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| VET GAZETTE | DOTS
DOGS ON
THE STREET
Forget men in capes and tights. These real life superheroes give up their time
to help dogs, and their families, on the streets of London. Meet Michelle Clark
who runs DOTS LONDON (Dogs On The Streets, London), providing outreach
programmes supporting dogs on the streets, and Jade Statt, known as Street
Vet, who provides veterinary support to DOTS
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face that local homeless people know. After
that I began going out on my own, using
the name Street Vet.”
Shortly afterwards, Jade was introduced
to Michelle Clark, who runs outreach
programmes to support dogs on the
street. Michelle explains: “I’d spent five
years providing collars, food and meeting
basic needs for street dogs belonging to
homeless people. If any of the dogs were
really ill, we used to take them down to
the Blue Cross in an emergency. Then, the
end of last year, I took care of a street dog
because their homeless owner was really
poorly. Due to circumstances around that
I felt that more was needed for the owners
and the dogs. I started thinking that I could
get professionals together, as part of my
support for homeless people, such as a
trainer for socialisation issues, a groomer
and a vet.
“Luckily, through mutual friends, I was
put in touch with Jade who had initiated
hy:
I
n 2016, Jade Statt was
struggling to find voluntary
positions. She had worked in
small animal practices since
graduating from Glasgow Vet
School in 2002 and wanted to
use her free time to make a difference. After
hearing that an Exeter based hairdresser,
Josh Coombes, was offering free haircuts
to people without homes, she was inspired
to do something similar. Jade decided to
provide assistance to the street dogs kept as
pets by homeless people.
Jade says: “I met up with Josh and
told him about my plans. He was really
encouraging and helped me to kick start the
volunteering. It took a while and I had quite
a lot of meetings including a conversation
with the Royal College of Veterinary
Surgeons to find out what guidelines I had
to follow in order to safely start to be a vet
on the streets of London. In October 2016, I
first started by accompanying Josh, as he’s a
July 2017