PEIVDF provides their expert services – and the supplies required in the provision of these services – directly to the animals. That way, PEIVDF’s efforts directly benefit each animal on which we work. Facilities as a whole do not receive direct monetary benefit from the provision of PEIVDF services.
Upcoming Missions
- Peaceable Primates, September 23rd-24th
- Exotic Feline Rescue Center, September 30th – October 1st
We are in the early stages of planning, which will move quickly. So, watch this space and sign up for our newsletter in the sidebar to be the first to know about updates!
PEIVDF has missions in the works to the following sanctuaries:
- Save the Chimps, September 2023
- Aikman Wildlife Adventure, TBD
Our 2023 mission season planning is in full swing! New missions will be announced starting in February, so watch this space and sign up for our newsletter in the sidebar to be the first to know when these missions are rescheduled and when the call for mission workers goes out!
To apply to attend any of our upcoming missions as they are scheduled, please fill out our VDWoB Worker Questionnaire and email it to info@peteremilyfoundation.org, if you haven’t already done so. Please indicate which mission you are applying to attend when sending. If we already have your completed VDWoB app, just send an email to the address above indicating which mission you are interested in attending.
Are you AVDC or FAVD and interested in attending our missions? Contact us about possible discounted or waived tuition rates – click below for more information.3
Exotic animal dentistry is quite different from domestic animal dentistry, and brings with it many challenges due to the differences across species in dental morphology, pathology, access to the affected teeth, etc. The hands-on training that PEIVDF provides mission attendees across multiple species is invaluable to those wishing to expand their experience and careers into the exotic. Additionally, the time spent on rescue ops is eligible for AVDC logging time, and so provides this additional value to attendees.
As a charity receiving donations from the general public, PEIVDF must have policies and procedures that are followed in all cases to ensure that no favoritism is coming into play in the operation of the charity, and that a certain level of skills, and quality of care is maintained in the provision of our services. The Veterinary Dental Advisory Committee (VDAC) of PEIVDF has developed a set of criteria by which to “assess/check-out” (by species and by procedure), all staff, board, volunteer, and tuition paying mission workers on a regular/ongoing basis.
Part of PEIVDF’s mission is to recruit practitioners to learn hands-on with PEIVDF to potentially serve as part of the next generation of teachers willing to work with the foundation long-term to ensure that the specialized knowledge and skills in exotic animal dentistry acquired by your, the board, and VDAC are passed on to subsequent generations.
PEIVDF’s main focus right now is multi-faceted:
- providing advanced veterinary dental service to animals in sanctuaries, shelters and zoos worldwide
- while at the same time, ensuring skills are passed on to subsequent generations of exotic animal dentistry practitioners
- as well as securing sufficient funding to ensure that missions can be funded in perpetuity to all facilities that require our help
Sufficient funding (from both donations and tuition) will also give confidence to those people that agree to work long-term with PEIVDF as teachers and/or practitioners, that missions utilizing the skills that they have spent time and money acquiring, will be able to be funded by PEIVDF over the long term, and so this investment in skills will not have been wasted.
In acknowledgment of the skills and experience already possessed by AVDC diplomates and Fellows of the Academy of Veterinary Dentistry, PEIVDF offers 50% reduced tuition rates, which for normal 2-day missions would be discounted to $750. PEIVDF also hopes that attendees will find the experience invaluable, and perhaps “pay it forward” to another prospective AVDC rescue op attendee interested in learning and working with PEIVDF on our mission to help captive animals.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the above.
Tuition 4 Missions
Veterinary Dentists without Borders
Through PEIVDF’s Veterinary Dentists without Borders (VDWoB) program, missions are first being conducted throughtout the US, eventually expanding operations abroad. The foundation conducted its first missions to the Wildlife Waystation in Sylmar, California (November 08 & March 2009) and the Lake Superior Zoo (October 08).
PEIVDF provides their expert services – and the supplies required in the provision of these service – directly to the animals. That way, PEIVDF’s efforts directly benefit each animal on which we work. Facilities as a whole do not receive direct monetary benefit from the provision of PEIVDF services.
Missions offer the opportunity for you to gain hands-on experience by participating in working sessions at the chosen sanctuary or zoo, as well as attending educational sessions during any case load downtime. Clinical dental disease in several exotic species is often treated, so events would normally be eligible for consideration for logging of AVDC training program visitation time and logging of exotic cases in AVDC.
The goals of the missions are to:
- Treat: Provide life improving advanced veterinary dental care and treatment to exotic animlas located in US and overseas captive animal facilities and animal sanctuaries, which are under funded and/or understaffed from a veterinary perspective.
- Educate: Provide educational services to rescue operation workers, as well as to veterinary and caretaker staff at the chosen captive exotic animal facilities/sanctuaries, through lectures, seminars, study groups, and any and all other appropriate means, to facilitate the provision of, and/or improve the ongoing exotic animal veterinary dental care available at these facilities.
- Perpetuate: Develop a curriculum to expand the program’s reach by providing hands-on experience and lectures to qualified rescue operation workers who are pursuing their veterinary dental specialty qualification.
For each mission, PEIVDF needs to ensure we are balancing the needs of the animals with the need to educate the next generation of skilled, qualified exotic veterinary dentists. Currently, PEIVDF is working to educate the next generation of teachers, which at this stage in our development, represents candidates with experience and education in veterinary dentistry, who need to hone their skills working on the many exotic species we encounter in our work. PEIVDF is also collecting information on registered veterinary technicians and veterinary assistants.
As the financial and teaching resources of the charity expand, so too will the pool of workers from which we draw for subsequent missions. In the interim, you can help by donating to the charity to enable us to continue to fund more and more missions to the many facilities that can benefit from our services.
If you would like to be a part of the future of the foundation, please download the form HERE.
Fill in the form, save, & email it to us at info@peteremilyfoundation.org. We will keep your information on file, and as missions are scheduled, we will review the pool of resources available and will contact you if your skills match the current requirements.
If you would like to request assistance in the form of a mission for the exotic animals residing at your shelter, sanctuary, or zoo, please download the Application for Assistance form HERE, fill it out, save a copy, and email it to us at info@peteremilyfoundation.org. We will then contact you to see if we can be of assistance.