About us

WVS India

The WVS India Centre in the Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu is run by WVS India, a charitable Indian trust that was registered in 2010 on the firm foundation that IPAN (India Project for Animals and Nature) had already achieved in the animal welfare field. WVS India is recognised by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI).

The WVS India centre focuses on providing practical experience for veterinarians, animal handlers, veterinary assistants and project managers in various aspects of animal health and welfare. A major emphasis of our work is in high quality spay/neuter (animal birth control) & rabies control–programs and in empowering veterinarians from all around India to work in these projects to effectively and humanely control dog populations for the welfare of dogs and humans. We believe in improving animal welfare by veterinary skills development, inspiration, and advice.

Since the establishment of WVS India in 2010, we have built an excellent reputation as a centre of excellence providing small animal surgery experience programmes in India. We are also known for our team of skilled and motivated animal handlers and veterinary assistants, who have been working in some of the biggest rabies control campaigns across India with Mission Rabies.

We work in technical collaboration with various international partners to provide practical experience in rabies control and humane dog population management and improve access to high-quality CPD programs for veterinarians in India.

We also aim to work together with government bodies, ensuring sustainability of our activities for the benefit of human and animal health and welfare, the One Health-concept.

Mission Rabies Goa

Mission Rabies in Goa was initiated by WVS India in 2013 in a major collaborative program launch that involved the Goan government and the Animal Husbandry Department as well as multiple stakeholders across India and technical support from international donors and advisors.

A major milestone for rabies control in Goa came in 2023, when the state of Goa was declared a rabies-controlled area through a notification from the Directorate of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services.

The Mission Rabies program continues in India and is now led by WVS Hope. WVS India teams also participate and arrange annual mass dog vaccination programs, especially in the Nilgiris district and its surroundings. Rabies-free Nilgiris intersectoral, district-level committee was established in August 2013 by that time Collector Ms Archana Patnaik, IAS and in collaboration with WVS India and Pasteur Institute India, Coonoor Director Dr Sekar.

Over the years WVS India team has been specifically focusing on the importance of improving access to annual rabies vaccinations for owned dogs, recognising how in small towns and rural areas many free-roaming dogs have owners and most of these dogs are accessible for annual vaccination by approaching the owners.

WVS India team has collaborated multiple times with different government departments to deliver rabies vaccinations for dogs along with other, pre-existing field programs such as the national FMD vaccination program by the Animal Husbandry Department or the regular village visits by village health inspectors, nurses and asha workers by the Public Health Department and Rural Health Mission. 

WVS India is working to combat rabies, focusing on three areas of work:

Mass dog vaccination programs

We collaborate with different municipalities, departments and other stakeholders to arrange annual vaccination programs in the Nilgiris and surroundings to maintain the district free of rabies. These programs either focus on door-to-door method in village areas where most dogs have owners or caretakers or they combine with the use of dog catching teams to also catch ownerless dogs for vaccinations.

While the WVS India team has an excellent dog catching team to capture ownerless stray dogs, we are constantly advocating for the need to have all owned dogs annually vaccinated as a priority. Most owned dogs in small towns and rural India are allowed to roam free and unvaccinated owned dogs are a significant source of human rabies infections in Tamil Nadu.

Rabies education and awareness in schools and community meetings

WVS India education officers visit schools to teach children as well as teachers about rabies control, how to avoid dog bites and what to do in case of a dog bite. The meetings also include awareness of the importance of spay/neuter and annual rabies vaccination for all dogs.

Rabies diagnostics - demonstrations and practicals for veterinarians

WVS India veterinarians perform rabies field diagnostics tests to dogs that have been suspected of rabies or dogs that have died without known reason. How to perform this test is always also demonstrated to any veterinarians attending the WVS India surgical development programs.

Rabies control requires good surveillance program where suspected cases are confirmed as positive or negative with reliable diagnostic tests and these records and registers are maintained to assess the development of rabies incidence in any area or territory.

