Local vet aids rural pets

A HILLCREST vet, Dr Mike Lowry, of Heritage Veterinary Clinic, has initiated a project focussed on sterilising and vaccinating animals from rural communities.

Lowry, has written two books, The Lion and the Lamb and The Rhino and the Rat, on the interesting cases he has attended to during his career. He has published these books under the alias, Dr Mike Hardwick, and has donated all of the profits to his community project.

“We go into the rural communities and collect the animals from their owners. Our main focus is sterilisation and vaccination, but we also treat any sick animals that we encounter. Our biggest problem is skin diseases, such as mange,” said Lowry.

According to Lowry 90 per cent of animals in rural communities do not get to see a vet, and often suffer tremendously. The aim of the project is to prevent unspayed animals from roaming and breeding.

While running the programme, Lowry and his team also uses the opportunity to educate residents on their pets. “We teach them about their animal’s type of breed, what kind of exercise it needs, characteristics of the breed and diseases that the breed might be prone to, for example,” said Lowry.

Grade 7 pupils of Hillcrest Primary School supported the worthy cause by raising R5 000. “As part of our school’s Outreach Project every grade is encouraged to support a charitable initiative. The grade 7s choose this initiative and raised the funds during a Valentine’s Day bake sale,” said Dulcie Brauteseth, the head of department for grade 7.