This weeks adventure

The adventures of the week end behind me, it was back to buffalo on Monday morning. Becky joined me, despite he cold which is making her feel lousy, and we darted eight animals ranging in aged form 12 weeks to about 12 years. All went well although the last cow did break through the fence of the camp they were in and make loading very tough for the team – luckily she was well drugged by then and did not go far. The animals were being sold and went off in the truck after 3 darting and retrieving sessions.


Tuesday the action continues with some waterbuck being darted form the air first thing. They are being moved onto a nearby game farm and I hope all goes well – they are notorious for running and running after darting, but I ma using one of the newer drugs available and it seems to be working better. Later on Tuesday we have two guests arriving and I will be spending until Friday with them. Alan and Jane are American and reside in Netherlands Antilles and our four days will be spent focusing on rhino – their ecology, conservation aspects and the role that veterinarians play in all this. It promises to be a fun educational week, culminating in some work with rhino that we need to dart for various procedures…. I’ll keep you updated.

Another day in paradise

30 October 2010
As you gathered, it was an amazingly scenic flight up the Wild Coast on Friday. On arrival we went straight to work and after loading darts we set out looking for our patients. Spotting a single animal in a herd, with a tracking collar around its neck sounds easier than it is! We got lucky with a zebra and managed to dart it first time, but it had other plans….it kept running and would not slow down, until my worst fears came true – the only thing that was going to stop it was a physical obstacle and that came in the form of a stream. In its intoxicated state, the zebra misjudged the jump and landed on the far bank! I feared for the worst but after the reversal the zebra was just lame on the right front leg, which I could not examine because it was lying on it and I could not move it in that position, so it seemed better than expected. Although I did not see it again the next day, I believe it had a good chance of making a full recovery and hope it did since there was nothing more I could do for it.


Head winds and fuel shortages forced us to stay in a town called Margate for the night, after refuelling at the local airport – not what we had planned! After the noise of a “small city” overnight, we were on our way back to the reserve at 5.30 am on Saturday.
Winds picked up but we found the large eland herd with two collared females near a massive cliff, which is home to a vulture colony. Dodging vultures and fighting sudden downwinds, we decided to drop one of the team to make the helicopter lighter, and proceeded to dart two eland and remove their collars. It was not all plain sailing with the herd running into an area about 50m wide – flanked by a boundary fence on one side, and a sheer cliff on the other….not the time to be pushing the animals too hard…… I think our pilot, Marius, gained some grey hairs as he dodged vultures, fought the winds and tried to fulfil my requests for darting form the back seat….. With our fuel running low we finally found the red hartebeest too. Jan was dropped once again and after some pushing, the female we wanted split onto her own, but she was not slowing down or giving us a shot….. The wind pumping and the red hartebeest galloping left and right at high speed, I was unable to get a shot, and then we were low on fuel again. Off the pilot went with Jan to refuel in Margate, again. On their return they decided it was too dangerous to keep trying in the increasing wind with the weight of the fuel, chasing a nippy red hartebeest, so we packed up and headed home.
Three out of four collars retrieved was not too bad, I just wish we could have finished the job, but one thing we cannot control is the weather, and safety comes first.

All in all an amazing trip not to be forgotten and some video is sure to follow. You wanna see it?

Working in paradise

Dr Brothers flew to a remote game reserve along South Africa’s wild coast this morning to do some work. He has never been to this reserve personally, but believes it is stunningly beautiful with waterfalls that cascade into the ocean…It promises to be a scenic flight! He will be darting several antelope to remove tracking collars that have been collecting data as part of a research program. They landed in East London and  refuelled and are on their way again, the adventure continues... The scenery is magnificent according to Dr Brothers, who will post some video in due course.To make things even better, they are stopping on route to check some marine areas for the ecologist he is doing the work for. What a trip, and they haven’t even started darting!!