Working equine welfare clinics supported by WTG

Working donkeys are the lifeblood of rural economies in many developing countries, serving important roles in transportation and labour. Due to lack of access to veterinary care and extremely challenging work environments the donkeys are often subject to major welfare issues.

In India, donkeys are usually used for carrying sand from river bed, transporting wood and other goods along hilly terrains and also for helping dhobis to carry washed and unwashed clothes. Poor condition of the roads they travel, the heavy burdens they bear, the makeshift harnesses, combined with inadequate feed and medical attention contribute to a life of misery for many working donkeys.

Many unconventional techniques are carried out by the owners themselves in an attempt to help the donkeys, but often these practices cause more pain and discomfort than good. Applying hot iron branding to lame and injured legs to facilitate walking, slitting of nostrils to improve breathing while going uphill, tipping of ear to remove infected blood when the donkey is suffering some illness or if he/she had a snake bite, ear cropping for identification and beautification are some of the cruelties inflicted upon donkeys by their owners out of sheer ignorance.

These harmful practices could be prevented with improved access to veterinary care and animal health knowledge, raising awareness of the donkeys’ welfare and building a good rapport with the owners. This is what the WVS India working equine welfare project is working on. We often also include veterinarians in our clinics to provide them with exposure to the welfare of working animals.

Tourist riding horses in popular tourist destinations such as in Ooty or Kodaikanal or Mysore are another group of working equines that often don’t have access to timely veterinary care. WVS India working equine monthly clinics also provide routine veterinary care, such as deworming, tetanus vaccinations, hoof trimming and teeth rasping for these horses. Stallions are surgically castrated by WVS India equine team to make them easier to handle. As part of this work with the tourist riding horses, we have also arranged specialist farriery skills workshops for the horse owners, teaching them some important basics of good routine hoof care.

In Ooty the WVS India equine team also attends to emergencies, such as colic due to eating plastic rubbish from the roadside rubbish bins or traumatic injuries due to road traffic accidents. These are very common since many of these horses don’t have proper stables or any kind of sheds where to stay when not in use but they are left to roam on the roadsides, falling often victim of traffic accidents and gradually losing condition because of inadequate feeding. Along with the Nilgiris SPCA WVS India has been pushing for more sustainable change in the fate of these tourist riding horses by requesting the authorities to ban the use of ex-racehorses in tourist riding use.

Surgery campaign clinics for owned dogs, Jamtse program

Brigitte Bardot Foundation has been supporting WVS India spay/neuter work in the Tibetan settlements of Bylakuppe and Kollegal since 2017. Initially the program was run as a traditional ABC program whereby ownerless stray dogs were caught and brought to the clinic-cum-kennel base for surgery. In 2023 the program, known as Jamtse, was changed to better address the specific needs of dog owners in small towns to have access to affordable spay/neuter surgery for their dogs. WVS India outreach surgery team now travels on request to different locations in South India to set up and run owned dog campaign clinics. This helps owners from low-income households to get their dogs operated and so avoid unwanted pregnancies and unwanted puppies that would often get abandoned and so eventually add to the ownerless stray dog population.

How you can help

Support from individuals like you is very important to help us to carry on with our work.

All donations to WVS India are income-tax deductible under the 80G Indian income tax Act. There are also many ways you can help by donating useful supplies, for example; food for the dogs, blankets, towels, feeding bowls, monthly diesel allowance for our dog catching vehicle, medicine and surgical materials, instruments, furniture to the staff quarters, stationary/office supplies, new shoes for our staff...

WVS India accounts are audited by John Mathews & Co, chartered accountants.

2024-2025 audited accounts
2023-2024 audited accounts (general)
2023-2024 audited accounts (foreign contribution)
2022-2023 audited accounts
2021-2022 audited accounts
2020-2021 audited accounts
2019-2020 audited accounts
2018-2019 audited accounts
2017-2018 audited accounts
2016-2017 audited accounts

Programmes