10/20/2025
🐾 Meet : Annabelle 🐾
Beejay was Annabelle’s first horse and as a teen, her first true love. "We had him in our life for 17 years and he was a dog inside a horse’s body. He was basically the son that my mother never had and the brother I always wished for". He was a young thoroughbred that was supposed to go to the racetrack, but as incredibly handsome as he was, he was also kind of lazy. "That’s why they decided to sell him and how he came into our lives. He was just so charismatic, everybody’s favourite horse, but he was all mine.” She ended up riding that love she had for him all the way to veterinary school, an equine internship, then years later, halfway around the world.
Through VCA Canada and the MARS Ambassador program, an incredible opportunity came up to travel to India and help eradicate Rabies in that part of the world. The MARS Ambassador program offers Associates the opportunity to volunteer their passion and their skills to help nonprofit organizations around the world build capacity and fulfill their missions. Annabelle jumped at the chance. She remembers; “It awakened something in me. That as a vet you can give back and come together, as a planet, on behalf of all living creatures.” She said to herself “I can do this.” And off to Goa she went.
Annabelle worked with a local team for two weeks, some carrying the vaccine, some not even speaking the same dialect, but all working together as a unit to learn and educate. "It's about caring for all living things and their interconnectivity. I feel that we are privileged to be able to do what we do, we need to use our knowledge and education to deliver the world we want tomorrow." Goa even achieved Rabies Controlled Status and Annabelle says she is "appreciative that her company helped her to be a part of something like that". There are still other rabies missions out there, but as for Goa, we can say Mission Accomplished.”