Big Cat Safari - 26 September - 4 October 2010 by Jackie and Colin Morris

Wednesday 29th September – Woke at 4.30am for a 5 am breakfast. Cool wind blowing but mostly fine weather. A group of 7 Australians was driven into the reserve and found the location of the lioness we wanted using telemetry and the help of other trackers. Dr Peter Brothers prepared his drugs for the dart gun and a kill was set up to lure the lions out of the scrub so he could get a clear shot at her. Well that took some time having to sit perfectly still and quiet but finally the chance came and she was darted. Of course, she took off into the denser scrub but we found her. Once the cars were in position, Peter and his helpers jumped out to pick up the lioness but we were told not to look at them. Why not, I thought, until Peter says we have to keep a lookout for her sister, her cubs or the male lion to come out of the scrub to help her. But you could only see a metre or two through the bush! Thank goodness we were in the safety of the vehicle. All being well, we drove down the track to a clearing where we could work on her in relative safety. It was a well-oiled operation where Peter got to work replacing her collar and inserting a contraceptive device while we had smaller jobs to do like monitoring her pulse, breathing and body temperature. One of our group was a veterinary nurse so she helped take blood samples. After many photos, an antidote was given and while we watched from a distance, she got up groggily and wobbled into the bush back to her friends. I felt like I’d done a day’s work but it was only 1.30pm and time for lunch. The experience gave all of us a deeper understanding and appreciation for the work wildlife vets do and Peter’s title respectfully grew from the “driver/tour leader” to “the vet”. Overall an immensely exciting and humbling experience putting into perspective our normally humdrum lives.

Thank you Jackie and Colin for your blog and for joining Brothers Safaris on The Big Cat Safari.

Paterson Spay

Dr Debra Nossman & Rebecca Wood, VN

As you may remember in October 2009 Brothers Safaris was approached by the SPCA in Grahamstown to assist with a neutering campaign in our local community, Paterson here in the Eastern Cape, the spay day is part of an on going community project where there is a desperate need for help at all levels. Well this year on 17 September we helped with another neutering campaign in Paterson. This year we had the help of 8 vets from Arizona, USA. they gave their time and expertise for free! We used the community hall as our make shift reception area/prep area/theatre/recovery/kennels and dining room! We neutered 86 animals, so this will make a very small dent in the massively overpopulated Paterson!

Our local paper, The Grocotts Mail joined us for the day, please take a look at the article by following this link - Cats & Dogs get treated in Paterson.


Dr Peter Brothers in action, a mucher smaller patient than he is used too.....

 Brothers Safaris would just like to thank all the people for the donations, time and help but a massive thank you goes to all the vets from Arizona that made this day possible, thank you for giving up a day of your holiday to help this much needed campaign!

My 1st African Vet Safaris experience…. And it beats my office job for sure!!!!

The job at hand was to relocate a Giraffe I have never seen Dr Brothers in the “wild”,

WOW!!! I really was not ready for the adventure that awaited. Everyone was told where they needed to be and what they needed to be doing. I went with one of the rangers and the ground crew. We saw the herd of giraffe, which in itself is an awesome experience. They were so tall and graceful in the distance. Dr Brothers let everyone know which was the animal that we

needed to be move. Dr Brothers darted the animal in a clearing, which would have been perfect. Unfortunately the giraffe had not read the manual on where to fall asleep & moved into a thicket, where he went down. With swift precision everyone went in to do what was required, even a bit of bush clearing was required to gain access to where the giraffe was lying.

The giraffe knockdown medication was reversed immediately & all the ropes had been secured, everyone was moving, doing what they had been instructed to do. Dr Brothers was constantly monitoring everything that was being done making sure that safety came first for both the helpers and the giraffe.

The giraffe stood up and it was time for him to be guided into the trailer, which should have been a fairly uncomplicated procedure, but alas our adventure was just beginning! Not only had the giraffe not read the manual but his GPS was also not working and as hard as everyone worked to guide the giraffe onto the trailer, he just would not go on. It was then that we realised that the one ear plug had come out, add to this that we are working in a smaller space than usual and you have yourself a complicated procedure.

