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Credit : Lidia Steczek
After attending this congress I decided to get more involved in my local chapter. I was blown away by the different areas that IVSA South Africa was (and still are) involved with.
In December last year, IVSA South Africa had the honour of hosting the 66th IVSA Symposium brought to you by Ascendis Animal Health at Onderstepoort. The entire event was organised by 20 incredibly motivated veterinary students who put in hours of work to make the event a reality. The theme of the symposium was “The BIG FIVE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE”. The program focussed on the five main areas of importance in the veterinary field, namely: wildlife, equines, production animals, small animals and humans. The aim was to showcase the diversity of the veterinary field in South Africa and abroad.
We kicked off the program with some incredible wildlife excursions to places such as Adventures with Elephants, Lory Park Animal and Owl Sanctuary, Loebies Predator park and Bambelela monkey rehabilitation centre. From there we took them on a three-day safari experience to Sondela Nature reserve. Here we talked about conservation and the current wildlife situation in South Africa. This included lectures by Dr Richard Burrows, Drs C & S Steyn and Dr Tordiffe, who are all lecturers at Onderstepoort as well as Richard Sowry from the South African National Parks. Our aim with these lectures was to give the delegates a better understanding of the wildlife industry in South Africa and to help them understand the issues that we as South African veterinarians are faced with on a daily basis. We also took the delegates on a tour through Sondela Nature Reserve’s Wildlife Centre where the staff shared with us the story of how they are involved in wildlife conservation of African and exotic animals (Sondela.com).