“Why Mission Rabies matters (and why I keep coming back)”: Hear from Arnie
Volunteers are vital in our mission to end rabies – without them our work would not be possible. Long-term supporter and volunteer, Arnold Plotnick, has joined many of our vaccination campaigns since 2018. Mostly recently, he volunteered on our vaccination drive in the Arusha district, Tanzania in September 2025.
Keep reading below as Arnie tells you why this mission matters and why he keeps returning to volunteer.
“Mission Rabies is a global charity with a deceptively simple playbook: vaccinate dogs to stop rabies at its source, teach communities how to prevent bites, and collect precise data so health officials know where to focus next. That’s the short version.
The longer version—the one I prefer, as a retired veterinarian who still can’t resist a good dog story—goes like this.
Needles, data, and discipline
Rabies isn’t just a horror-movie plot device. It’s the deadliest viral disease on earth. Once symptoms appear, it’s 100% fatal. That’s worse than Ebola, worse than COVID, worse than all the usual suspects. Every year, around 59,000 people die, mostly children in Africa and Asia. The agonising part: almost all of those deaths are preventable.
In endemic regions, more than 99% of human cases come from dog bites. Vaccinate the dogs and human rabies cases plummet. The magic number is 70%—once you hit that percentage, the virus has nowhere to go. That’s the elegant math of public health. No drama. No gimmicks. Just needles, data, and discipline.
What Mission Rabies actually does
This isn’t your average charity drive. Mission Rabies runs large-scale vaccination campaigns, in partnership with local governments and veterinary teams, and they do it with military precision. Picture volunteers in bright yellow shirts, fanning out across neighbourhoods on foot or in vans. Some days it’s door-to-door, other days it’s pop-up clinics in markets and schools.
Mission Rabies is famously nerdy about mapping and measuring. Every vaccine is logged into a mobile app. You won’t hear “we vaccinated a lot of dogs this week”. Instead, it’s: we jabbed this many dogs, in this area, on these streets, during these hours. Coverage maps reveal gaps, and mop-up teams circle back until the stragglers are jabbed. Governments listen when you bring hard data, not just mission statements. This is public health on steroids.
And it works. I’ve seen it myself. In 2018, I joined a campaign in Goa, India. Mission Rabies had started there four years earlier, and human deaths were dropping every year. By the time I arrived, the whole state was holding its breath: would this be the first year with zero rabies deaths? Not only did they hit that milestone, but now Goa has officially been declared India’s first rabies-controlled state.
The appeal
Why do I keep coming back? For me, it’s simple: I like adventure, and these campaigns are adventures… with a purpose. Waking up at dawn, loading vaccine coolers, bouncing down dusty roads. Learning “good morning” and “thank you” in Swahili (or Hindi, or Khmer). Hearing cheers when a wary street dog finally gets his jab. Being handed a cup of tea because you vaccinated someone’s animals. Still need convincing? How about…kids constantly waving at you, swapping your day’s best stories with your fellow volunteers at team dinners, making lasting friendships with like-minded people, leaving a community in better shape than when you arrived… you get my point.
Why I care (And why you might, too)
As a vet, I’ve seen rabies up close. It’s cruel, in a very specific way: it punishes families for loving their dogs and for happening to live in places where vaccines are scarce. Mission Rabies takes that cruelty personally. They show up where the risk is highest, do the unglamorous work of prevention, and keep at it until the numbers change. To me, that’s heroism without the cape. And here’s the kicker: the work is designed to make itself less necessary over time. Every time a vaccinated dog becomes a tiny firewall. Stack enough firewalls together and the virus fizzles out. It's nice how that works, don’t you think?
What You Can Do
If you’re reading this and wondering how to help, you’ve got options:
Volunteer. Vets, vet techs, or just willing hands—everyone’s trained, supervised, and kept safe. If you’re looking for a way to save human lives while treating animals with dignity, consider this your invitation.
Donate. One vaccinated dog can protect a whole cluster of kids. The math is wildly in your favour. A small donation goes much further than you can imagine.
Spread the word. Rabies isn’t a niche animal issue. It’s a global public-health problem with a clear fix.
Vaccinate your own pets and be the neighbour who reminds everyone else. Local responsibility, global effects.
In a few days, I’ll be arriving in Tanzania. Let the adventure begin!”
