AWARE Trust

In early March a newly formed and locally based conservation organisation, the AWARE trust performed one of Zimbabwe’s first community dog vaccination and sterilisation campaigns in the Maramani Communal Area which lies 110km west of Beit Bridge.
This groundbreaking pilot campaign saw AWARE veterinarians Keith Dutlow, Lisa Marabini and volunteer vets Dr Vinay Ramlaul, Elliot Katanda and Ashleigh Erlank working in conjunction with the Beitbridge Department of Veterinary Services’ personnel to successfully spay 44 bitches and castrate 46 dogs in a little over a week. The team also successfully vaccinated, frontlined (dipped for ticks and fleas) and de-wormed an additional 165 dogs in the same period.

The Maramani Communal Area was chosen because of its location within the Limpopo-Shashe Trans-Frontier Conservation Area (LSTFCA). The Trust aims, through its objectives, to carry out these prophylactic veterinary campaigns (vaccinations, sterilisation, and basic health care) for domestic animals living in marginal areas at interfaces with wildlife conservation areas throughout Zimbabwe, as these animals often provide a direct disease transmission risk to wild animals. The trust also believes in providing key veterinary assistance in marginal areas for the benfit of both the domestic animals’ livelihoods as well as their owners’.

The AWARE Trust, which is a non-profit conservation Trust, relied on the kindness and generosity of a variety of people and organisations for the necessary drugs and materials to conduct the spay campaign. Still in its infancy the trust requires a substantial amount of portable veterinary equipment and drugs to facilitate the expansion of its campaigns in the future.
If you would like more information on the AWARE trust and would like to know how you can help please email Chris on chris@awaretrust.org.
Christopher Scott

Aware Trust
Communications Director
Zimbabwe Cell +263 (0) 912 44 00 52
skype: awaretrust_christopher