Wildlife Conservation Medicine in South Africa

By Stacie Munden, Ross University

When someone asks me what animals I want to work with, I usually respond with “I don’t know!” This past experience that I had in South Africa just solidified my answer being that now I have even less of an idea of the group of animals that I want to work with. Every time I work with new animals, it just adds to my long, growing list of animals that I want to work with! And Africa was the perfect place to add new animals to my list!

Right off the bat, when we arrived in South Africa, we were given the opportunity to work with animals. The first morning that we arrived, we got hands on opportunity with the horses by helping with grooming. For some of us that have had no previous experience with horses, it was a good introduction to being around them. My favorite aspect of the horses was that they were named after characters from the Lord of the Rings! This little detail foreshadowed how awesome the trip was to be since we were surrounded by such amazing people. That first night we went to the mountaintop and talked around the fire. Africa was proving to be the perfect place.

The next day we learned about hunting and how it relates to wildlife conservation. The explanation that stuck with me was that “if it pays it stays,” meaning that if it (wildlife conservation) is profitable, then it will continue to exist. In South Africa, conserving wildlife is made possibly by profiting from hunting. There are many regulations that go into it and the animals that are raised for hunting are treated very well. If they weren’t then they would lose money. So, these animals can exist because of the need for them. Wildlife conservation medicine is used to help transport these animals for breeding, genetics, hunting, among other things. The wildlife vets that we worked with were tasked with aiding in transport by reducing stress or injury.

Since these are large, wild animals, chemical restraint is the safest restraint technique for both the handler and the animal. The animals can be darted from a vehicle or a helicopter. We learned how to load a dart gun and practiced shooting targets, not only from the ground, but from a helicopter! It took me by surprise because I had no idea that we would be doing that and I’m terrified of heights, but it was incredible to see everything from that vantage point in the sky! I may have missed most of the targets, but that’s just a good reason to go back for more practice!

After learning about darting animals and the anesthetics used, we went on a few captures with the veterinarians, where we captured impala, nyala, blesbok and roan antelope (my favorite). Administering IM injections, restraining and monitoring these animals was incredible and terrifying at the same time. It’s much easier to appreciate the strength of these animals from up close.

One of the best days I had in South Africa was going to Kruger National Park. We saw so many animals that only previously existed for me in zoos and books. The best part of seeing these animals was that they were in their natural environment and were able to exhibit normal behaviors of a wild animal, which was slightly intimidating. Especially since we had elephants walking close to the vehicle and African wild dogs playing in the street. We spotted many beautiful species of birds as we drove past and saw buffalo, hippos, impala, zebra, warthogs, giraffes… At the end of our trip as the sun was about to set and we were about to head back we saw a group of parked cars. We drove closer and saw a cheetah bathing in the sunlight. Everyone’s eyes were locked on her as she stood up and walked away into the savannah. It was such an honor to see a cheetah and a pack of African wild dogs in their natural environment.

During our trip we also worked with some reptiles. We visited a crocodile farm where they were having problems with double scaling. Double scaling is an unwanted trait for use in clothing accessories and the cause is unknown. We drew blood from the crocodiles and performed a necropsy on some that would be used for testing to determine the cause of double scaling. We also visited a venom supply company that taught us restraint and blood drawing techniques on snakes!

This is just a snapshot of the experience I had during my trip to South Africa. I worked with so many animals over these 2 weeks during my break between semesters and I loved every second of it. I guess I do know what animals I want to work with, but it’s difficult to group them all together. So, for now I’ll just have to explain to people that I want to work with ALL animals.

Call of the Wild

These wildlife photos are of some patients undergoing rehabilitation. They were submitted by Greta Doden from the University of Illinois. Thanks for the cool shots, Greta!

Great Horned OwlCommon snapping turtle

Coyote

NWRA Veterinary Student Paper competition

This 24th annual competition for veterinary student papers is being held in conjunction with the

NWRA Symposium, and is open to all veterinary students. The 2018 Symposium will be held

27 February – 3 March in Anaheim, CA. The conference will provide lectures, hands-on

workshops (free to students who help with the set-up and clean up afterwards!), discussions,

and networking opportunities to learn about current issues and techniques in wildlife medicine

and rehabilitation. This is also a great opportunity to meet veterinarians working with wildlife

and visit some of the facilities of the hosting rehabilitation organization, the California Council

for Wildlife Rehabilitators.

