Vet Mission South Africa
Rhino De-Horning Mission: South Africa (Veterinary Professionals)

 

Gain professional expertise while you use your skills to help the mission to save rhinos in South Africa.

Join us in a field training project to dehorn up to 30 white rhinos and critically endangered black rhinos in a special, once-in-a-lifetime mission to protect these animals from relentless poaching attacks for their horns.

Who It’s For

Only 10 places are available on this 7-day training project – veterinarians, vet techs, veterinary nurses, and clinical-year vet students are invited to enroll.

If you do not fit in one of these categories but have significant work experience in conservation or animal welfare and feel that this is the project for you, please contact Dr. Chloe Buiting at [email protected]. We cannot at this time make exceptions for undergraduate students or for vet students who are not in their clinical year.

Highlights

  • De-horn up to 30 white rhinos as well as critically endangered black rhinos in a special mission in South Africa
  • Participate in the darting, anesthesia, capture and anesthetic monitoring of white and black rhinos
  • Learn how to dart from a helicopter with experienced and renowned wildlife helicopter pilot Gerry McDonald
  • Work at the beautiful and world-famous Balule Game Reserve, surrounded by wildlife, on the outskirts of world-famous Kruger National Park

Dates open for Enrollment

• May 1 – 7, 2023

 

NOTE: Similar programs including dehorning and elephant collaring will be available July 16 – 23, 2023 and July 23 – 30, 2023. If you’d like to pre-deposit for one of those program dates, please contact [email protected].

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Program Fee

$4,950 USD per person not including international airfare. Your program fee pays for all the supplies, personnel, and other costs necessary to carry out this dehorning mission – thank you!

The program fee includes:

  • De-horning mission
  • All daily activities, lectures, experiences and training
  • Helicopter ride for darting practice
  • All meals 
  • Beautiful accommodation in the heartland of the South African bush
  • Airport transfers in country
  • On-site support staff
  • Certificate of support from Loop Abroad and Balule Game Reserve for your contribution to rhino conservation

Program fee does not include:

  • International airfare
  • Alcoholic beverages and snacks (beer and wine available for purchase)
  • Insurance (you are required to provide proof of medical insurance or travel medical insurance)

Please note: This is a field project that takes place in a rustic area of South Africa. Housing is limited. Participants will be housed with other participants of the same gender in rooms of three beds; single supplements are not available. If you are enrolling with a friend or partner and would like to room together, please advise and we will do our best to accommodate.

No discounts are available for or applicable to this program.

COVID and Safety

All participants will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19. All participants will adhere to the Loop Abroad COVID policy which includes providing a negative COVID test within 2-3 days prior to travel. If a program is canceled by Loop Abroad due to COVID-19, we offer a full refund of all tuition paid, including the deposit.

How to Enroll

Click “Apply Now”, fill out the form, and pay the $1000 program deposit. Your spot will be held immediately.

Veterinarians, vet techs, veterinary nurses, and clinical year vet students may directly enroll. Others interested in participating may email [email protected]. We cannot admit undergraduate students or vet students who are not in their clinical year to this program.

Please note that this is an active, outdoor program that requires participants to be able to walk outdoors, get safely in and out of vehicles, and be safely able to participate in working with animals outdoors for a full day.

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Locations

Program Airport: Hoedspruit Airport

Accommodation:

You will have exclusive lodging in chalets at Lazy Lamb Tented Camp, which is just outside Kruger National Park. “Tents” are safari-lodge-style tents with beds, windows, and a deck.

Room description:

Each chalet can host 2 – 3 people, which you will be sharing with a participant of the same gender. You may request specific roommates if traveling together. Bed sizes vary from twin bed to king bed and will be randomly assigned.

The chalets are all equipped with electricity. Central shared facilities include hot showers, toilets, kitchen and dining area, and a small swimming pool.

 

NB: All participants must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and will be asked to provide a negative COVID test before arrival.

Itinerary

Project Itinerary

The days on the reserve will be long and generally start early in the morning. Days will include multiple immobilisations and dehorning procedures as well as hands-on field work with the veterinary and conservation team with whom you’ll work daily.

You’ll receive training in darting practicals, including an opportunity for you to practice from the helicopter.

 

Your participation will not only provide you with intensive hands-on experience, but you will also learn first-hand techniques in darting, immobilization, capture, anesthesia monitoring, dehorning and other topics related to rhino medicine and conservation – all in the heartland of African wildlife conservation.

 In our theoretical classes, we will also explore the complex topics around poaching, including what factors are driving the demand for rhino horn and the challenges we face in addressing and controlling these. We will also examine the current projects involved in the protection of the species – including ways in which you can become involved yourself.

 

Program Itinerary

DateActivity
May 1, 2023Arrival and transport to Reserve

Welcome dinner

May 2, 2023Dehorning project
May 3, 2023Dehorning project
May 4, 2023Dehorning project
May 5, 2023Dehorning project
May 6, 2023Helicopter Darting

Game Drive/Safari

May 7, 2023Transfer to airport

Departure

Exact itinerary subject to change.

 

Lecture series:

Delivered by a range of wildlife veterinarians, conservations and experts in their field, including Dr Joel Alves and renowned conservation helicopter pilot, Geri McDonald

  • Introduction to conservation of white and black rhino in South Africa: history of rhino poaching, factors driving demand for rhino horn, and conservation tools and anti-poaching efforts
  • Immobilization of white and black rhino: Anesthesia of wild herbivores, pharmacology of drugs used in wildlife capture, capture principles and techniques, and anesthetic monitoring and species-specific considerations
  • Darting systems, including helicopter darting
  • Management of wildlife in Africa
  • Emergency response to a poaching event