Liana's Africa Trip With Global Vets
My name is Liana Thorstenson and I am a 2nd year veterinary student at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I have been given an amazing opportunity this summer (May - June 2017) to volunteer with Global Vets in Africa. I will be working with two incredible organizations: Zanzibar Animals Affection Society (ZAASO) in Tanzania and Champion Wildlife in South Africa.
ZAASO is a wonderful non-profit organization that strives to promote animal welfare and educate about animal rights. I will get to help the local veterinarians rescue, adopt, care for and provide medical treatment to animals in need. I will also have the opportunity to volunteer at their Saturday Community Clinic and help provide medical treatment including free dip-washing and rabies vaccines for dogs and cats. I will also be lucky enough to assist the vets on their house-calls and the Donkey Clinic, where we will travel to neighbouring areas to give medical attention to working donkeys. Amazing animal care and education is provided at ZAASO and I am thrilled to get the chance to be a part of it.
Champion Wildlife is a group of 3 veterinarians dedicated to animal welfare, wildlife management and conservation. They do very fulfilling and worthwhile work including: wildlife capture and translocation, breeding programs, wildlife medical treatment, disease testing & surveillance, rhino dehorning & collaring,
predator management and more. In my time there I hope to be able to help them in their day-to-day operations which may potentially include:
--> Ground and helicopter chemical immobilisation of a variety of wildlife species such as rhino, buffalo, sable, roan, other plains game and predators
-->Diagnostics, surgery and treatment of various conditions found in wildlife
--->Blood sampling and laboratory work
--->Necropsies and disease control
-->And of course gaining invaluable mentorship and knowledge in wildlife conservation and philosophy
For more information on these organizations please see links below:
ZAASO: http://www.zaaso.net
Champion Wildlife: http://championwildlife.com
Please consider donating! Your support would mean so much to me. Not only is this a once in a lifetime opportunity, but I truly feel the work I would be doing in Africa can make a difference as well as give me invaluable tools that I can use to make a difference in my community when I return home to Canada. Any financial assistance you might be able to offer would be appreciated more than you can imagine.