Wednesday, April 28, 2010

What a trip!Becky, young William and Dr Brothers left Grahamstown on 14 April and returned on 25 April. During this time they travelled more than 3500km, stayed at 4 different venues and darted 5 lion, twice, and 4 rhino...You have had updates along the way but basically we helped with a thermal ecology research project in lion and implanted thermal sensors intra-abdominally in 2 lions(4 were planned but there may be an equipment change so we decided
to do 2 to start with and monitor them over the next month before implanting the other two) and then we had a few days in the bush before returning to the Pretoria area and working with clients there. Here we immobilised 4 rhino and dehorned them, sadly , to try prevent them being poached and to save their lives. The procedures went well - although I definitely recommend a chain saw rather than a hand saw!-and all rhino are doing well again. If you simply Google"Rhino poaching South Africa" you will be shocked to read some of the references in terms of the number of animals being killed, and those people alleged to be involved, including foreign ambassadors in our country!
Watch our website for some photos of this trip in the near future. Now it is back to the office and admin for a little while before we do some black rhino and mountain zebra (both endangered species) work. Early May sees us heading off to Durban for the annual Indaba tourism show, and then late May we start our vet student training courses again, and from there it is all downhill until late in the year when we breathe again momentarily.....
Watch this space for updates and any information on emergencies that come in in the meantime.