A vet is swapping Sussex for the streets of Goa to treat stray animals.

Kathy Senior will fly to India in January to volunteer in a clinic run by International Animal Rescue (IAR), the Uckfield-based charity renowned for saving India's dancing bears.

The 27-year-old, from Coventry Court, Worthing, will spend the bulk of a six-month placement with a team of vets neutering animals.

She said: "One of my New Year's resolutions was to work for a charity and when I was looking where I could go, a friend told me about IAR.

"I wanted to do something abroad, using my skills somewhere where I thought it would make a difference.

"In India, an awful lot of animals are stray and if they are not neutered, then there is not enough food to go round, you get the spread of disease and there is a lot of fighting."

Miss Senior, who has worked in surgeries around Brighton and Hove, is used to seeing pets which have been brought in by their owners and using advanced medical equipment to treat them.

But in Goa much of her work would require her to work outside, collecting cats and dogs from the streets and bringing them in for treatment.

Miss Senior said: "In England, vets have so many things to help them decide what is wrong with an animal and it is so much easier to treat with an X-ray and blood tests.

"We so rarely see horrific injuries over here, with respect to people not taking care of their pets, but I get the impression the attitude toward animals is very different in India and the biggest challenge will be learning to accept that."

The IAR clinic is one of several schemes set-up to improve animal welfare in India.

Alan Knight, the charity's founder, returned from a trip to the country earlier this month, where efforts are underway to rehabilitate bears beaten into dancing illegally for tourists.

Mr Knight hopes to have 100 bears off the streets and in a specially-built sanctuary by the end of the year, with another 400 rescued by December 2006.

Under a programme the bears' captors are paid to hand them over and are given training in a new profession.

He said: "Some of the bears have been in the sanctuary for two years and their size has increased, their fur has changed into a glorious colour and they are becoming playful.

"The ones we took in had no sparkle in their eyes and the inspiration for me is the injection of bear adrenalin that comes from seeing them every now and then."

For information about IAR call 01825 767688.