Dr Brothers was like the puppet master and we were like the puppets, following his every instruction, but despite best efforts we could not get our friend loaded. Rebecca Wood the veterinary nurse also seemed to know just what to do at the right time, and the two of them worked together like a well oiled machine, making sure that all went well.

The saying goes stubborn as a mule, well I don’t think they had ever met this giraffe.

After quite a lengthy period of time and failed attempts at getting him loaded in the trailer,

Dr Brothers made a decision to call off the procedure, as he was worried that the giraffe would get too stressed and this could be potentially fatal.

Once all the ropes and blindfold were taken off he was released, and went off to find the herd.

We might not have accomplished what we set out to do, but it really was a great adventure and it made me realise how precious our wildlife is, and just how important the work is that Brothers Safaris does.

Brothers Safaris supports rhino day.

Rhino's do not have a voice - so use yours! We are definitely using ours, to show support for these precious creatures! What people are doing to these animals is shocking, sad and so disappointing - especially that we as humans should be protecting these animals. Brothers Safaris are definitely showing its support for World Rhino day.



For more information or to show your support go to: http://www.rhinoconservation.org/2010/09/21/join-together-for-world-rhino-day-september-22/

Advanced Wildlife Immobilisation & Conservation Course - Another beautiful day in South Africa...

August 2, 2010


The sun rises over the beautiful African plains, sending rays of warmth through the window of our little home away from home. A beautiful horizontal rainbow coats the horizon as the chilly winter night surrenders to the warm day ahead. I look over at my bunkmate and smile. It’s another beautiful day in South Africa!

I reflect for a bit on why I came to this country as I get dressed and start to pack my bag for the day ahead. I had heard about this amazing program from one of my veterinary professors at Virginia Tech, back in the USA. They knew about my interest in South Africa and African animals and encouraged me to see if there were any spots left. Now, two years later, I’ve once again returned to this country wanting to learn even more about the wildlife and how to treat them.

Dr. Peter Brothers, our veterinary guide for the trip, meets us for breakfast and we chat for a bit about the day ahead. We’re driving to the beautiful Mattanu reserve near Kimberly (http://www.mattanu.com/) to spend the rest of our stay, and we’re going to be doing some buffalo work in the afternoon. The six girls suddenly gang up on him, begging to be taken shopping in Kimberly and to see the sights. It’s not often that we get time to go shopping in town, since we have a very tightly packed schedule on these trips, so us girls will take the opportunity when one arises!

After a lovely morning of sight-seeing, we arrived at the reserve and are greeted with brilliant luxury! After a warm meal in the beautiful lodge, we begin the prep for buffalo capture. Dr. Brothers begins to fire questions at us, and we all try and remember what we’ve studied and learned on the trip last year. What drugs do we use to treat them? What problems do we often see with Cape Buffalo recovery? Why should they be kept sternal? My brain flies through the drug combinations, trying to remember everything I’ve learned. I’ve only got two years of veterinary school under my belt, but I don’t feel at a disadvantage at all, thanks to Dr. Brother’s patience and wonderful teaching skills. It’s not many vet students who can say that their first subcutaneous injection was on a cheetah, or their first blood draw was from a zebra.

We prepare to load the car when Dr. Brothers tells us that one lucky person gets to ride in the helicopter today and see the darting from the air. The girls look at me and smile. “It’s your turn, Sylvia,” they say. My heart begins to flutter as I walk over and the pilot goes over the safety aspects of flying in a helicopter. Soon we’re off the ground, flying high over the park, watching the animals run below us like herds of insects. We finally spot the buffalo we’re looking for, and SNAP! The gun goes off and the dart is in. The pilot begins to herd the other animals away from the darted one, who is quickly beginning to lag. Suddenly he’s on the ground, and the pilot looks for a safe place to land. We land, and I run over to the animal to help my classmates with monitoring the patient.

