NORTH EAST veterinary charity WECare Worldwide has sent a shipment container, that has been sat in Gateshead for over a year, to Sri Lanka on Monday in aid of street dogs in the country.
The container is packed full of medical equipment and pet supplies, donated by both North East and nationwide supporters. These supplies will help with treating the animals in the country and includes surgical equipment, dog treats, toys and medication.
The shipment was sent from Gateshead on Monday 22nd May and will arrive in Sri Lanka mid – June.
WECare Worldwide is a registered charity set up in the North East by UK vets to help the street dogs of Sri Lanka in desperate need of care and provides neutering, vaccinations and treatment for the stray dogs.
Gosforth vet Janey Lowes set up the charity after she witnessed the plight of sick and injured animals while on holiday in Sri Lanka in 2014. The charity has since treated thousands of animals in need, whilst helping to tackle rabies and attack the overpopulation issue on the island.
Janey, who received a prestigious ‘Point of Light’ award from David Cameron in recognition of her volunteer work and won ‘Vet of the Year 2017’ at the Daily Mirror’s Animal Hero Awards, has been overwhelmed with the support the charity has received so far and is thrilled that the container has finally been sent to Sri Lanka.
She said: “I’m absolutely over the moon to finally be able to send this urgently needed equipment to Sri Lanka where it can be put to good use.”
“We put out an appeal over a year ago to colleagues, reps, clients and animal lovers, as we were in desperate need of basic equipment and consumables. We are now lucky enough to have a container full to the brim of goodies that will make a huge difference to what we can achieve on the ground in Sri Lanka. The equipment that is in there is some of the first of it’s kind in our area and will allow us to continue transforming the lives of animals who often are in a really, really bad way .” Says Janey.
Due to issues with financing the shipment of the container, the charity has had valuable supplies stuck in Gateshead for over a year. After featuring on BBC’s Inside Out in January this year, the charity has had a lot of help from the public and is now in a position to pay for the container to be shipped to Sri Lanka. The container shipment was also featured by BBC, Look North on Tuesday 22nd May.
To keep up to date with the arrival of this shipment, full details can be found on the charity’s Facebook pa