New vets in Africa

(Vet student and keen AWS member, Amanda Storr, sent us this article from South Africa where she worked during the summer of 2003 under the "Afrivet" scheme)

Sitting in pitch darkness at midnight in the middle of the South African Veldt, huddled in a stone shack with no door, or indeed roof, a mere ten feet away from fresh lion bait whilst playing tapes of lion roars to attract surrounding lions, it struck me that this was quite possibly the stupidest thing I had ever done in my life. Especially when the man with the dart gun fell asleep!

And the reason for this blatant act of madness? As a vet student interested in working in the rapidly expanding field of conservation medicine I was spending two weeks gaining hands on experience at Ngongoni game ranch in South Africa. The proprietor, Dr Cobus Raath, spent eleven years as a veterinarian in the Kruger National Park, and now spends his time educating and inspiring the wildlife vets of tomorrow.

Inspiring is an accurate term. Of the twelve vet students who had arrived in South Africa with a curiosity about wildlife veterinary medicine, not one left without acquiring a gleam in their eye, a passion for the field and a burning desire to return. The beauty of the country, the friendly and laid-back people and the honour and privilege of working with such magnificent wild creatures had a profound effect on us all.

Translocating zebra from a private orchard to a nearby game reserve

Monitoring anaethetised white rhino in the Kruger National Park

TB testing Cape buffalo

Our two week course consisted of around eighty hours of hands-on work with the vets all over the Mpumalanga region, and about twenty hours of lectures on conservation medicine, pharmacology and pathology in large game animals. Pharmacology is particularly important in wildlife medicine as obviously nothing can be done unless the animal is suitably sedated. It can be seen in the photographs that the animals are always blindfolded whilst under sedation, and earmuffs are often used. This is to reduce the amount of stimulation the animal receives, as excess stimulation can trigger an adrenaline response, which will temporarily override the effects of sedative drugs, and the last thing you want when this close to a potentially dangerous wild animal is for it to suddenly leap up unexpectedly!

Fitting this amount of experience into two weeks required a tough schedule. Breakfast was served at an average of four thirty in the morning, after which 12 half asleep (and occasionally hung over) vet students piled into our trusty minibus (or the 'super vet mobile', as it became known) for a two or three hour drive to our job for the day, followed by a full day of hot, dusty, sweaty work. Highlights included microchipping and translocating white rhino, TB testing cape buffalo, translocating zebra, removing wire snares from ostrich and rhino, carrying out post mortems on impala and tsessebe and completely failing to catch lions for TB testing! A communal meal back at the lodge was then followed by lectures in an open air, thatched lecture theatre until around nine thirty, often visited by our resident giraffes and dikas. We finished each day gathered around the campfire with beer, impromptu debates and the beauty of the South African stars.

We were also taken on visits to many places of interest in the area, one of which was a breeding project for African wild dogs. As one of Africa's most endangered mammals, and one of the most endangered carnivores in the world, the wild dog suffers from a bad public image in much the same way as its larger cousin the wolf. In fact, there are calls to change the name of this species from 'wild dog' to 'painted wolf' in an attempt to convince local farmers that these are not dangerous feral dogs that require shooting on sight, but wild indigenous creatures that form part of Africa's heritage. It is quite ironic to think that in this situation the name of wolf would confer an improved public image, when the reverse is so often the case!

We were lucky enough to be taken by open buggy to see the resident breeding pack in their 12 acre enclosure, with around twelve adults plus puppies the pack made an enchanting sight. These animals are being bred for eventual release back into the wild and are not socialised, we therefore were compelled to remain in the jeep. It was however interesting to note how similar their behaviour and social organisation appear to be to the grey wolf.

It was also made clear to me just how much I have learnt about wolves through my involvement with AWS, hurrah for being able to ask intelligent questions!

I gained a lot from my African experience, not only practical skills such as how to take blood from a rhino, place an i/v catheter in a zebra and fire a dart gun (fun though this was!) and not just the theoretical knowledge of which drug to use and when, but also, and perhaps most importantly, I gained the chance to see the realities of conservation in action in the field. It's hard work, physical risks are inherent and I spent one glorious evening having numerous pepper ticks removed from me with a knife! But in spite of this it is truly the most satisfying feeling in the world to know that your work is making a difference, not just to an individual, but to a species, and if that species can be given a future by your efforts, perhaps to an entire ecosystem that might otherwise suffer from the loss of a key player.

Some people question the wisdom of veterinary intervention in the lives of wild animals, regarding it as an interference with the Darwinian 'survival of the fittest' and expressing concern over the long term effects. In situations where animals are simply old or injured from natural causes I see the wisdom of a policy of non-intervention. But in situations where humans are the problem, with the setting of snares, poaching, poisoning, introduction of exotic disease and destruction of habitat to name but a few examples, I think we owe it to other species to try and also be part of the solution.

Amanda Storr

(Further details regarding the Afrivet course can be found at: www.wildlifevets.com)