International Member Spotlight: Jack Reece

In this month’s International Member spotlight, Jack Reece MRCVS tells us how he uses his extensive veterinary surgery experience to improve the health and welfare of street animals in Jaipur, India.  

Can you tell us what organisation you work for and where in the world you are based?

I work for an animal health charity called Help in Suffering, which was founded in 1980. Its main focus is helping sick, injured and suffering street animals but we also look after working camels and run a street dog and rabies control programme.

We are based in Jaipur, the state capital of Rajasthan, based in the North-West of India. It’s a big bustling city of around three and a half million people.

What is your role at the charity?

I’m a veterinary surgeon and previous to working in Jaipur, I worked in a large animal practice in Devon. I got a bit fed up with TB testing and at the time I couldn’t justify having a long holiday so I decided to look for something that was more professionally orientated that I could do abroad. I initially came to India for six months and have ended up staying for over 20 years!

We have seven vets working at the charity and two dozen veterinary nurses, which are called compounders in India.

Can you give us an overview of the types of work/procedures that your workplace does?

I have mainly taken on the organisation of the street dog and rabies control programme but in my initial few years here, one of the other main areas of work I was involved in was looking after the welfare of street animals, which there are an enormous number of in India.

We rescue all kinds of sick and injured street animals. We didn’t have that many vets when I started, which meant that you got on and did everything. I treated horses, donkeys, cows, dogs, cats, monkeys, birds, camels, elephants – you name it!

It’s a little hard as a UK vet as you come prepared for small animals and cattle but you don’t get taught how to treat a camel. In some areas of work, I and other volunteers would take the initiative and in other areas we learnt from our Indian colleagues.

How do you like to start your workday?

I live on-site in the compound of the hospital, so I’m here all the time! I get to the office around 8.30am and the first task of nearly every day is looking at and registering the street dogs that have been caught that morning that need to be sterilised and vaccinated.

The number of animals we need to sterilise every day can vary but usually there are around 20 animals to treat and the programme runs seven days a week.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Once we have registered the dogs, we have to do a certain amount of paperwork to keep track of where they came from so we can put them back there when they are ready. At about 9.30am we will start surgically sterilising animals in our operation theatre which usually takes until around lunch time to complete - this morning we sterilised and vaccinated 22 animals.

Then we make a formal ward round to check on all the dogs that we’ve operated on in previous days to see how they are recovering and prescribe treatment for any animals that need it.

After lunch, we usually have routine paperwork to ensure we have recorded everything about each dog and its treatment. We then make a list of those which need to be released. Most animals will normally stay with us for about three days.

What’s your favourite thing about your role?

The thing that gives me the greatest satisfaction is making a considerable impact on human health. One of the things that we have done here as a consequence of the way that the street dog programme was founded is to produce lots of data. We have considerable data to suggest that our work has substantially reduced the number of human rabies cases in Jaipur and has also reduced the number of human dog bites in Jaipur.

Rather pleasingly we have also done some work which shows that what we do is useful for improving the welfare of street dogs. Our programme is helping people living in Jaipur as well as being advantageous for the dogs.

What do you get up to outside of work?

The boundaries between work and non-work are much more blurred here. I have for most of my career here made myself available for out-of-hours care, so I’m always kept busy.

Indian people are so friendly and welcoming and I often get swept up into events in the lives of my colleagues and friends. Last week I was at a compounder’s celebration of the birth of his second daughter. I’m regularly invited into whatever is going on in the lives of our staff including weddings, going to dinner with them and talking to their children who are learning English.

I also try to explore the countryside with my friends as much as possible. Although we often have temperatures that regularly exceed 40 degrees, which can make it tricky to go outside for long periods of time.

How can veterinary professionals get involved with the work you are doing?

We have, for many years, hosted volunteer veterinary surgeons and veterinary students who want to get surgical experience. The pandemic has meant that less people are coming to us to see practice, but now that international travel is easier, I would encourage anyone interested in doing a placement to get in touch with us by emailing [email protected]