The recent wildlife conference, jointly presented by the Faculty of Veterinary Science and the South African Veterinary Association (SAVA) Wildlife Group was an early highlight on the faculty’s calendar for 2017 and brought together a wide ranging field of expertise in wildlife from across the world.

The conference provided an international platform for researchers and veterinarians to present their knowledge and experience and to facilitate a valuable learning and networking opportunity for veterinarians and scientists with an interest in wildlife management. Attendees to the well-attended conference were welcomed by the Dean of the Faculty, Prof Darrell Abernethy, the president of the South African Veterinary Association (SAVA), Dr Johan Marais and the SAVA Wildlife Group’s Chairman, Dr Greg Simpson who also made a few introductory comments to set the tone for the beginning of an exciting conference.

The four-day conference was divided into four themes. The themes focused on rhino and elephant conservation medicine, people and wildlife, wildlife diseases and nutrition, and applied clinical practice. The event also made provision for pre-conference and post-conference workshops. Coordinated by Vetlink and sponsored by Wildlife Pharmaceuticals SA and V-Tech, the conference afforded attendees the opportunity to earn 24+ Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points. The abstracts of pre-selected oral and poster presentations representing papers, case studies and research results reviewing recent advances of interest to wildlife were published for the event.

Every theme covered a wide range of topics and experts shared their experience and research findings from studies across the world including India, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Qatar, the Kruger National Park and the rest of South Africa and Africa. The event was also utilised to hold the SAVA Wildlife Group’s annual general meeting on the third day of the conference. Faculty researchers and academics were not only well represented but formed the core of the attendees at the conference and gave them the opportunity to present their studies and findings pertaining to wildlife research and management to a global audience.

The pre-conference and post-conference workshops provided excellent opportunities to those who wanted to be out in the field, put their skills to the test or observe practical demonstrations.  Worth mentioning are the critical monitoring during chemical immobilisation workshop presented by Prof Leith Meyer which covered aspects related to critical monitoring of immobilised wildlife which included presentations, discussions and a wet lab in the field; ear notching and DNA collection of white rhino by Dr Jacques O’Dell at the Dinokeng game reserve which included a field trip to ear notch and collect DNA samples from white rhinos as part of the Dinokeng game reserve’s rhino management plan;  a workshop on carnivore immobilisation, anaesthesia and nutrition presented by Dr Adrian Tordiffe with a practical demonstration on a lion and a hyena, and the forensic necropsy workshop by Dr Johan Steyl , discussing the basic forensic principles applied to a necropsy on a wild animal during a physical demonstration. Finally, there was also the unique opportunity for a few privileged delegates who booked in advance to join an experienced game ranger in the Dinokeng game reserve to track a wild free-ranging cheetah on foot. Several cheetahs in the reserve are collared with GPS/VHF collars as part of research and management. The challenge was to find a cheetah’s recent location via GPS and then head out to the field to locate the cheetah with VHF/telemetry.