Many years ago, TOLFA began its work with only a veterinary doctor, a veterinary nurse and 2 assistants. As the number of animals that we help has grown year on year, so our staff team has grown and currently TOLFA employs around 50 permanent staff working in our various different projects. Being able to offer stable and fulfilling employment to so many people; many of whom are from challenging financial backgrounds; has been a rewarding part of our work with the animals, that we had not anticipated.
More like a close knit family, than a staff team, nearly 30% of our staff have worked with us for more than 15 years which has given TOLFA a strong foundation on which to build on as new staff members learn from our very experienced older staff. It has always been our aim to empower every member of our work force to be the best that they can be, in a kind and supportive working environment. Despite working in very physically and emotionally demanding conditions, our Team TOLFA always remains upbeat and we have been complimented on how great our staff are and how lucky we are, on many occasions.
Our Large Animal Rescue Team take care of all the large animals that are admitted to TOLFA whether that be a cow, a donkey, a horse, a goat or even the odd camel. It can be very physically demanding work, cleaning up after sometimes more than 200 cows and that is without the feeding, assisting during treatments and extra nurturing care that our team provides. Despite this, the work is always done with a big smile on their faces. Most of our team are from village backgrounds and so have been around large animals since their childhood.
Our Nurturing Team does exactly that – nurtures! As well as the medical care that all our animals require, there are so many other things that help our patients to recover quicker and to be more comfortable. Our nurturing team spends their day making sure that all of our admitted animals have a clean blanket to sit on, help to feed them if they are unable to, give a bath if they are an itchy mange dog, cut their hair if they have a long coat in the blazing heat, bottle feed them if they are an orphan puppy or kitten and so much more. This team makes every animal feel loved.
Every day TOLFA catches dogs from a specific area for ABC (sterilisation) and rabies vaccination or sterilises dogs and cats that have come in through our Rescue Project, before they are released (if not already operated). This team makes sure that the whole ABC and AR procedure is as smooth as possible from start to finish. This includes the pre op checks, preparation of the animals for surgery, the sterilisation operation itself, post op care for at least 3 days, rabies vaccination and preparation for release. Our team keeps meticulous records of every part of the process.
Our Dispensary Team look after the running of our daily open clinics and taking care of all the animals that are admitted in our Owner Pet Dog Kennels. Every day, our dispensary is open from 10.15am – 5pm and as soon as the doors open, the waiting area is filled with a whole array of different animals. Our staff in our dispensary are well practised in giving treatments to owner pet dogs as well as goats, cows, buffaloes belonging to local villagers. As well as providing medical treatments, our dispensary also perform any surgical procedure required by any owned animal.
The beauty of our sanctuary like shelter is down to the expertise of our Grounds Staff Team. They help to keep our extensive grounds neat, clean and wonderfully green with all the trees and bushes they have planted. They also maintain the general hygiene of the hospital with our deep cleaning protocols. Our Grounds team make and wash all the blankets needed to keep our animals warm, they prepare the mountain of rice, daal and roti’s that our animals require to eat every day and if something is broken they will work out how to fix it.
Our Small Animal Rescue Team look after all the small animals that are admitted to TOLFA which in the most part is dogs but increasingly cats. At our busiest times, during monsoon and in winter, TOLFA can have between 400 – 500 rescued small animals admitted and so our Small Animal Rescue Team certainly have a lot of work on their hands with cleaning, feeding and assisting with treatments for them all. The team is further split into the areas that they generally work in such as Isolation Ward, Puppy Ward, Rehabilitation Ward, Rescue Surgical, Rescue Medical and Cat House.
Our Office Staff Team are imperative to making sure that everything in the hospital is running smoothly. This includes rescue call management, accounts, donation stewardship, human resources, social media, medicine inventory, animal statistics and so much more. Due to their extensive knowledge on all things TOLFA, our office staff also take care of all the visitors that come to see our work. Our Education coordinator organizes animal welfare lectures in schools as well as taking care of any educational institution visits and our Night Security Guard keeps the hospital safe during the evening hours.
TOLFA has 3 Rescue Vehicles and each one is manned by one of our drivers and either 2 or 3 other rescue staff. From 8am until 11pm at night our teams are out and about rescuing animals that are sick or injured. Our small animal rescue team, rescues dogs and cats and brings them back to the hospital for admission. Our large animal rescue team do the same but for cows, donkeys and any other large animal. Our third rescue team provided treatment on the spot for any animal that only has a minor problem. Our rescue teams are highly skilled and experts at rescuing animals found in any kind of situation.
As with our Dispensary Team based in Kharekhari, our Dispensary Team in Paharganj clinic look after the running of our daily open clinics. Our Paharganj dispensary is a very new venture, only opening in March 2021 but it is already becoming popular with the local community. Our team work from 10am – 6pm and take care of medical and surgical needs of street animals that are owned or have a care person, owner pets or livestock animals as well as being a base for the first aid treatment of any serious cases rescued by one of our ambulances. Our staff here are building new relationships.
