VETERINARY PROFESSIONALS
Wildlife veterinary medicine is an essential part of modern wildlife management. It combines clinical expertise with field-based practice, requiring veterinarians to work across disciplines to manage animal health, population dynamics, disease, genetics and conservation.
ProfVets gives veterinary professionals an opportunity to experience this specialised field first-hand. Join experienced wildlife veterinarians, researchers and conservation specialists as they work with some of South Africa's most iconic species and explore the complex decisions involved in managing wildlife populations and ecosystems.
The expedition brings together clinical cases, wildlife immobilisation, disease management, rehabilitation, genetics and conservation medicine. Through lectures, discussions, demonstrations and practical field experiences, participants gain insight into the role veterinary science plays in protecting individual animals while contributing to broader population and ecosystem health.
Our programmes are deliberately dynamic. Wildlife work cannot always be planned around a fixed schedule, so activities may adapt to current field conditions, wildlife needs and conservation priorities. The core learning objectives remain consistent, while the flexibility allows participants to experience genuine veterinary work as it unfolds.
Programme Components
Rhino Conservation & Veterinary Science
Elephant Management
Clinical Wildlife Medicine
Wildlife Genetics
Kruger National Park
Disease Management & One Health
Wildlife Pathology
Wildlife Immobilisation & Pharmacology
Darting & Capture Techniques
Practical Wildlife
Veterinary Work
Reproductive Conservation
Explore the role of veterinary medicine in rhino conservation and population management.
Examine elephant population dynamics, management challenges and the veterinarian's role in conservation decisions.
Explore the priorities, decision-making and practical challenges involved in treating wildlife cases in the field.
Discover how genetic management and veterinary genetics contribute to maintaining healthy and viable wildlife populations.
Examine elephant management, vegetation ecology and the relationship between habitat, population density and wildlife health.
Explore diseases shared between wildlife and livestock, as well as important zoonotic diseases in the region.
Gain insight into post-mortem examinations and necropsy procedures when opportunities arise.
Understand the pharmacology of wildlife capture drugs and the principles behind safe immobilisation.
Examine different dart guns, darts and delivery systems and, where opportunities arise, participate in actual game capture operations.
Experience the role of a veterinarian in wildlife relocation, identification, diagnostics, vaccination and the treatment of disease and injury.
Explore the conservation potential of assisted reproductive technologies, including in vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer.