Our History

South Pacific Animal Welfare (SPAW) was founded in New Zealand in 2010 to provide free veterinary care to animals living in island communities in the South Pacific through a programme of regular field clinics.

We introduced our volunteer programme and the concept of running free veterinary care programmes to The Kingdom of Tonga in 2010 and then Niue in 2011. At the time, neither Niue or Tonga had regular veterinary services or desexing programmes.

In 2012-2013, we visited Samoa, Fiji and The Cook Islands for the first time; offering a mix of services including parasite care, desexing and humane education.

Since we began delivering our programme, we have sent teams of veterinarians and vet nurses to Niue, Samoa, Fiji, Vava’u, Tonga, and Tongatapu, Tonga. We also visit Eu’a, off Tongatapu’s main land when we can.

 After a three-year absence due to Covid-19, SPAW visited Tongatapu, Vava’u and Ha’apai since the first time since 20919. Dr Goeff Neal and Dr Rebecca Ladyman treated more than 400 animals during this visit.