In many countries worldwide, animals suffer from poor veterinary care and a lacking awareness of animal welfare. To sustainably improve animal welfare, we developed the programme VETS UNITED in 2015. The programme focuses on the Academic Education and continuous professional development (CPD) of vets and paravets. Those occupational groups not only work directly with animals to treat and prevent diseases. They also educate livestock owners on proper animal care and husbandry. In addition, they monitor, for example, the animal transport and advise research and legislation on animal welfare topics.

Unfortunately in a lot of countries, animal welfare is still not part of the Academic Education and CPD of professionals. The vets’ and paravets’ profound knowledge on animal welfare, good practical skills, as well as, strong awareness on animal welfare are essential for a lasting improvement of animal welfare in a country. Therefore VETS UNITED supports local universities, colleges and training organisations with including the topic animal welfare in theory and practice in the curriculum.

Voluntary vets originally ran the education programme VETS UNITED from Germany. Meanwhile, our local partners conduct the Academic Education and CPD with country-specific issues and conditions. VETS UNITED assists the courses financially and professionally until they have been built up successfully and until our local partners continue them over the long term.

For more information on the pilot projects 2015 – 2024 please see VETS UNITED Pilot Projects Report 2015 – 2024

VETS UNITED is a joint programme with WTG Welttierschutzgesellschaft.