Timothy Lim graduated from the University Putra in Malaysia in 2004. Since August 2006, he has been working as a veterinary surgeon for The Langkawi Animal Shelter and Sanctuary Foundation (otherwise known as LASSIE), which was founded in 2000.This clinic offers low cost veterinary services to the local community and runs sterilising programmes for the stray companion animals of the island. The clinic also has a small shelter attached which has the facilities for approximately 50 dogs, which are actively rehomed.

The Langkawi Animal Shelter and Sanctuary Foundation is set-up to receive, rehabilitate and care for neglected, abused and needy animals. The organisation also runs the Langkawi Island Animal Clinic - a charity project aimed at the sterilization of the stray cat population. Both are non profit ventures, staffed by volunteers and aimed at improving the lives of unwanted animals.

The Sanctuary cares for animals whose age, disposition or disability makes them unlikely to find homes. Many of the animals are road accident or trauma cases and therefore need special attention.

For stray cats which are on the streets, they are trapped and sterilized, then returned to their normal habitat. In this way the Sanctuary hopes to control the stray population. An adoption centre is also in operation. Animals put up for adoption are spayed, neutered, dewormed and vaccinated. Any wildlife brought to the shelter are treated and once healthy are then returned back to nature.
One of the centre’s objectives is to educate adults & children to ensure their peaceful co-existence with both their wild neighbours as well as domestic animals. An ongoing education programme is in process with all schools on the island in 2003.

Timothy commented on the animal welfare situation in Malaysia:

“It is my opinion the animal welfare standards in Malaysia are still lagging behind countries of the developed world. I think we are behind because the animal welfare and veterinary institutions in Malaysia were only formed fairly recently. Arguably the very concept of animal welfare has only very recently permeated into the culture of Malaysian society.

I think the intrinsic sense of moral duty in Malaysian people for the welfare of animals and a legislation that is in place for the protection in animal are positive factors that things will improve for the animals in the future.

The main challenges we face, in my opinion, towards that end would be getting more organized and efficient in our animal welfare activities, proper enforcement of the legislation already in place, education of the next generation on animal welfare and being a developed country, hopefully as Malaysia matures and prospers, more people would be able to devote time and money towards the welfare of animals.

The road ahead is a long one, but I think Malaysia is on the right track.”

When asked about his reasons for attending the course he said the following:

“The main reason I would like to attend the course is to improve myself as a vet really. I've been fully qualified for a few years and there is also room to imp rove my knowledge of clinical work, particularly in learning mass sterilisation techniques. I am especially interested in better understanding gaseous anaesthesiology in relation to improving my surgical technique. I do cat spays frequently; however, bitch spays much less frequently and amputations and enucleations rarely. Also it would be great to see how a good animal shelter is run and maintained and what the policies for sheltering are. We hope to find a way to better control disease outbreaks at our cat shelter and I think I would be able to take a great deal of information from my stay at The Mayhew.”

During his training programme Timothy learnt many of the procedures he was keen to work upon prior to him coming to London. He was particularly happy with learning advanced bitch spay techniques and the knowledge of how an efficient veterinary clinic operates. Away from the theatre he also spent time with the kennel and cattery staff we have at The Mayhew Animal Home learning the best methods for being able to approach and handle stressed and unpredictable animals. He commented that the methods used in London are the best he had ever seen and was very impressed with the knowledge and skill of the animal staff.

Dr. Ursula Goetz gave her feedback on Timothy and what she thought he had benefited from the most during his time here:

“Tim was a great candidate for the International Veterinary Training Programme. He has already several years experience in surgery and learnt from European vets abroad so he was already familiar with the flank spay by example. His English is very good and he is a great communicator, he was very keen to learn and to improve and brush up on techniques and areas he was already familiar with. Tim worked thoroughly and reliably during his stay here. We hope very much that this training program will help him improve his work with the animal shelter in Malaysia.”  

We will continue to work closely with Dr. Lim to ensure that our wish to improve welfare standards in Malaysia occurs.

 Update:Tim has sent us this recent update on his work in Malaysia and how his training here has helped him:

"Things are going well here - still neutering everyday and have a new vet colleague (Dr Saravanan) which is great. we just got a new anaesthetic machine - surgivet and a pulse oximeter and putting it to good use. The setup is  influenced by what i saw in my time with you guys at The Mayhew. I wish we could use vetegesic and propofol for every animal but unfortunately those are for old cats and dogs. We're neutering at a steady rate of approx 100 stray cats per month but less than 10 stray dogs per month. Wild stray dogs in the island are a big challenge to catch. The shelter has also expanded and a new shelter is being built for cats and dogs which is brilliant".

He sent us this recent picture with dog 'Floppy' and his Indian vet colleague and vet assistant.