SUBJECT: The paper may cover any topic related to a veterinary aspect of wildlife

rehabilitation and may consist of a review of the literature, a personal case experience, or a

research project. Titles of winning papers are posted at:

http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nwrawildlife.org/resource/resmgr/ScholarshipsAwardsGrants/20

16_Updated_Scholarship_Winners/Hiestand_Competition_Winners.pdf. Details about the

scholarship can be found at: http://www.nwrawildlife.org/?page=Hiestand_Scholarship.

PRESENTATION: The winning student will be required to give a 25 minute PowerPoint

presentation at the symposium. The first-place paper will also be eligible for publication in the

NWRA Bulletin. Additional information regarding the symposium location, schedule, field trips

and workshops will be available at www.nwrawildlife.org as the symposium draws nearer.

AWARD: The winning student will be awarded free registration to the conference, free attendance to the awards banquet, and a stipend of $500 toward travel and lodging expenses.

ENTRIES: Interested students should submit a 100-250 word abstract by 15 December 2017, and the completed paper by 15 January 2018, to: Dr. Erica A. Miller; Ph.: 302-743-7799; Fx: 302-234-2845; Em: Erica@Jfrink.com.

Author guidelines may be obtained by at: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.nwrawildlife.org/resource/resmgr/ScholarshipsAwardsGrants/vet_competition_author_guide.pdf.

Any questions regarding the NWRA or the Symposium should be directed to the NWRA Central Office at nwra@nwrawildlife.org or 320-230-9920.

An ADR Parakeet

Alexis Pennings, Virginia-Maryland

Experiences, Entry

I was the only person working in the clinic that afternoon, and I happened to leave lunch early to return to work. I had much to accomplish, and little time to do it, because it was my day to work in the petting pen. It was fortuitous that I did leave early, because I found a small post-it note on the door to the clinic. Written on the note were the words "Parakeet on counter not doing well. Found laying on side." I popped into the clinic and went back to the counter where a carrier was placed. Inside of it was a little budgerigar who was pale yellow and green. He was laying on his side, not a good sign, and barely responded as I stuck my hand in the crate to retrieve him. He didn't even make a peep, and I could tell he was feeling quite rotten. Upon picking up his light body, I could feel the keel bone sticking out prominently; he was extremely thin. His eyes were half-closed and he lie limp in my arms.

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My SAWorldVets Conservation Experience

Brian Tighe, Ross University

Experiences, Honorable Mention 

Often times when a person says you’ll have the opportunity to collaborate with a multimillion dollar industry, the opportunity to take care of animals that run into the tens of thousands of dollars per individual, a lot of feelings can come rushing towards you.  Excitement at the opportunity, disbelief in the trust placed upon you, anxiety over the possibility of a single mishap ruining your entire career, but the one emotion you would never expect is complacency.   Sable antelope, Hippotragus niger, is a species of antelope found in the savannahs of Africa.  Its rarity is dependent on the subspecies, spanning the spectrum from critically endangered to least concern, but that “least concern” label didn’t happen by itself. 

The farmers of South Africa have learned what valuable assets these animals can be, allowing offers from wealthy folks all over the world to spill in to purchase them for a variety of reasons, the most being hunting.  This gave great incentive to increase their numbers.  So when this student says he grew complacent seeing these creatures, he wasn’t bored or uninterested in them.  It was the sheer fact that on any given day as he drove threw the country, visiting farm after farm, these animals were everywhere.  Ever been to Pennsylvania and seen all the white-tailed deer?  Or how about sheep in New Zealand?  Or castles in Ireland?  It was kind of like that.  By the end of the trip we had seen so many Sable antelope we stopped taking pictures of them.  And you know what other emotion that made us realize on our journey back?  Pride in the efforts of conservationists, farmers, and veterinarians who were able to take an animal who used to have such low numbers and blow them up into a common sighting.

            I was one of fourteen students who went on an excursion to South Africa to follow a wildlife veterinarian as he worked to help farmers and maintain conservation of the animal species there.  The group was called SAWorldVets and was worth every penny.  Essentially we were following him on a day to day work schedule, awakening each morning before sunrise to whatever was scheduled, lunch, going out to calls, and then finally coming back in the evening to crash around the campfire.  Luckily for us, we just so happened to arrive two weeks before a giant auction that would involve many of the farmers in the area and, of course, they all wanted their animals in top shape.

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