For the love of animals
View(s):British Vet Janey Lowes shares her story with the Mirror Magazine of shifting her focus from life in the UK to caring for street dogs in Sri Lanka
By Joshua Surendraraj
Pix courtesy Janey Lowes
We see them wandering the streets, some desperate for food, and others in dire need of medical attention. Quite often one would pass these animals and pity them, yet only a few would choose to actually help them.
Janey Lowes was 24-years-old when she first decided to come backpacking to Sri Lanka. Whilst in the country she was quick to observe the numerous street dogs in need of rescuing. “I’ve worked in Bali (Indonesia) before, where I thought the street dog issue was quite bad. But when I came to Sri Lanka, I realised that there were a lot of dogs and there was more of an issue in certain areas than anywhere I‘d been before,” she tells us in an interview.
The thing that made her really want to work here, we find out, was an observation that the locals had so much potential to deal with these dogs and hence there was hope for a solution. “Sri Lanka is not a country that kills or eats dogs; rather it’s a country that’s full of compassion and people who care. I think that could go a really long way, in a nation where there are alot of street dogs and the issue needs to be dealt with,” she explains.
Janey comes from a farming background, back in the United Kingdom (UK)and has always been surrounded by animals. She tells us, becoming a vet was her calling.
Her love for animals is something that has always been intrinsically within her. “There’s just some sort of depth to loving an animal, which is unconditional. I’m very lucky that my job is my passion, it’s who I am and I am very fortunate to be doing it.”
After Bali and then Sri Lanka, Janey realised what she wanted to do with her life and that was to provide veterinary care for animals without owners.
Since Janey came to Sri Lanka, her life hasn’t been the same and that’s just how she loves it, she tells us. “I think when I worked in the UK, my life was very structured, very routine,” she recalls. Janey would wake up each day and go to the veterinary hospital. Here she’d do consultations and then conduct surgeries in the evening. She’d go home after, hit the gym for a bit and then go to bed. She’d repeat the exact same thing the next day.
“Now with Sri Lanka on the cards there’s no way my life can be exactly structured. One day I could be building a website, the next day I could be chasing a stray dog down the street, trying to catch it and fix it,” Janey tells us. However, life in Sri Lanka can be quite testing at times she says.
Her experience in the country changed from a situation, where she moved over here to see if she could make a difference to a point where in 2014 she founded “WECare Worldwide” – a Sri Lankan registered NGO, which is also a UK registered charity.
“It’s about converting the compassion all Sri Lankans have, into action,”Janey tells us, whilst talking about the organisation. “And if we can be there to support that transition from compassion into action, then that’s what we’re here to do.”
“WECare Worldwide” focuses on three main goals, which are neutering and vaccination, treatment and education. Janey believes that these areas depend on each other for the betterment of their cause.
“We’re here to help as many dogs as we can and we’re trying to do the very best that we can. The support that we’ve got from local people has been amazing and to me that’s (apart from saving the dogs), the best part of my experience,” she says. Janey believes there’s a lot of work to be done and that we all need to work together for a change.
Her team treats any animal that is in need of treatment. Janey explains, she finds it sad that some people don’t get the same joy that she finds in animals.
“It’s such an important part of my life and my family’s life and it makes me quite sad that people don’t get to enjoy that in their everyday life.”
Initially when, she first started off here, “WECare”didn’t have any facilities. Both Janey and her friend Malaka Uduwerella, a dog lover, used to rescue the dogs and get help from the local vet, Dr Nuwan Niriella. However, today they have more equipment and a bit more medicine. They are now in a position to treat animals as if she was in the U.K, “which is incredible,” she says.
Janey hopes to someday, open a facility that would meet international standards in Sri Lanka. “It doesn’t matter if it’s us that have it or another organisation, we just need it for the dogs,” she tells us. Over the years several vets have stepped up to help their cause. And Janey tells us it’s always been a group effort.
“When I look into the eyes of these dogs when we pick them up, all I can see is relief. They know we’re there to help and it’s a feeling I can’t describe and I’m addicted to that feeling.”
Rescuing dogs is the most fulfilling feeling she says. “These dogs are on their last chance. Some of them are literally ten minutes away from death when we manage to get to them in time and give them that second chance in life.”
Learn more about
Janey’s work at
wecareworldwide.org.uk
