SI MA BÔ also offers treatment to, and recovery time for those animals in need of intensive care, possible victims of street accidents or from the systematic poisoning authorized by the City Council to control the canine population growth on the island.

Furthermore in the clinic many sterilisations are performed, for which help by official vets and nearly finished vet-students is very welcome.

All volunteers must be physically fit. Being abroad is not ideal if you suffer from gastrointestinal disorders, allergies and intolerances or other chronic disorders.

They expect volunteers can work independently with a very high degree of motivation. Work is per shifts: morning from 7:30 to 12:30 or afternoon from 13 to 18. Transport to/from the shelter is provided for free when needed by the paid staff.

Vets and vet students:
Extra information for vets or vet students who are not yet very experienced with spay/neuter operations for female dogs. Those dogs at Cabo Verde are a bit complicated because they are mostly affected by tick transmitted illnesses that impair coagulation, so they are bleeding really a lot. For this reason it is necessary to work with experienced and quick vets that make a very small cut and suture it very quickly. As most females are stray, and the wound can’t be checked anymore, the suture must be intradermal and absolutely flawless to avoid any small infection that would cause licking. This is true also for female cats, and this clinic don’t spay from the flank.

For all those reasons, any visitor may prefer to come as a student/newly graduated vet to be able to be followed by an experienced vet until you become confident with the kind of spaying procedure they require. Otherwise, if you come as a surgeon, but you are still non independent with females, you will operate only males and it will be fine anyway.

BTW, this clinic has only intravenous anesthesia and no anesthesiologist, so one must be able to monitor the animal during operation through their breathing only. There are detailed protocols and charts for anesthesia with the limited treatments the clinic is able to provide maximum service based on their limited resources and equipment.

Animal care:
Most basic tasks (cleaning, feeding, walking) are performed by local paid staff – they have 14 local employees. But, they always need help with delicate tasks such as playing with the dogs, brushing the cats, changing the beds, and taking care of ill animals. Clear instructions will be provided for accomplishing tasks and volunteers are required to perform them accurately.

Visa and health:
A visa is necessary, but can be obtained at the border for (at this moment) € 25,-. Max. stay with such a visa is 30 days. It is possible to extent the duration of the visa during your stay.
For Dutch volunteers here the form which can be used for the visa: Visumformulier.
There are no vaccinations necessary. More info for Dutch volunteers: https://www.ggdreisvaccinaties.nl/land/kaapverdie

How to come to Cabo Verde?

• Year around there are scheduled flights to Sal, Boa Vista and Sao Vicente.
• In some countries like in The Netherlands there are charters as well.
• From Eindhoven / The Netherlands TUI is flying (at this moment) 3 times a week directly to Sao Vicente.
• Price depends from time of booking: from 250 / 350 euro v.v.