To provide a sustainable source of veterinary care to the underserved community of Covelo and create an educational environment with student and community member involvement to raise awareness and promote the value of animal health and welfare.
To provide a sustainable source of veterinary care to the underserved community of Covelo and create an educational environment with student and community member involvement to raise awareness and promote the value of animal health and welfare.
About Us
Located in California's Mendocino County, Covelo is a small town near the Round Valley Indian Reservation that struggles with pet overpopulation and a lack of access to veterinary care, primarily due to financial and transportation constraints. Covelo Clinic in association with International Veterinary Outreach, a non-profit founded by UC Davis alumni, was established in 2012 with the goal to improve animal health and welfare in Covelo by providing vaccinations, spay & neuter surgeries, owner education, and other veterinary care to the animals of Covelo. Covelo Clinic was originally founded with the support of Dr. Eric Davis (DVM, founder of HSVMA-RAVS and RVETS) when the IVO founders were students at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
Partnering with a local non-profit organization, Better Options for Neglected Strays (BONES) Pet Rescue, IVO currently conducts 2-3 field clinics in Covelo each year, serving hundreds of patients in the span of two days. BONES was founded in 1998 when a stray wandered into the community school and needed help, but there was no shelter in town. Named after this original dog, BONES has assisted over 5,000 animals since 2000.
Covelo Clinic builds upon and adds to the current offerings for students; it is unique from the other current student-run projects (such as Knights Landing or Mercer) because it is a domestic field clinic that involves surgical procedures ranging from spay and neuter procedures to amputations. In this two-day clinic, students are entrenched within a veterinary outreach project that expands their perception of the veterinary medicine as a field and their career goals.
We foster student interest in veterinary outreach medicine and expand the learning opportunities for students to gather hands-on skills. Students manage wellness cases with veterinarian guidance, gain exposure to field clinic logistics (including clinic set-up, flow, and management), and are introduced to a client population that includes working animals (such as herding or guardian dogs), as well as clients from diverse cultural backgrounds.