A veterinarian with the Williams Lake Veterinary Hospital was presented with the BC SPCA’s Veterinarian of the Year Award at the society’s annual awards ceremony held Friday in Richmond.
“Every community can nominate people who have helped their SPCA branch and then we have a judging panel who goes through all of the nominations and selects the winners,” says BC SPCA manager of community relations Lorie Chortyk noting that it was a unanimous decision to recognize Dr. Ross Hawkes.
“It was our local SPCA and our cruelty investigation department, and also the constables who worked with Dr. Hawkes during the wildfires who nominated him.”
The BC SPCA Veterinarian Award recognizes a veterinarian who has made an outstanding contribution to animals in the SPCA’s care and in their community.
“Dr. Hawkes goes above and beyond to help animals in need,” said Liz Dighton, branch manager of the BC SPCA’s Williams Lake Branch.
“The team at Williams Lake Veterinary Hospital are incredibly generous with their time and their services – accepting strays at all hours of the day and night, always fitting our emergency cases in, even on their busiest days, supporting the SPCA’s fundraising and outreach programs and providing amazing support for low-cost spay/neuter efforts.”
In addition to years of outstanding support for abused, neglected and homeless animals in the SPCA’s care, Dighton adds that Dr. Hawkes provided an invaluable service to the community and the SPCA during last summer’s wildfires.
“Dr. Hawkes provided unlimited access to his clinic and services by being on call 24 hours a day, treating animals, attending warrants with our constables to rescue pets and farm animals trapped behind evacuation lines, housing stray animals and ensuring that all the animals, including wildlife, were treated and cared for,” says Dighton.
“His dedication to the community’s most vulnerable animals has saved so many lives and we are pleased to be able to recognize his incredible contributions with our Veterinarian of the Year award.”
Currently, on call providing care to animals in the Chilcotin, Dr. Hawkes was unavailable for comment.