ANIMAL welfare charity, Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS), is gearing up for its annual fundraising event in Cornwall, The Rabies Rally. 

Taking place from September 10 to 13, the event will see eleven teams tackle a course running across the Cornish peninsula in tuk tuks — iconic three-wheeled vehicles which are frequently used during the charity’s global vaccination projects.

This event, which launched in 2023, will be raising funds to support the charity’s Mission Rabies  project which is working to create a world where no one dies of rabies. Through this project, the charity runs mass canine vaccination campaigns, surveillance, and community education programmes in the world’s worst rabies affected areas, including India, Cambodia, Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique.

Truro vet and founder of Worldwide Veterinary Service, Dr Luke Gamble, explains why the event is so important: “Rabies still kills a child at least every nine minutes around the world and it is a horrifying disease. Rabies is primarily transmitted through dog bites, which means thousands of dogs are brutally culled and poisoned in countries where rabies remains endemic.

“Our projects show that rabies can be eliminated by large-scale vaccination campaigns – protecting both children and dogs in some of the poorest countries in the world. We hope this event will enable more people to get involved with supporting the charity and raise awareness about what we’re trying to do.”

Visiting scenic spots along the Cornish coastline, the participating teams will head to checkpoints in their tuk tuks, scanning pin codes to find their next location and completing challenges along the way. Upon reaching the final mystery location, the teams will receive their finishers medals and the winning team will be announced.

Lucy Hastings, events manager for Worldwide Veterinary Service, talks more about the tuk tuk challenge: “The Rabies Rally is such a unique and fun event to get involved in. It is not often that you will see eleven tuk tuks travelling through the English countryside. Teams come from all over the world to take part. We had teams from as far away as Switzerland and the USA last year.

“We love planning this event and mapping out an exciting route so that the teams get to discover hidden treasures along the Cornish coastline. It will be a fantastic group of people coming together and we would love more people to join us for this year’s event. Most importantly, by getting involved, you will help combat the deadly rabies virus, protecting people and animals worldwide.”

The exact route is not revealed to the teams who will be navigating by scanning codes along the way.

To find out more about the Rabies Rally and how to take part at rabiesrally.com