There was once a Yorkshire country vet called James Herriot who wrote a series of books.  They are regarded as classic stories,  and they created a thriving tourism industry in Yorkshire.  Dr Peter Brothers, of Grahamstown in South Africa, is busy doing something similar (although not quite literally) for the field of wildlife veterinary science in Africa.

Dr Brothers is a qualified vet who practiced in the UK but came home in 2000 to get into tourism.  After a while, though, he realised there was an opportunity to practice as a wildlife vet and to introduce tourists to this fascinating aspect of our natural heritage. African Vet Safaris are based in Grahamstown, but operate countrywide.  The business has three aspects:  firstly, Peter continues to work as a vet in game reserves; secondly his company Brothers Safaris is a straightforward tourism service offering bookings and tours; and the third aspect is a combination of the two – visitors accompany a qualified working vet on his wildlife rounds. The vet’s tours have different degrees of intensity.  Some are technical courses, aimed at veterinary professionals.  They offer hands-on field experience to the qualified or soon-to-be-qualified vet.  Other tours allow the avid wildlife enthusiast to come along as an observer, to get behind the scenes of wildlife preservation and to participate in the nuts and bolts of animal management. “Some of these activities can be scheduled,” says Dr Brothers.  “There are ongoing management tasks, such as collar-replacement, ear-notching, micro-chipping, fertility tests, collecting samples for research.  All of these are ongoing tasks for a vet, and we can either bring students as part of their training, or we can bring observers so they can take part in the experience of being very close to an animal.” But this is not animals-for-entertainment, as Dr Brothers makes clear.  “Visitors come along as students or bystanders, but before any of this happens we need to do a thorough check whether their presence is appropriate, if the client (the owner of the reserve) is happy with it, if the animal could be compromised in any way by the presence of additional people.  The money that we raise through these tours goes straight back into conservation.” “Wildlife management also benefits by additional funding.  These tours can subsidise veterinary procedures that would not take place otherwise because of the expense.  By taking paying guests, we are often able to do work to protect and preserve animals that would not be cost-effective otherwise.” Even talking to Dr Brothers gives a fascinating glimpse into a vet’s working day.  “The most common procedure is collar replacement.  Animals wear telemetry collars so that their movements can be tracked for research purposes.  The battery can run flat after about two years, so we need to locate the animal and replace its collar.   Rhinos get their ears notched for identification purposes, and we also microchip them and their horns as an anti-poaching measure.  Someone caught with rhino horn cannot always be successfully prosecuted unless we can prove which rhino it came from, so microchipping is important to prosecute poachers.  We also do routine health checks on animals, fertility tests, as well as collecting tissue samples.  It’s all part of research, building up our knowledge of animals for better management.” A typical tour consists of a game drive on arrival day, in order to set the scene and familiarise the visitors with the terrain and the atmosphere.  The second day focuses on the species that has been elected for attention, with walks, game drives and educational talks.  Subjects are covered like safety, the ethical perspectives of game management, exchanges of information.  The actual procedure is performed on the third day, carried out just as if the eager bystanders were not present.  It is made clear to these eager bystanders that, while certain liberties are allowed with a comatose animal (such as stroking the fur) the animal is not a toy or exhibit but a living thing. The programme usually includes a fourth day as a back-up, to go back to the animal to do a check-up or as a safety measure in case the procedure did not go as planned on the third day (this could be because of bad weather, or perhaps the animal being skittish or not responding well to the anaesthetic – anything which could cause the job to be abandoned).

By this time, according to Peter, the visitors are varying from speechlessness to gibbering with excitement.  “We don’t really have stories where things go wrong,” he says, ‘because we have to be so careful that things don’t go wrong and if there is the slightest danger of anything unexpected we abandon the attempt.  About the only risk is sometimes with a young rhino – we might have the mother coming along to check up on her calf!  Sometimes people get a bit light-headed while watching a procedure, sometimes we have to restrain them from doing something that might be harmful to the animal.  But these happen very seldom.” “Most people comment on the size of the animal: they have never been this close to a wild animal before and so they get a surprise when they see the size of the feet, the claws or the teeth. People are surprised by the softness of an elephant’s feet, the roughness of the lion’s tongue.  It makes them realise how complex wild animals can be, and gives them greater respect.” “Most people who come on these tours are either stunned into silence, or they are so overwhelmed that they can’t stop talking.  The feedback we get the most is that this is a life-changing experience, people become very emotional.” There are several game reserves that offer the opportunity for people to witness veterinary work, but African Vet Safaris is unique in that the tours are actually compiled and run by a qualified working vet.  It’s wildlife in action, experience on the hoof, and something, just like Herriot’s animals, that you will never forget.  Check out the website at www.brotherssafaris.com