VN May 2017

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.

I t was a busy five days 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 www.vets4wildlife.co.za . starting with two workshops: “Critical monitoring during immobilisation” by Prof Leith Meyer and “Carnivore

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

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

V-Tech and Wildlife Pharmaceuticals, Kyron (Carnivore workshop), Lomaen Medical, Professional Wildlife Equipment, Global Supplies, Sonorite, Motsumi and Midlands Veterinary Wholesalers. v

38 Mei/May 2017