He’s a big Buffalo bull, and it takes about 15 strong men to get him sternal. Right away we check temperature and breathing. Finding them stable and in a good range, we begin loading him into the trailer. Piling in, we continue monitoring as the tractor and trailer full of people and one sleepy buffalo rush to the next one that’s been darted. The procedure repeats, and one more drowsy bull is added to the trailer. I’m forced to position myself between the head of the massive animals, knowing that there is a good chance that they could wake up and suddenly come forward at me. But that’s part of the risk of veterinary medicine, and the part of the job that I enjoy the most. As we bump over the savanna, I keep a hand near the nose, watching for any change in breathing to signal the animal is failing, or even worse – waking.

After what seems like hours, we finally reach the site of the bull’s new home. A quick reversal and a rush to the vehicles, and the two buffalos begin to wake. As we drive home, we congratulate ourselves on working as a team and getting the job done safely and efficiently. That night, we go over the case outside by the pool, watching the sun set across the African plains. Just another beautiful day in South Africa!

Sylvia Grove
Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine
Advanced Wildlife Immobilisation & Conservation Course - 25 July - 7 August 2010

Brothers Safaris Updates: Our last few days in South Africa on the Wildlife Immobilisation & Conservation Course, 8 July.

We have had a great couple of days darting animals. Yesterday, we had the privilege of working with young black rhinos. After each rhino was immobilized, we helped monitor, draw blood, and ear notch them. While we were busy with one of the youngsters, the mother decided to come back for her baby. Someone warned us to run, and everyone rushed back and quickly jumped into the vehicle. Once we were there, we realized we had actually been running toward the mother and now were in between her and her baby. The guys were able to chase her away long enough for us to finish up treatments, and they were happily reunited a few minutes later. It was a great adrenaline rush!!

Today, we had a rough start with strong winds and very lively wildebeest bulls that were doing everything they could to stay away from the truck. Eventually our luck got a little better, and we were able to immobilize several bulls and relocate them to a holding facility. It ended up being a great last day as we watched the sun set one final time.

Grace Kell (University of Tennessee, U.S.A.) and the students on the Wildlife Immobilisation and Conservation Course - 8 23 July 2010

So what does it take to be a wildlife vet, part 2.....

After my introduction, where to start next….? Maybe I should point out that generally a wildlife vet works with lions, tigers and bears (despite two of these three not being indigenous to SA…) whereas an “exotics” (note the “s”!) vet works with valuable birds (of the feathered variety), caged/pet reptiles, spiders, caged primates, etc.
If you work in a zoo you will be exposed to all of the above, and a whole lot more! I have helped out at one of our largest zoos in the country and found it immensely interesting, but also somewhat sad and frustrating in other ways – some animals just do not belong in zoos and money is not an excuse to keep animals in poor conditions, rather release them back in their natural environment and country if conditions cannot be rectified.
Anyway, these days I mostly work with various antelope species, especially the rare ones (sable, roan, etc) and colour variants (golden gnu, black impala, etc), rhino (white and black), predators (lion and cheetah mostly), elephant, disease free (this is a discussion on its own!) buffalo and various others such as giraffe (they like to die on you, so you don’t always rush at a job involving them!). Please bare in mind this is in South Africa and that our situation and conditions are very different from other African, and even Southern African, countries. Here everything is fenced in at some stage – maybe after 250 hectares, maybe after 2.5 million hectares – which has pro’s and cons, but it certainly has a large impact on us as vets and the work we do. I would say without doubt that it increases the veterinary work load greatly and creates work opportunities that would not otherwise exist. But fences are another discussion, not entirely in the realm of what I am supposed to be sharing with you, so let me move on before I get side-tracked, which I easily do.
The veterinarian’s role almost always almost always involves chemical immobilisation (not anaesthesia, there are some important technical differences which one needs to bare in mind if you want to live a long life while doing this job….) of the animal firstly.
If the animal is just being relocated then you need to get it into the truck or crated enclosure, alive preferably, and then revive it by giving the antidote. Now some of these antidotes given intravenously work very fast, – as in 30 – 90 seconds fast – so it is important that you get out of the truck or crate enclosure rather smartly after administering the antidote. More on darting and immobilisation in the next part…..
Wild African Regards,

Our 1st week on the Wildlife Immobilisation & Conservation Course, 8 July - 23 July 2010 PART 1!

