A veterinary nurse is heading for the skies to raise money for a new charity she helped create after witnessing the suffering of stray animals in Borneo.

A veterinary nurse is heading for the skies to raise money for a new charity she helped create after witnessing the suffering of stray animals in Borneo.

Megan Ryder, who works for The Grove Veterinary Group in Fakenham, visited the south-east Asian island on a trekking holiday in April.

But after seven years working with animals she was appalled at the lack of medical provision there - with the sight of one particular wounded and dying dog spurring her into action.

The 26-year-old discussed the dog's plight with two animal rights campaigners she had met on her travels, who agreed to set up a charity on their return to England

And three weeks later, Mrs Ryder got an email saying the International Aid for the Protection and Welfare of Animals (IAPWA) had been registered and asking for her professional help.

Now Mrs Ryder and five colleagues from The Grove are planning a charity skydive on Saturday to start the fundraising effort which she hopes will pay for education, a neutering programme and a mobile vet clinic.

'Seeing this dog was heartbreaking,' she said. 'All we could do was feed it some leftover chocolate cookies and give it some fresh water. We sat with it for an hour until it went off into the forest.

'The dog certainly would have died. The wound on its side was already infected and it had laboured breathing.

'We were in the jungle and there was no way of getting it to the mainland for treatment. If this charity was around then we could have put it to sleep, but there was nothing we could do for it.'

Mrs Ryder, from North Elmham, said once the funds were available for the mobile clinic she could advise on the necessary equipment, and perhaps return to Borneo to help implement it.

She will jump from 10,000ft above an airfield in Chatteris with fellow vet nurses Helen Grimes, Anna Johannsson, Rowena Owen and Jo McKay, and nursing assistant Kristina Crewe.

And she was amazed that the two co-founders of IAPWA, Nicky Stevens and Lynsey Gill, had got the charity off the ground so quickly.

'I am surprised at how much they have already done and I want to raise as much money as possible to help them,' she said.

t Collection boxes for the charity are at The Grove's practices in Fakenham, Dereham and Swaffham. For more information or to make a donation, contact Megan Ryder on 07766 744550.