In an effort to further research in veterinary medicine, the University of Wisconsin is looking to expand a newly created animal shelter medicine program with a newly acquired $1.3 million in funds.
The program, through the School of Veterinary Medicine aims to minimize animal deaths and raise awareness for the poor treatment of animals, according to a UW statement. The money also goes toward intensive shelter medicine training camps that local shelters can participate in, professor Sandra Newbury said, the new director of shelter medicine.
“Being in Wisconsin makes [the program] unique,” Newbury said. “There are very few shelter medicine programs.”
Newbury said the program involves the training of veterinarian students and shelter staff, consulting with animal shelters via email and phone about their standards and research, and assisting shelters in dealing with outbreaks of infectious diseases.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, homeless animals outnumber homeless people five to one. Newbury said she has been working in animal shelters since the 1980s, when she first recognized the lack of involvement in animal shelters. Her work at the University of California-Davis has helped establish a sister program at UW when she joined in November 2014, she said.
Newbury said the grants are going toward a program manager and outreach veterinarian as well as three fellowships that are year-long trainings for vets practicing shelter medicine.
“We’re not just thinking up ideas,” Newbury said. “We are in shelters really working through problems and looking at solutions and looking at what works and what’s not working. We can figure out where we need to apply ourselves and think of a better solution.”
According to Mark Markel, the dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine, the program is very much focused on giving back to the community as well as other regional communities in order to spread more expertise about improving animal care.
Markel said Newbury is nationally-recognized as an expert and that she, along with others, will advance the state-of-the-art shelter medicine stemming from the university.
The UW veterinary school has had a more indirect role in shelter medicine in the past, developing vaccines for shelters nationwide, according to Markel. With the new shelter program, Markel hopes that UW will establish itself as a national leader in the field.
“I think [the program] does two principle things,” Markel said. “One is that it allows our students to gain an appreciation and understanding of shelter medicine and the benefits that course of study has on millions of animals like dogs and cats and others. In addition, it will provide them significantly more hands-on clinical training and make them, I believe, much better veterinarians when they graduate.”
The program is working with the Dane County Humane Society as well as other local animal shelters. Newbury said there are very few animal shelters available to animals in need, and that the people involved have been incredibly supportive and committed to the community service that the outreach program is trying to accomplish.
