Veterinary work in Zimbabwe

[Miss Z]

The finished product - rhino up and looking healthy:









The beauty of Zimbabwe...















More to follow...

[Karen]

Those are amazing photo, I know there's more to come! So cool to be able to work on the actual animals we usually only see in books and wildlife spiels! I will admit I have fed apple chunks to a rhino - but that was in San Diego, at the Wild Animal Park, and their eye sight is as bad as we have been told, I'd have the apple in me hand, and get slimed halfway up my arm in its attempt to get it!

[Miss Z]

Moving on to lion work. This was the main bulk of our work and I don't think I'll ever truly get over how awe-inspring it is to get to interact with these iconic animals. Despite there being fewer than 500 wild lions in Zimbabwe, captive lions are becoming increasingly overpopulated in parks that have often have outdated housing systems and cannot cope with a large volume of cubs, therefore compromising their welfare. Hence we set about implanting lionesses with a contraceptive device, as well as administering all of our patients with rabies vaccine and giving overall health checks and other minor treatments. Yasmin and I started out with lots of theoretical experience, but virtually no clinical skills, but by the end of the fortnight, thanks to the incredible support (and patience!) of the vets, we were working effectively entirely independently with our own lions, from darting them ourselves right through to giving the reversal drug. I still can't stop grinning when I think about it!













Some lions aren't so fierce! (although most would indeed rip your face off )






Still more coming...

[Miss Z]

Because everyone wants to put a hat on a lion



This lioness was a handful - once she was darted she proceeded to find the highest point she could and fell under up there. Fortunately she didn't fall despite the team being ready to catch her, but she did end up having to be precariously lowered down so she could be treated!




Who can resist... LION CUBS!









More coming...

[Miss Z]

Three slightly clinical pics now - scroll past them quick if you don't want to see. Nothing major, just a smidgen of blood. I just had to include them as these are evidence of the times I managed to hit veins on my own (I was rubbish to start with!!)
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Jugular - for blood sample collection





The saphenous in the hind leg - for injecting the reversal drug Yohimbine



Darting the lions - this was incredibly exciting! After hearing how much the darts themselves cost should we lose one, or should a lion eat one, I'm glad that I turned out to be a good shot





We didn't need to knock out all of the lions we were treating, so some received their rabies vaccination via pole syringe. This was a heck of a lot more difficult than it looked. Firstly the lion must be distracted from the massive, glinting pole looming in its direction, then the needle must be applied quickly and forcefully, but not so forcefully as to break the needle, and then rapidly pulled out before one very angry lion can get it first!






Once we were competent, we couldn't resist the obligatory THIS-IS-ME-WITH-A-LION type photos!




More coming!

[Miss Z]

We did see and treat a few other species, including a beautiful hornbill that had sadly lost a foot to a snare:



And a zebra that was losing condition:




And finally, we did get some time to be tourists - and what did we do with it? Spend some more time messing around with animals, of course! We spent a little down time taking an elephant ride, which was kindly given to us free of charge by one of the parks we were working at.









And that's the lot! If you have facebook, you can check out my entire album on there, although be aware that there are a few pics in there of the pangolin post mortem and other clinical procedures. I feel like I've offered a very whistle stop tour of the whole thing - like I said, once I've done my report I'll put it up to give you a better overview of the work we did and the things we saw - but in the meantime if you have any questions then don't hesitate to ask!

Hope you've all enjoyed!

[pomtzu]

What an amazing working adventure - something that I'm sure very few future vets ever get to experience. All of your pictures tell an incredible story.

When you get to be Dr Miss Z", what do you plan to specialize in, or haven't you thought that far ahead yet? My granddaughter who is your age, is going to be a DR too - only she will be a psychologist. She will be in her senior year in college in the Fall, then the next year to grad school for her Masters, then on for her PhD. You young women have so much going for you - just incredible! Congratulations on your determination and strong will, and going out and getting what is so important to you. You rock...

[cassiesmom]

These are amazing! I keep scrolling up and down to look at them over and over!

Does dehorning a rhinoceros make the rhino less vulnerable to poaching, Miss Z? Can they manage without their horns? And seeing to the over-population of lions, I wonder how long it will be until they know if these efforts are paying off and the number of lions becomes more manageable. I love big cats. And oh, those lion cubs - precious! Thank you for the kudu picture, what a beautiful creature! We had a kudu at the Brookfield Zoo for awhile as a guest from another zoo. They were restoring their facility, which gave us a chance to see and learn more about the kudu while he was there.

[Freedom]

"Trip of a Lifetime!" My jaw dropped reading the intro of what you did for the trip, then to see the photos -- AMAZING! What great experience for you and Yasmin.

Congrats on your graduation, hooray!

Can you please pm me your FB link I am not 'friends' w/ you on there and I'd love to see more photos. Wait, I will send you mine to keep things moving . . . .