Wandering Wildlife Vet

It’s the start of month number four! I can’t believe how fast time is flying by. My family will be here in two months and the Metcalf siblings will be here in 6 weeks! Today marked the end of my first week volunteering here in South Africa. I am working with a wildlife vet, Dr. Rogers, in Hoedspruit for the next five weeks. It’s a very small project with a maximum of 3 volunteers at a time. We live with a host family, the Burns, outside of town. They have a beautiful farm with dogs, cats, horses, pigs, and wildlife. I have a lovely little cottage to myself with a bathroom and a double bed (big deal for me)! Mrs. Burns makes us the most delicious dinner every night.

Wednesday and Thursday we spent the morning looking for a black rhino to collar at a nearby game reserve. Unfortunately, they were unable to find it after hours of searching and it got too hot in the afternoon to dart an animal. When an animal is under anesthesia, they do not have the ability to thermoregulate so it is very easy for them to overheat. Dr. Rogers had spent the morning searching from a helicopter. When they decided to call it an end to the search, he offered us to ride back to town in it! At first, I said no because I’m very afraid of heights but he told me I must do it. It was nerve racking at first but I am so happy I did it, both times!

We spent the majority of the day Friday doing Tuberculosis testing on cheetahs. This particular reserve recently had a positive test result so all the animals must be tested before any of the animals can be moved. Typically, carnivores get TB from eating the meat of an infected animal, like buffalo or elephant that are susceptible species. They can pass it to one another through their natural fighting behaviors where they spit and bite each other. The test is very similar to the test they perform in humans. They inject a small amount of dead TB organisms interdermally (in between the layers of skin) and wait 72 hours to see if the body has an immune response. If an immune response (red, swollen area) is present above a certain size, then it is a positive result and that person or animal has been exposed to TB.

(All animals pictured have been safely anesthetized under the supervision of a veterinarian)

We had the whole weekend off to do activities or just relax. Saturday morning myself and another volunteer went horseback riding on the farm! It was a beautiful morning and we saw giraffe, zebra, and warthogs while we were out. We also walked the horses through one of the dams which they love to play in. We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing by the pool and catching up on sleep.

Yesterday, we were busy checking the results of all the TB tests we did on Friday. Luckily, we had no positive results which is great news for the animals and the farm! Today, we started the test on 10 more cheetahs which we will check on Friday. Hopefully all of these are negative as well and the one positive animal didn’t spread TB to any others. After we finished with the cheetahs, we were called out to an injured buffalo bull. He had gotten into a fight with another larger male (most likely over a female) and had a large puncture wound in his side for the horn. When we got there and got the buffalo darted, we found multiple other puncture wounds around the body. The owner decided to treat the wounds and try to save the animal. Dr. Rogers flushed and cleaned each wound to get rid of the maggots that were already present. He also treated each wound with an antibiotic spray and gave the buffalo an antibiotic injection to prevent infection. As long as the wounds stay clean, he is hoping everything will heal nicely. We will check back in a few days to see how things are progressing.

We’ve got some exciting things coming up in the next few days and I will take as many pictures as I am allowed!