Brighton veterinary team heads to Thailand to help animals in need

Coastway Vets veterinary nurse Quinton Sutton and vets Ivone Goncalves and Elena Marin will spend a week volunteering at Sangkhalaburi Animal Sanctuary in Western Thailand.

The animal shelter takes in abandoned dogs and provides a free veterinary clinic for local pets, as well as treating injured or sick animals that live on the streets. It relies on visiting volunteers like Quinton, Ivone and Elena, who travel from all over the world to care for its patients.

The Brighton trio will be vaccinating dogs against deadly diseases such as parvovirus and rabies and assisting at neutering clinics.

Quinton has organised the trip and it will be his third visit to the sanctuary.

He said: “I’m really looking forward to returning to Sangkhalaburi and having the opportunity to use my nursing skills to help animals in need. The sanctuary does incredible work to improve the lives of abandoned animals and it also helps people in remote villages get treatment and preventative healthcare for their pets, which they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access or afford.

“My colleagues and I will spend a lot of our time in Thailand neutering and spaying dogs, which is incredibly important for animal welfare. The populations of domestic and street dogs are out of control, and the sanctuary’s neutering clinics help prevent more unwanted puppies and kittens being brought into the world, which reduces the number suffering neglect.

“We will also be heading into the mountains between Thailand and Myanmar to spend a day neutering dogs that live in the wild after being abandoned. The conditions in such a remote area will be challenging and we could be performing surgery out in the open – it’s a world away from how we care for pets in our modern, well-equipped surgeries in Brighton.

“It is such a wonderful feeling to be able to make a difference for the animals and this is why I keep returning.”

Quinton is so passionate about the work the sanctuary does, that as well as volunteering he sends monthly donations of supplies.

He added: “The sanctuary can only survive because of the people who volunteer and through donations of equipment, and I know first-hand how desperate they are for our help.

“Every month I post them a small package containing essential items like pet collars, suture materials, bandages, sterile gloves and syringes. Coastway Vets donates any veterinary supplies that have passed their expiry date and can no longer be used in practice, but these items are a lifeline for the sanctuary and the animals it helps. Coastway Vets is extremely supportive and it also covers the cost of sending the items to Thailand.”

Quinton and Elena, who work at Coastway’s Portslade branch, and exotics vet Ivone, who is based at Coastway’s Brighton Veterinary Hospital in Kemptown, are covering their own costs to travel to Thailand, but they are hoping to raise £1,000 to help purchase additional supplies including flea and worm treatments and food for the 30 dogs that are permanent residents at the sanctuary. They have set up a Go Fund Me page to collect donations, and all the details can be found here: gofundme.com/f/sangkhlaburi-animal-sanctuary-volunteering-trip?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer

Coastway Vets offers the highest levels of care to pets in the local area. It has a state-of-the-art, 24-hour veterinary hospital in Kemptown, plus surgeries in Shoreham, Portslade, Lewes, Woodingdean and Telscombe.