It is with great enthusiasm that we begin our school lunch and vegetable garden in a new primary school in Andasibe at the start of this new school year. Along with the Mahatsara Primary School, Andasifahatelo Primary School is the second school that will benefit from the generous support of Money for Madagascar with The Balcombe Trust. The pupils will be offered lunch everyday during their study time. With their teachers and parents, they will be following training on agricultural techniques and will be having environmental education. Our generous funding will allow them as well to receive school supplies, cultural outing opportunities, opportunities for alternative livelihood for the parents and salary subvention for the teachers.
Spay/Neuter campaign 2022- Moramanga
In June, we ran our 2022 Spay/Neuter campaign in Andasibe and Moramanga in parternship with Travelling Animal Doctors. 221 dogs and cats were spayed/neutered and 277 vaccinated against rabies within a month! It was a relief being able to continue helping the animals and the community in Madagascar after a two-year halt due to Covid-19. And always, massive thanks to Travelling Animal Doctors who, not only funded the campaign but also had sent some of the most hard-working volunteers. A special shout-out to Dr Jim Bader who donated a major part of the materials and equipment! Last but not least, this was not possible without the collaborative work of the Malagasy Veterinary Services, the Moramanga and Andasibe mandated veterinarians and the Antananarivo Veterinary School. Special regards to our amazing volunteers and fieldworkers!
Covid relief 2021
Many families find themselves in financial difficulty in many remote places of Madagascar. The pandemic like everywhere else, has worsen the situation. As we know, the Mad Dog Initiative mission is to promote wildlife conservation, animal welfare, and human health in Madagascar. Due to the urgency of the situation, on June 23rd, with the help of our generous funders and partners, MDI could subside 110 families and parents of pupils of 2 primary schools in Andasibe, Madagascar on relief food supplies. The Sahavarina Primary school gathers 82 pupils while the Andasifahatelo Primary School gathers 62 pupils. By helping these schools, we also make the education of Malagasy children a priority as a Malagasy proverb says: “Ny fianarana no lova tsara indrindra”, education is the best legacy.
First urban campaign in 2021!
Despite our 2021 work debut still somehow hampered by the Covid19 pandemic, a lockdown relaxation in April and March allowed us to run a two-month long spay/neuter and rabies vaccination campaign in Antananarivo (Tana) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture through the Veterinary Services Department (DSV). 13 private veterinary practices all over Tana enthusiastically took part in the campaign and carried out sterilization operations in their own facilities. The campaign was joined by 24 last-year students from the Antananarivo veterinary school (DESMV) who had the opportunity to observe and assist the vet teams in their practices.
In the end 308 common breed dogs and cats were sterilized during the campaign, a great success given our goal of 200 animals at the beginning. We are grateful to witness such collaborative efforts by veterinary professionals in Madagascar to fight for animal welfare and against rabies.
Welcoming our new intern Daniel!
We are excited to introduce our new MDI intern Fenomanana Daniel! Daniel is a brilliant last-year vet student from Madagascar. Thanks to the Women Scientists in Conservation Biology Award from Princeton EEB granted to us through our friend and colleague Malavika Rajeev, Daniel will be able to conduct her thesis on our rabies vaccination, spay and neuter projects in order to obtain her veterinary medicine diploma next year. One of our goals working in Madagascar is veterinary capacity-building. Veterinary training within Madagascar lacks of hands-on experiences, at best is largely theoretical due mainly to financial challenges, so we are really grateful to get this funding to support a Malagasy student in her journey to complete her studies.
A few words from Daniel on why she wanted to become a vet, what she hopes to achieve with the grant and her aspirations moving forward. “The main reason of my choice to become a vet is my love for cats. It all started when I saw my cat dying 10 years ago. My mother unintentionally crushed it and it had a huge hemorrhage. I wanted to do something but did not know what. We were that kind of family who did not spend money to go to the vet. In the end we just let the cat pass away painfully. Since that time, I had decided to follow veterinary studies after high school. I could not imagine such a terrible thing happen again without me taking any action.
Nevertheless, my dream does not stop at being a regular vet. After my thesis, I plan to specialize more in dog and cat surgery. I have always wanted to continue my studies abroad. Not only would I like to do it for myself but also for my country. Madagascar needs up-to-date knowledge in veterinary medicine because not many people know that we can do many things like in human medicine. Consequently, I will make myself a good example in order to encourage the young Malagasy students to become vets. And once I finish my surgical training, I will work in Madagascar to promote its development.
The grant from the Mad Dog Initiative is for me the first step to make my dream come true. I felt grateful when I read my email saying that I have been chosen. In fact, I have not imagined that this opportunity was for me. I have applied many times for some other projects advertised and none of them was positive except this one. So being an MDI intern has already increased my motivation to work harder especially in surgery”
Welcome to the team Daniel!