Today we spent time at Addo Elephant National Park. What an AMAZING place!! We were able to spend some time with the Conservation Manager of the park John, and learned about the conservation and management of the reserve. It was great to hear about his work and the history of the park. We enjoyed a dribe through the reserve and were able to view many species of animals including Elephant, Kudu, Warthog, Yellow mongoose, jackal and even the elusive Dung Beetle! What a beautiful park!

After returning back to Amakhala Game Reserve we were treated to an evening river cruise and enjoyed the peace and tranquility of South AFrica at its finest!

We are currently enjoying a quiet evening around the fire and anxiously awaiting the adventures that tomorrow holds including an early morning game drive (hopefully including the Africa Lions......)

Beth Kaiser (IOWA State University, USA) & the rest of the students on the Wildlife Immobilisation & Conservation Course, 14 July 2010

So what does it take to be a wildlife vet-part1

I imagine images of James Herriot flash through many of your minds (for those of you who haven't read his books and have an interest in animals and the adventures one encounters while caring for them, you should find one and read it), and in some ways you wouldn't be far off - what with perilously hanging out of a helicopter trying to dart a fast moving zig-zag blur of fur and horns, to having to break a hasty retreat from a not-so-sedated charging rhino! There are certainly adventures a plenty...

But the truth is you do not have to be a "special" vet to start off in wildlife, in the academic sense that is, but as a person you do need to be very determined and a little daft...

I started off my veterinary career in the UK after completing my studies at Onderstepoort, here in South Africa. During my 5 and a half years in the UK I treated everything from cats and dogs to cattle, sheep, pigs, rabbits, snakes and spiders, and ostriches in Wales(they play some rough rugby there!). But my heart was always in wildlife and when I returned to South Africa I was determined to work in the wildlife field as a vet, but not just relocating animals - I wanted to still practice veterinary science. Not an easy ambition.

African Vet Safaris

To cut a very long story short(a 7 year story in fact), I now own and run a specialist safari business as well as practising as a wildlife veterinarian. The safari business(http://www.brothressafaris.com/) offers guests(lay persons and veterinary affiliated persons) the opportunity or join me on select wildlife procedures as a vet. Guests are often hands on and totally behind the scenes, giving them rare insight into the world of wildlife in South Africa. Through their participation guests fund most of the work they are privy too, thus supporting wildlife conservation. This enables us to select and work with certain projects and organisations that need the veterinary and financial support, as well as still working with private game reserves and owners. A large part of my business is training foreign(mostly) vets, vet students and vet nurses in the art(for it often in an 'art' rather than an exact science...remember this as you follow this blog) of wildlife immobilisation, and also about conservation issues.

Somewhere in between all this I still work as a wildlife bet responding to calls, emergencies and routine work for individuals and game reserves. The trick is to find family time for Becky my significant other, William - our gorgeous lively 3 year old son, and 'Shot'-the not-so-young daft but adorable white Bull Terrier. Vet call outs thus often become family affairs.

So now you have a fair idea of how crazy you need to be if you want to be a wildlife vet. Of course not all wildlife vets have this much going on-they simply work 12-18hour days as vets from April to October, and then try catch up on the rest of their lives from November to March.

Oh yes, I also managed to recently complete a Masters Degree in Veterinary Tropical Diseases of Wildlife. Fortunately it was a web based degree so I could squeeze it on somewhere between midnight and two am when i find myself at a loss for things to do...

So now you know all that, I guess you want to know what I actually do as a vet?

Well then watch this space....

Wild African Regards,
Dr Peter S. Brothers
Wildlife Vet & Director Brothers Safaris/African Vet Safaris

New course starting 8 July 2010

Tomorrow our 2nd Wildlife Immobilisation & Conservation Course students arrive, we have students from Denmark, the USA & Belgium. We are all very excited and nearly ready!!
To see the course that will be running open the link below and see the adventure that awaits our
students.
http://www.brotherssafaris.com/index.php/Specialist-Veterinary-Safaris/wildlife-immobilisation-a-conservation-course.html

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.