A new mobile veterinary clinic rolled into Orange on Friday so staff from the Department of Primary Industries could see the new facility and learn how it operates.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Animal Welfare League mobile clinic is usually based at Kemps Creek and mobile vet clinic manager Daniel Naethuys said the DPI wanted to see the clinic after it had been deployed to help with disaster relief during the bushfires.
The clinic can hold 35 animals in cages at one time, has a quarantine room, anaethetist station and two surgical tables.
Mr Naethuys said construction of the clinic was completed at the start of December so the non-profit animal welfare group could conduct mobile desexing and vaccination clinics as well as help with disaster relief.
"We can reach a lot of the lower economic areas, we run our community programs, we have a clinic at Kemps Creek but [not all] people can make it there so we go to them," Mr Naethuys said.
"[We went] down to the NSW south coast, to Bega, for the bushfires."
He said five vets worked at the clinic in Bega and it had also since gone to Taree due to bushfires. The clinic was displayed at the Guyra Show on the weekend and the AWL used it to conduct 300 vaccinations during a vaccination drive at Tamworth.
Its next stop will be Taree again for a desexing program.
"We've got more cage spaces than most clinics do," Mr Naethuys said.
He said most of the animals they've helped so far were domestic pets but the truck also spent three days helping wildlife at Bombala.
"It depends on the circumstances," Mr Naethuys said.
He said the clinic would return to Orange later in the year to run a vaccination drive and desexing program, which he said would run over separate dates with vaccinations to take place first.
AWL NSW president David Hope also attended the visit and said the mobile clinic was purchased by the AWL organisation, which was dependent on bequeaths, donations and sponsorships for its funding.
He said the biggest benefit of having the mobile clinic was flexibility.
Mr Hope said as well as being mobile, it could travel to various communities where people may not have easy access to a veterinary clinic. He said the clinic also had its own water supply, power generator and a quarantine room.
"At Bega it was totally self contained and acted like an evacuation centre for the fixed clinics down there," Mr Hope said.
"We can do 35 surgeries each day. It can be used as a base for doing farm visits. We have our equipment here and medicines."
DO YOU WANT MORE ORANGE NEWS?
- Receive our free newsletters delivered to your inbox, as well as breaking news alerts. Sign up below ...