equipment to be sent to WWA for this vital work. This is because the mail is unreliable and slow in Namibia, transport costs are high from overseas and import duties may still be applied on equipment and machinery. Please instead simply donate cash and email us to advise that your donation is specifically for our "Vet Fund".

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Some of the vets we work with:

• Dr Ulf Tubbesing of Wildlife Vets Namibia provides wildlife-related services including medical assistance, wildlife translocations, consultancy and education, and wildlife documentation. www.wildlifevetsnamibia.com

• Dr Nick Buys of NJ Buys Veterinary Practice, Windhoek