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38 Mei/May 2017
It was a busy five days
starting with two workshops:
“Critical monitoring during
immobilisation” by Prof
Leith Meyer and “Carnivore
immobilisation, anaesthesia and
nutrition” by Dr Adrian Tordiffe, both
from the FVS. The following four days
each had a theme, the first being
“Rhino and Elephant Conservation
Medicine” with the keynote speaker
Dr Michael Knight of the IUCN African
Rhino Specialist Group talking on
“Medicine to save Africa’s rhinos”.
The second day’s theme was “People
and Wildlife” with Dr Mike Kock talking
on “Protected areas and people:
where have all the elephant and rhino
gone, and more important why?”. He
gave great veterinary and medical
anthropological perspective on trans-
frontier conservation areas.
Friday’s theme was “Wildlife Disease”
with Dr William Karesh opening with
the talk “Can we call them wildlife
diseases anymore?” which gave
a global perspective on emerging
diseases. The theme of the last day
was “Applied Clinical Practice” with
Dr Johan Marais starting the day with
the insightful “Rhino in the room”.
We were fortunate to have a wide
variety of speakers from Southern
Africa, North America, Europe and
Asia. They covered a diversity of
topics from tuberculosis diagnosis to
immobilisation drug protocols and side
effects. The talks are available on the
member section of the Wildlife group
website
There were vibrant social activities
with a fun quiz night on the first
night with a variety of veterinary
related questions, some submitted by
members. The last night was a gala
dinner where the best talks and poster
were announced. Prizes were given
to the best talk of each of the four
days and the best poster as voted by
the delegates. The Lycaon award was
awarded to Dr Markus Hofmeyr for
his contribution to conservation as a
member of the SAVA wildlife group.
The award makes him an honorary
member of the group.
The feedback from delegates and
trade has been overwhelmingly
positive. Dr William Magnone wrote:
“I'm now again in Italy in my zoo
work but I want to thank you all! It
was absolutely a great conference
from both scientific and non-scientific
aspects. I found all presentations
of great interest and it was very
useful for me to understand the
South African wildlife situation. The
workshop was great too! Thanks
Leith and Jacques to share with us
your experiences! We hosted EAZWV
conference in 2012 and I know what
it means!! Thanks again and my
compliments!”
We would like to thank all the
speakers that took the time to present
their experiences and thoughts as
well as the organisers Vetlink, FVS
and SAVA WG. A big thank you to
the sponsors who make a significant
contribution to the success of the
conference: the main sponsors
V-Tech and Wildlife Pharmaceuticals,
Kyron (Carnivore workshop), Lomaen
Medical, Professional Wildlife
Equipment, Global Supplies, Sonorite,
Motsumi and Midlands Veterinary
Wholesalers. v
Kongresse I Kongresse
Veterinary Management of African Wildlife
Conference 2017
Dr Greg Simpson
The Faculty of Veterinary Science (FVS) co-hosted the Veterinary
Management of African Wildlife Conference with the South
African Veterinary Association Wildlife Group (SAVA WG) from
21 – 25 February 2017. This was the first time the SAVA WG
joined with the faculty to host their annual conference. We had
a great turnout with 219 registrations, including 8 international
delegates, 43 students and 18 trade representatives.
Keynote speaker, Dr Michael Knight
Dr Markus Hofmeyr is presented with the
Lycaon Award by Dr Angela Bruins for
long term contribution to conservation as
a member of the SAVA Wildlife Group.
Keynote speaker, Dr Mike Kok