UK tour for the Mad Dog Initiative In-Country Director!
November has been busy (and cold!) for our In-Country Director Dr Zoavina Randriana as she has been invited to speak at the 3rd annual conference of the International Veterinary Student Association IVSA UK and Ireland. This year’s conference was held at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine and explored the theme around One Health. One Health is “an approach to designing and implementing programs, policies, legislation and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes” (World Health Organization). Attending the conference was an opportunity for the Mad Dog Initiative to share our work and mission, which fit well into the One Health initiative, in front of students from different UK universities. Interesting enough, the conference was led by Alyssa Cramb, a 4th year veterinary student who came to volunteer on the Mad Dog Initiative - Travelling Animal Doctors spay and neuter campaign this year. The conference took place in the course of two days and saw the participation of diverse speakers who covered subjects and workshops from zoonotic diseases, translational medicine to more technical subjects such as pathogen whole genome sequencing or beekeeping to cite a few. “It was such a brilliant opportunity to take part in the IVSA conference this year, two days witnessing the commitment of the veterinary profession to a global health and especially witnessing the enthusiasm of the students to learn more about a wide range of projects that not solely involve animals” said Dr Randriana.
This UK visit brought Dr Randriana as well to talk about Mad Dog Initiative to some staff members of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). Another opportunity to catch up with former Madagascar conservation colleagues including Dr Sam Merson, currently the Mongolia Project Coordinator for the organization whom she used to work with on Fosa research back in Ankarafantsika National Park and with the last year UCL PhD student Steve Long, who is a former SEED staff member in the St Luce/ Fort-Dauphin region and whom she had the pleasure to work on mangrove conservation in Mariarano, NW Madagascar.
After her visit to ZSL in London, Dr Randriana went on with presenting the organisation this time at her alma mater the University of Oxford. She met with the Master’s students in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management of the Oxford School of Geography and the Environment after an invitation from the Course Director Dr Chloe Strevens. Dr Randriana graduated from the same course in 2015. The goal with this exchange was of course to talk about the research MDI does in Madagascar but also for the students to have a glimpse of what conservation career they might want to dive into after graduation. Dr Randriana describes the experience as exceptional: “Coming back in Oxford is always so special. It was brilliant and odd at the same time to talk in front of these students when a while ago I was sitting on the same seats. They have demonstrated a genuine interest in the work that we do. Now, I can only wish them the best for their next endeavors”.
Finally, upon her few week UK visit, a trip on the island of Jersey led Dr Randriana to meet with some members of staff of the Jersey Zoo run by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. Jersey Zoo is also a special place to our Madagascar Director as she has spent a major part of her training on wild animal medicine at the Durrell Veterinary Department. This was thus an opportunity to catch up with fellow veterinarians Drs Andrew Routh and Alberto Barbon and talk about future collaborations especially on the spay/neuter and rabies vaccination campaign.
Dr Randriana and the Mad Dog Initiative would like to thank each and every one who made this UK trip possible and so extremely fruitful!
MSc students in Biodiversity, Conservation and Management- University of Oxford
IVSA UK and Ireland One Health Conference- University of Glasgow
First lemur veterinary internship launched!
We were delighted to welcome Dr. Tsiky Rajaonivelo to Durham, North Carolina last week, where she is beginning an intensive three month veterinary internship with the Duke Lemur Center, all thanks to the support of the Duke Lemur Center, Travelling Animal Doctors, and LUSH! Dr. Tsiky is the pioneering Malagasy veterinary in what we hope will become an annual program to train Madagascar’s own veterinarians in state-of-the-art techniques in lemur husbandry and medicine!
Continuing support from Detroit Zoo Conservation Initiative
While a big team of students and volunteers are still busy out in the field, we are delighted to have received additional support from the Detroit Zoo that will allow us to carry out critical population surveys in the Andasibe-Mantadia region this November!
The 2018 Season is in full swing!
After only a day back in the field the team is at it again, running clinics and collecting vital dog and cat pathogen data. Our humble thanks to all of our supporters, donors and volunteers! Here's to a great 2018 expedition!
Rabies campaign a great success!
For two weeks in April, the team was busy trying to meet the enormous demand for dog and cat rabies vaccinations! We are happy to report that with the help of local veterinarians and Travelling Animal Doctors, we not only met our goal of 2000 animals vaccinated, but exceeded it! In total 3,137 cats and dogs received vaccinations, an estimated 61% of the population! Stay tuned as we provide updates on the next mobile clinic expedition, which starts in only ten days!
Dr. Zoavina Randriana greets a cat owner eager to get her furry friend vaccinated.