Te Are Manu- Collars for Rarotonga.

Te Are Manu is a charity Veterinary clinic based in beautiful Rarotonga. I am honoured to be working as a volunteer for this clinic as a board member and am very excited to be returning to paradise in June 2018 to work alongside our volunteers and deliver much needed supplies to the clinic.

Established in 2017, Te Are Manu is the only veterinary clinic in Rarotonga and depend on the generosity of individuals and businesses worldwide to ensure that reliable veterinary care can be provided to all animals who need it, when they need it!

This charity clinic is staffed by volunteers who travel from all over the world to share their knowledge and in return locals give a donation for the treatment their animals receive. This donation might be money, produce, assistance at the clinic or even donation of activities for our volunteers in their downtime.

Animal Welfare in Rarotonga is well behind NZ standards and with no real legislation in place it is a battle to ensure owners are in good control of their animals.

The police have a dog control service and should dogs be found roaming without a collar or registration tag there is a good chance that they might be shot! This is a daily occurence! The problem with this is, collars are often lost or stolen meaning family pets are often killed.

My aim is to work towards a microchipping program which will see all dogs permanently identifiable but in the meantime collars will be a great start.

Te Are Manu is fortunate to be working alongside the Cook Islands SPCA team and my aim is to raise funds which will allow me to take as many collars as possible with me in June to benefit the animals seen by both organisations. AIR NZ have kindly given me 69kg luggage allowance and I would love to take full advantage of every kilogram!