Eilish Conners, a 19-year-old resident of Iroquois, is off on the journey of a life time at the end of May.
The pre-med student, who has just completed her second year in animal sciences at Dalhousie University, will be joining a team of 13 other veterinary students on a three week course at the East Cape of South Africa.
They will be part of the African Wildlife Ecology project, a new course that has been established at the University.
Headed up by Dalhousie Faculty of Agriculture professor, Dr. Janine Gray, and University of Rhodes professor of Zoology and Entomology, Dr. Dan Parker, the AWE program exposes Canadian students to the efforts in Africa to preserve and maintain unique animal species.
A key focus of the 2016 program is the survival of the white rhino. The white rhino has been placed on the Near Threatened List in Conservation Tables. As of 2015, about 20,000 of the species still exist in the wild.
Following her graduation from St. George’s Catholic School in Long Sault, Eilish’s love of animals took her to the veterinary course at Dalhousie, and her interest in preserving animals led her to the AWE project.
“The Africa Wildlife Ecology project was offered as an elective in my animal sciences course of study,” Eilish Conners explained.
She was immediately interested in the educational possibilities after attending a presentation made by the AWE instructors.
“When I applied to the project, it was because I had been looking for an area of animal sciences to concentrate on,” she said. “I realized that I had never really explored wildlife medicine. This program seemed an opportunity to experience something really new and unusual.”
Following written applications, and a personal interview and screening, Eilish learned that she would be one of the 13 students going to Africa.
“Ever since I was little, I have been around animals. My parents (who live in Iroquois) tell me I was good with animals, and confident around them from a very young age,” she explained.
“My grandparents in Mountain kept cows and chickens, and I developed a real interest in farm animals, particularly horses. Although,” she added with a laugh, “I still have a soft spot for cows.”
Following graduation with a Bachelor of Animal Sciences and three or four years in Veterinarian studies, Eilish is hoping to specialize in large animal practice, perhaps locally, one day.
Living in a tented camp and working on the Amakhala Preserve, which is reached by aircraft from Johannesburg, will give her a unique perspective on efforts to save wildlife.
“We will be studying conservation of the white rhinos, and the projects to manage their population,” Eilish said.
The students will attend lectures and hear speakers directly involved in wildlife conservation. They will also be out in the field learning techniques of live rodent trapping and bird netting as well as doing an ungulate count, checking on the antelope population.
“If the rodent population is healthy and stable, it means that the smaller predators are too,” Eilish said. “If the antelope are healthy, so are the big predators. It means the whole food chain is healthy and that’s good.”
She is hoping there will be opportunities to work directly with the vets handling the white rhinos, “although they are definitely bigger than horses and cows,” she laughed.
She feels that projects like the African Wildlife Ecology program are important and valuable.
“Here in Canada, we also have animals in danger of extinction,” Eilish said. “We can learn from conservation programs in other countries, study how they are trying to save their animals. We can bring back possibly new ideas about how to save species in our own country.
And we need to train the next generation, open their minds to other cultures and other ways of doing things in caring for the planet’s animals.”
Eilish Conners of Dalhousie University leaves the end of May for East Africa, returning mid June from the Amakhala Preserve.
Hopefully, she will have a wonderful educational adventure to share.
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