This volunteer skills programme, meticulously crafted by a Wildlife Veterinarian and Wildlife Capture operator, offers an immersive experience in veterinary medicine and conservation, encompassing everything from A to Z on wildlife capture and relocation. This comprehensive programme is laser-focused on the practical aspects of capturing African wildlife.
Our goal is simple
We want every volunteer who participates in this program to leave with a profound understanding of the entire process of a wildlife capture operation, from its inception to its culmination.
Your Tasks
Upon completion of the programme, volunteers will be at the helm of a real mass capture and relocation operation. You will be responsible for a range of critical tasks, including setting up the boma, coordinating helicopter activities, executing animal captures, loading them safely, and orchestrating their delivery to our valued clients.
The programme schedule is designed to maximize learning, with lectures held in the mornings and hands-on practical sessions in the afternoons. Throughout the course, participants will cover a wide range of topics that are not only informative but also immediately applicable:
- Chemical capture and immobilization techniques
- Various dart delivery systems
- Darting procedures, telemetry tracking, and satellite collaring
- Drugs for immobilization and sedation and their safe handling
- Helicopter safety and the intricacies of darting from a helicopter
- Netgunning for wildlife capture
- Animal handling practices
- Principles behind physical and chemical capture
- Selection and setup of capture bomas
- Considerations for housing animals in bomas
- Animal transportation methods
These topics are not just theoretical; they are fundamental to the real-life mass wildlife capture operation involving Zebra and Impala, in which volunteers will play an active role.
Beyond the mass capture event, our program offers opportunities for participants to engage in other practical duties, providing valuable learning experiences. These include
- Rhino horn removal, a crucial anti-poaching method
- Unique giraffe relocation activities, owing to the animals' height
- Visits to a buffalo breeding facility, with the possibility of witnessing Bovine TB testing. This testing is essential for maintaining healthy, disease-free buffalo herds and is of significant concern in Africa.
This holistic programme ensures that volunteers gain practical knowledge and skills across a spectrum of wildlife conservation practices done in collaboration with wildlife veterinary doctors.
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