ADDITIONAL VETS TRAVEL TO REMOTE AND POVERTY-STRIKEN AREAS TO PROVIDE MUCH-NEEDED CARE THROUGH NEW 'DORIS DAY VETERINARY CHAIR'
The Doris Day Animal Foundation, which provided the first-ever grant to The Humane Society of the United States' Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS) in 1995, is providing a grant of $50,000 this summer to provide veterinary care in areas of extreme poverty where veterinary care is difficult to obtain. The grant will fund the "Doris Day Veterinary Chair" and provide for an added veterinary team to cover more areas of the country, including reservations in Nevada and Washington and clinics in Mississippi.
Led by Dr. Eric Davis, a Northern California board-certified Specialist in both Large Animal Internal Medicine and Equine Surgery and veterinarian, RAVS continues to grow and address veterinary concerns from Appalachia to Micronesia, and often includes medical stays at Indian reservations across the United States. The grant from the non-profit Doris Day Animal Foundation will enable RAVS to add another veterinarian and vehicle to visit more rural regions this summer.
"RAVS is best defined as a mobile veterinary teaching hospital," explains Dr. Davis. "It works to permanently improve animal welfare through comprehensive veterinary care for all animals and service learning for veterinary students." RAVS must be invited into every community it serves, and works only in areas where geographic isolation and poverty makes other veterinary care unavailable. RAVS also responds to disasters, including the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.
"Last year, RAVS provided some $1.1 million in free veterinary services to animals in need," Dr. Davis adds.
Every RAVS clinic includes:
•Comprehensive veterinary care for each animal seen – including diagnosis and treatment of problems ranging from heartworm and mange to emergency surgery;
•Surgical training and instruction for approximately 35 veterinary students;
•One-on-one humane education for every pet owner – focused on the individual needs of their animal;
•Support for local animal protection efforts through training and consultation.
Dr. Leo Egar will be retained thanks to the Doris Day Veterinary Chair. Plans are for Dr. Egar to lead RAVS clinics on Native American reservations and in the state of Mississippi. Dr. Egar also will respond in times of disasters and other emergencies such as a case in Tennessee last October where The HSUS rescued 300 Chihuahuas, Westies and Dachshunds from a puppy mill breeder. These animals were living in wire cages, closed in with their own filth and completely neglected. Dr. Egar spent several days in Tennessee examining, treating and operating on the dogs so they could be adopted by responsible homes. Legal action is pending against the breeder.
"RAVS provides much-needed services to the people and animals most in need," says Doris Day, founder and president of the Doris Day Animal Foundation. "The need is real. At each RAVS clinic, people are lined up outside the door at 6 a.m., hoping to have their animal treated. We are honored to continue to work with RAVS and help them provide additional free veterinary care, provide pet guardians with one-on-one instruction in responsible pet care, and permanently improve animal welfare in these communities," Day says.
"Doris Day and her non-profit foundation have been great supporters of our work over the years, and we are pleased to honor her with this Doris Day Veterinary Chair," says Dr. Davis. "We are very grateful for the help she and her organization are providing. We will serve the people most in need and enhance their lives and those of their animals." Dr. Davis is currently on one of his many field expeditions working with animals in Zuni, New Mexico and Ute Mountain reservation in Colorado, followed by Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.
-30-
Media contact: Doris Day Animal Foundation: Linda Dozoretz, (323) 656-4499; linda@ldcomm.com
As a direct-care program of The Humane Society of the United States, the RAVS program's had more than 900 volunteers last year who provided veterinary care for animals in over 50 communities where no other animal services exist, including communities on Native American reservations throughout the United States, in rural Appalachian counties, in remote villages in Guatemala, and within island nations in the Caribbean and Pacific. Each year RAVS provides over $1 million in free veterinary services to over 10,000 animals, all at no cost to the clients or communities served.
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization backed by 10 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs such as RAVS. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty -- On the web at humanesociety.org.
The Doris Day Animal Foundation is the grant-making arm of Doris Day's non-profit animal welfare organizations. It has helped a number of leading animal welfare groups and programs.
