Letter
from the chairman
Dear Colleagues,
It was great to see so many of you at the congress and AGM. To those of you not there: sorry, you were missed.
Well done to Vetlink, our very welcome sponsors, the speakers and a big thank you to Onderstepoort for the venue.
We had a great line up of speakers from an infectious disease expert educating us on the various diseases that could
cause us morbidity to an interesting case study of Brucellosis in a sable antelope.
The amount of raptors poisoned either for their heads or to stop them informing the rangers of a poached carcass is
very distressing. In a few years some of our common vulture species may disappear from the wild. We must where
we can do our bit for all threatened animals out there. Spread the word and try to set an example with our caring
profession.
As wildlife vets we have our own challenges with unreliability of immobilisation drugs, changing or challenging
legislation and policies and a growing demand for our services. We are going through a growth phase, which always
has its challenges. It seems to be the tradition in such a report to quote the words from someone wiser than
yourself. Some words of encouragement by Epicurus.
“The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it” We have a motivated committee that are tacking the
problems we all face. A number of pressing issues were raised at the AGM. Please feel free to contact us with your
suggestions. We will update you as progress is made. We have a shiny revamped and information packed website
http://www.vets4wildlife.co.za/ .
Please make sure your website registration is up to date. The proceedings from the congress are on the website.
There is CPD article inside, please use it to educate yourself. On the matter of education, here is a riddle for 0 CPD
points. You are on a horse, galloping at a constant speed. On your right side is sharp drop off, and on your left side
is an elephant traveling at the same speed as you. Directly in front of you is a galloping kangaroo and your horse is
unable to overtake it. Behind you is a lion running at the same speed as you and the Kangaroo. What must you do to
safely get out of this highly dangerous situation? Get your drunk behind off the merry-go-round!
We wish you a productive and rewarding capture season. If you are not capturing enjoy the benefits of an
airconditioned office.
All the best
Greg
2016
MARCH
3