With global populations exceeding one billion, domestic pets have become one of the top invasive species in the world. It is common in places like Valdivia, Chile (and other parts of the developing world) to let pets come and go as they please. This established cultural practice is seen as liberating for the animals, while also being a useful arrangement for protection and pest control.
What is Needed
Proper pet care techniques, such as vaccinations and sterilizations, are needed to ensure domestic dog and cat populations are kept under control and to prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases. With careful instruction and clear guidelines, local communities can understand how keeping healthy pets can lead to healthy humans.
Free roaming pets can pose significant threats to both community and ecosystem health. They often wander from local streets to the surrounding environments, disturbing natural habitats and influencing foraging and defense behaviors, increasing stress responses, and lowering reproductive rates of local wildlife.
These pets can prey on birds, mammals, reptiles, and other fauna, as well as interbreed with each other and wildlife. This can cause uncontrolled population growth and increase the spread of diseases that could be transmitted to human populations.
What We do
Together with the Global Alliance for Animals and People (GAAP), Vets International has helped educate communities in Valdivia, Chile, about the impacts that free roaming pets have on sensitive wildlife, ecosystems, and human health. By providing resources like vaccines and low-cost sterilizations, VI helps reduce zoonotic infections and keeps pet populations at healthy numbers.
Since VI’s work began in 2015, over 1900 dogs and cats have been vaccinated and over 1200 pets have been sterilized, leading to reductions in population sizes and zoonotic disease transmissions.
Our goals in Chile include:
- Protect the vulnerable species of the Valdivian Rainforest
- Minimize the spread of diseases to humans and wildlife transmitted by free-roaming cats and dogs
- Increase the health and welfare of cats and dogs in and around Valdivia
How You Can Help
Mitigating the risks that roaming pets pose is an important step in the conservation of fragile ecosystems and the protection of human and animal health. You can help us make a difference in human and animal lives by making a donation to support our efforts in Chile and other locations around the world.
Our Initiatives
in Chile
- Minimize distemper + rabies
- Provide low cost spay/neuter services
- Train field staff on veterinary care and animal behavior
Our Impact
in Chile
- Through our veterinary support, the GAAP Clinic has provided services to more than 800 families and over 1,900 dogs and cats with a variety of health concerns, including disease and wound treatment, emergency surgeries, and vaccinations.
- Our Emergency Fund assisted 129 vulnerable families helping them to pay for urgent medical needs.
