VETSOL (The Vetsol Trust) is a registered non-profit and people's benefit organization. Our main objective is to provide regular and safe pet sterilisation and improve pet care in general by supporting the local animal welfare education programs in areas where veterinary care is either unaffordable or absent. VETSOL actively partners with welfare organizations who work in rural or township communities that do not have resident veterinarians.

VETSOL was founded in December 2004 by Founder & Vet Nurse, Dagmar Atkinson and veterinarian, Dr. Desmond Stafford, after having recognized the critical need for freely available, safe veterinary services in remote rural and poverty-distressed areas. Both Sr. Atkinson and Dr. Stafford continue to work relentlessly to promote the goals of the Trust.

They are joined by trustees Sr. Lesley I’Ons from Southfield Veterinary Clinic, who has registered VETSOL under her practice; and Sandy Severn who, with many years of involvement in the veterinary field, acts as the Trust’s Sales Representative.

Dagmar is the founder and managing director of Vetsol. She is a qualified Veterinary Nurse (Dip Cur Anim) who also has a Diploma in Tertiary Education. She started her career working for the Medicine Departments of the University of Pretoria and University of Medunsa, and as a pharmaceutical representative for Fisher Vet. In 1994 she relocated to Cape Town and worked as Ciba Geigy representative for a year and then as a locum for various veterinary clinics in Stellenbosch and Somerset West. In 1998 she started working with Janssen Pharmaceuticals Veterinary division and worked closely with the animal welfare organizations. In 2003 she became a committee member of the Gordon’s Bay animal welfare society and learned that 80% of cats and dogs never see a vet in their lifetime. She was also horrified by the masses of animals that needed to be euthanized. This led to the realization that mass sterilization was the only effective method of reducing the levels of neglect, abuse and starvation amongst cats and dogs. Soon thereafter in 2005 she started Vetsol. She has spent the past nine years working hard to build Vetsol and increase its social impact.

Sandy studied nursing at Victoria Hospital in the Western Cape in 1973. Soon thereafter she started volunteering in hospitals and kennels for The Animal Welfare Society in Philippi, while running a small wine farm. In 1983 she entered the Veterinary Industry as an Ethical Representative for Janssen Pharmaceuticals. She was then Head Hunted by Ciba/Novartis where she worked as a Detail Ethical Representative from 1990 until 1994. After a brief break from the industry to run a popular restaurant in Hermanus and a stint overseas, she reentered the veterinary industry in 2000, where she was appointed Territory Manager of the Western Cape for Merial a division of Sanofi. She remains in this position. Sandy is an active executive committee member of the Animal Welfare Society of South Africa for the past 14 years, as well as a Trustee of Vetsol since its inception.

Lesley started out her career as a teacher after graduating with a diploma in physical education in 1971. After working as a teacher for three years, she went back to university where she completed a Bachelor in Science (honours) degree in Virology in 1979. She then studied the final year of a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture before being accepted into Onderstepoort at the University of the Pretoria to study to be veterinary surgeon. Since 1987 she has worked as a veterinary surgeon for various animal practices in Natal, Cape Town and Johannesburg. Lesley is currently the principal veterinary surgeon at Southfield Veterinary Clinic in Cape Town, and has been a trustee of Vetsol since it was started in 2005.

Charl completed his Bachelor of Veterinary Science at Onderstepoort at the University of Pretoria in 1995. He then moved to England where he worked as a locum in various veterinary practices. He returned to South Africa in 1996 and worked for the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) in Bridgetown. Then in 1997 he opened his own veterinary clinic in Fishhoek, and in 1999 he became a partner in Kempton Animal Hospital until 2004. Then in 2005, he opened 3 vetshops while working as a locum at the PDSA in Bridgetown. Since 2009 he started working with Vetsol while managing his own clinic and range of vet shops.