Angel of the street dogs
Brit vet sacrifice to save 5,000 pups in Sri Lanka
A SUPERVET who gave up life in the UK to rescue street dogs in Sri Lanka has saved 5,000 animals.
Janey Lowes, 28, helps dogs with problems ranging from mange and ticks to rabies and machete wounds.
She said: “So many are in such a bad way, I’m amazed they’re alive. I am in surgery every day but a lot of it is also about showing them compassion. I feel these are all my dogs and I have a responsibility to them.”
Many were injured by traffic and need amputations. Others were attacked by knives or boiling water because they are viewed as vermin.
Janey, whose story will be shown on BBC’s Inside Out tomorrow, said: “Dogs are seen differently here. Even when they are owned, the majority are used as guard dogs, tied up in the heat or kept in a crate 23 hours of the day. So on top of treating dogs, we are aiming to educate people.”
She is also trying to curb the number of unwanted puppies, because 60 per cent die before they are fully grown.
Her neutering programme has made a big difference. When she arrived, 40 per cent of dogs in the area were bald with mange. This is now below five per cent.
Daily, she jumps into an auto rickshaw and does a tour looking for dogs. She treats OUR vet Brian Faulkner, from Petplan, has 16 years of experience and is a freelance working all over the country. Send your questions to Brian at: Petplan, Great West House, Great West Road, Brentford, Middlesex, TW8 9DX or via Petplan’s Facebook page facebook.com/ PetplanUK. animals seven days a week. Janey, who won Vet of the Year at last year’s Daily Mirror’s Animal Hero Awards, moved in 2014 after a backpacking trip.
She said: “I’m well-travelled and have seen lots of street dogs but Sri Lanka was another level. I couldn’t walk away.”
Her practice was set up in an empty school and she now has 20 staff members. They rely entirely on charity donations.
She has taken in five dogs herself, including two-week-old Ralphie, who was the only surviving pup in his litter and had a head wound filled with maggots.
Janey, of Bishop Auckland, Co Durham, said: “I trained as a vet because I want to help animals. Now I wake up knowing I will do something worthwhile.”
Inside Out, North East and Cumbria, tomorrow, BBC1, 7.30pm, and iPlayer.
MY cat has started behaving differently – wetting himself. Could he be afraid of another cat or is this a medical problem?