Taveuni mobile vet service treats 207 dogs and cats

After seeing villagers struggle to access animal care, Julie Seidman took veterinary services to Taveuni’s remote communities.

Originally from Southern California, the 65-year-old has lived on Taveuni since 2014 and started Taveuni Animal Lovers (TAL) soon after.

The organisation held its first desexing mission in 2015 at Ms Seidman’s home in Soqulu.

She soon realised that most people bringing animals for treatment were expatriates who had access to transport.

Villagers without transport and other options were missing out.

“That is when we realised to help those who need it the most, we must become a mobile operation,” Ms Seidman said.

TAL now takes volunteer veterinarians and veterinary nurses to 26 villages on Taveuni and some outer islands on a rotational basis.

Ms Seidman said Taveuni had plenty of animals but no veterinarians, making the mobile service important for communities.

The organisation’s main focus is reducing the overpopulation of dogs and cats through desexing, alongside education.

TAL does not have an official shelter or hospital and operates entirely as a mobile service.

Its latest two-week village outreach mission treated 207 dogs and cats, with most of the animals desexed being breeding females.

Ms Seidman said the most common health problems among animals were malnutrition, dehydration and parasite infestation.

She said lack of education was the root cause of many of these problems and believed basic animal welfare should be included in primary school curriculums.

TAL is preparing for its next village outreach mission in November.

Ms Seidman said the organisation faced higher costs because supplies had to be shipped to the remote island.

Those wishing to support TAL can donate through M-PAiSA  on 834-0885 or through taveunianimallovers.org