Who we are

Dr Elaine Ong and her staff (nurses and vets) started volunteering in Bali assisting the Bali Street Dog Foundation and Bali Animal Welfare Association from about 1997-2010 to help train the Balinese vets to perform Stray dog and cat desexing work and basic health treatment.

During the horrific 2004 Tsunami, the team went with the Bali team to the east coast of Sri Lanka to assist in a month long effort. It was where Dr Elaine Ong, Dr Chris Barton and Dr Rebecca Weight (3 of our Board members) met and worked together.

The Chinese animal welfare and advocate group, ACTAsia,  saw our work in Bali and approached Dr Elaine to assist the Chinese vets with desexing training.

The Chinese vets were doing probono or heavily discounted work but getting some failures. Dr Elaine agreed and in 2009 her team with Dr Beth McGennisken and nurses, Robyn Ireland and Ann Letch, ventured to Shenzen and Beijing to commence the Train the Trainer program. It has since progressed to become a sustainable program reaching 8 provinces in China with 30 Chinese trainers doing their job to teach other vets and to promote animal  welfare in China.

Several specialists have donated their time to teach the Chinese vets other skills such as Professor David Maggs (Ophthalmology UC Davis), Professor Lynelle Johnson (Respiratory UC Davis), Professor Mark Rishnow (Cardiologist), Dr Richard Gowan (cat specialist Melbourne). Our veterinary counterparts in New Zealand have also contributed tremendously – Specialist nurse Katie Duncan, VFC Board member and Surgeon Dr Rebecca Weight, and Veterinary Surgeon Martha Jolly.

It was at this time that Dr Elaine’s clients from her clinic, Claire Bingley and accountant Andrew Miles encouraged her to form Vets For Compassion. Dr Elaine and Dr Chris had expressed their sadness to see that some charities are often too big or cumbersome to respond promptly or use donated funds towards core work.

During all this time, bushfires plagued Victoria every year and Dr Elaine, Dr Chris, Dr Alistair Brown, Dr  Katie Whittle and others have been assisting in Victorian bushfires since Black Saturday in 2009.

It was while assisting in these fires that they saw a need for darting skills and ability as in many cases they could not catch the animals on fire.

Lastly but not least, Melbourne, Australia is now faced with a domestic situation where we are trying to fit a population of over 6-7 million by 2025. Building of infrastructure has invaded the habitat of our native animals like kangaroos, deer, wallabies who are pushed into suburbs and on to our roads.

We are pride ourselves on being able to respond quickly with darters to police, council, Parks Victoria, other welfare organisations and members of public.