South African Externship Experience

Did you know that wild dogs are such an endangered species that there are only 4 packs left in Africa, one of which is in the Kruger National Park area? I did not know this until I had the life changing experience of completing an externship in Limpopo, South Africa in August. As a DVM student, I feel that it’s vital to get the most out of your time in school, and that includes taking advantage of externships or any veterinary opportunity to learn more veterinary medicine over breaks. Here at Ross, we have 3 short breaks per year, and I decided to make the most out of my 2 week August break by experiencing the wild side of vet med in South Africa.

The biggest thing I learned is that South Africans truly care about preserving species and giving to conservation efforts. One way this showed is through the immense amount of game farms that are around the area. Driving just a few miles down the road, you’ll pass a nice handful of them. Game farm owners are able to preserve the species they have on their farm, and we got to see an amazing example of this when we visited a rhino farm to place an external fixator on the fractured limb of a white rhino. The owner was extremely passionate about saving that rhino and wanted to do all he could to preserve the species in general.

There were plenty of opportunities to see some amazing species being worked on as we followed a game veterinarian around for 2 weeks! We had chances to help capture big game such as different species of antelope (Nyala, Kudu, water buck, Roan antelope, etc.). Seven different species of antelope is what we got to see total! We also were able to witness lion relocations to different game farms and even watched TB tests be performed on animals at an animal rehabilitation center.

Besides working with amazing animals, we also got to learn how to use a dart gun from a helicopter! It was exciting to learn how dart guns are used to sedate large game animals that you have a hard time getting close to and to be able to physically shoot one (at a stationery target, of course, not an actual animal)!  We also were able to visit Kruger National Park and learn about the immense lengths they go to to protect all of their species there. The cheetah population in South Africa is increasing overall, and it was great to see that their conservations efforts were paying off. They are working hard to increase the wild dog population, since one of the packs resides in the Kruger area, but it is difficult because so many different factors play into their population decline that it is not a quick fix.

Over the 2 weeks I was in South Africa, I had the chance to see many different sides of veterinary medicine and apply my knowledge in areas such as anesthesia, pharmacology, and bacteriology. My favorite part of the trip though was the conservation medicine side of it. Being able to witness firsthand the love and passion veterinarians and people there will go to to help save animals is inspiring. This experience gave me a new outlook on the conservation side of veterinary medicine, and I hope to be able to work in that aspect of veterinary medicine in the future.

Submitted by Catharine Vaughan from Ross University