Mirta from Western Australia's Animal Aid charity has been in touch to let me know about her organisation's poverty alleviation + animal welfare work...

Animal Aid work to provide veterinary treatment for the sick + injured animals owned by low-income earners in Perth and also promote responsible pet ownership through education.

Animal Aid was formed in order to help reduce the number of pets being euthanased (despite treatable conditions), surrendered to animal shelters, neglected and/ or abandoned because their owners are unable to afford veterinary care.

Due to bad debtors Perth's veterinary clinics rarely provide owners with options that enable them to pay their bill in affordable installments or at a reduced rate, so in the case of an unexpected accident or illness - where the costs of veterinary treatment can be very high - low-income earners such as aged pensioners are frequently unable to help or save their pet.

Provided sufficient funds can be raised... Animal Aid intend to cover 50% of a needy person's veterinary bill and to eliminate as much suffering as possible for both people and their pets.

There are likely to be many similar examples of the poor + needy suffering losses in the quality of their lives, due to a lack of flexibility and/or discounts in the costs of treatment available to them...

I therefore wish Animal Aid well with their commendable + considerate endeavours.