How wildlife vets play a vital role in advancing conservation

Besides treating animals that live in the wild for diseases and injuries, wildlife veterinarians such as Dr Johan Marais also assist in introducing animals to new sanctuaries and doing genetic swaps to enhance genetic diversity in provincial and national parks.

-  Dr Johan Marais

South Africa has to ramp up its conservation efforts, including in the protection of threatened and endangered species, in order to meet its international commitments by 2030 as a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Acknowledging the urgency of taking action in this regard, government recently rolled out a groundbreaking tax incentive for the conservation of threatened species. It is also in the process of amending the Threatened or Protected Species (TOPS) regulations, which will make it much easier for veterinarians to treat wild animals and assist in the conservation of vulnerable species.

“By reducing the red tape that currently hinders wildlife veterinarians, we will go far in actually increasing our efforts towards wildlife conservation,” says wildlife veterinary surgeon and South African Veterinary Council (SAVC) member Dr Johan Marais. These moves are both steps in the right direction, he acknowledges, but there is a lot more work that needs to be done.

ONLY 400 000 ELEPHANTS LEFT

The decline in African elephant populations, for example, paints a grim picture, Marais says. “A hundred years ago, there were so many elephants roaming around. Now, there are only about 400 000 left and just 0,1% are big tusker bull elephants, with only about 30 to 40 remaining,” says Marais, who has researched and written two books about these massive bull elephants.

“Finding such a bull has become quite rare. This decline is partly due to bull elephants being late breeders, peaking between 40 and 50 years. Most don’t live past 52, so their reproductive period is short. Compounding the issue, at around 38 to 40 years of age is when their tusks grow large, making them prime targets for ivory poaching, further preventing the transfer of their genes.”