About Us
The Kismet Account was formed in 1983. Patricia Dymock, a teacher from Worcestershire became alerted to the plight of feral cats around the hotel she stayed in. Today we run training courses in Trap-Neuter-Release in countries where this method is just starting to gain popularity, and send neutering teams to carefully selected ongoing TNR and shelter neutering projects overseas.
The work is carried out by volunteers from the veterinary and animal welfare professions, entirely in their spare time from their normal jobs. All fund their own travel and subsistence costs, meaning that every penny of donated funds goes directly on costs relating to animals. All the work involved in organising and running our projects is also done voluntarily—we have no office or staff.
In the last 6 years we’ve neutered almost 6000 animals and helped raise the status of street animals in several countries, including changing local public policy and legislation on occasions.
We’re often compared to similar organisations but we differ because:
We aim to carry out effective population control projects looking at the whole TNR process and not just the veterinary part; and not just random animals that are easily caught.We hold a wide range of expertise as all our volunteers have either veterinary or professional animal welfare experience. In particular trapping teams are experienced in this area before being allowed to work solo.Because of this, we're often used as consultants by larger NGOs and frequently present at international conferences.We never use our neutering projects as revenue generating spay practice for British or German vet students or new graduates—we are in the business of genuine sustainableanimal welfare and making a long term impact locally. We
therefore feel it is ethically correct to offer training, free, to
local practitioners in need - not those who already have good
opportunities at home .
We work principally with locals, rather than expatriates (expats comprising less than 5% of our local volunteer colleagues). We make a much more effective and deep rooted impact this way.As a progressive group, we promote, teach and excel in early neutering techniques. We are guided by evidence and science, not emotion nor tradition.Because it we do it well, we enjoy one of the highest return rates for volunteers, currently around 70%
The Kismet Account... Protecting stray animals & supporting their carers since 1983
