“I’d go to Africa again in a minute,” said Dalhousie student, Eilish Conners. “I am absolutely ready to go again. I loved the whole experience.”
From late May to mid June, 2016, Eilish, who has recently completed her second year in animal science at Dalhousie University, spent three weeks in South Africa taking part in an experiment in veterinary medicine. She joined 13 other students on a course jointly sponsored by Dalhousie and Rhodes University’s Wildlife and Reserve Management Research Group.
In an interview with the Leader (May 18) Eilish described the African Wildlife Ecology project as a way to expose Canadian students to efforts in Africa to preserve and maintain unique animal species. One key component of the study would be the endangered white rhino.
Eilish said she was originally attracted to the course, headed up by Drs. Janine Gray and Dan Parker, because the “program seemed an opportunity to experience something really new and unusual.”
What she didn’t expect, perhaps, was to fall in love with the animals, the work and the country.
The journey to South Africa was a long one for the 13 students and two teachers from Dalhousie: nearly 20 hours in the air, not including long layovers. The veterinary students travelled to Woodbury Tented Camp, on the Amakhala Game Preserve, where they lived and worked for several days.
The students lived three to a tent, but in fairly “comfortable conditions.”
The camp was catered although the food was a bit unusual for someone raised in Iroquois. “Lots of lamb, which I grew to enjoy,” Eilish said. “We also had ostrich and fresh kudu (a kind of antelope). Kudu is especially delicious so I would definitely recommend kudu steaks,” she added, laughing.
She was very impressed with her teachers and the many learning opportunities.
Dr. Dan Parker of Rhodes University brought in guest lecturers. “They taught us about different research methods, about traps for reptiles and birds: Dr. William Fowldes talked to us about jungle medicine.
In Africa, nature is generally allowed to take its course, where we in Canada maintain a pet’s health as long as possible.”
For Eilish, as for most of the students, the most demanding, and most thrilling work was hands on with White Rhinos. The victims of brutal poaching, the rhinos are considered highly endangered. If they are not protected, they could join too many other African animals on the extinction list.
“Dr. Fowldes told us that everyone should have the chance to touch a living dinosaur,” Eilish said. “Our rhinos were darted by helicopter, a very cool experience, and when they went down, we went in to monitor the state of their health and check their vitals.
I touched that ‘living dinosaur,’” she said. “His skin really was very, very different from any animal I have ever touched before. It was amazing.”
Each student in the course was required to do a personal research project, and to make a presentation.
Eilish’s project was Trap Preference in Small Mammals.
“These small mammals (a lot of early morning trap checking!) are the best indicators of a region’s environmental health,” she explained. If the small animals are healthy and plentiful, this secures the entire food chain.
At school in Canada she had really only done lab work.
“To do an actual research project, one on one with the teachers, when you are only second year, was a big undertaking for me, but very beneficial.”
She feels she has found new skills to apply to her future in animal medicine.
“I came home with the realization that I actually loved research. I still lean towards working with large domestic animals, but this African trip has opened my mind to other possibilities in Canadian wildlife research.”
Eilish is convinced that there are many benefits to have Canadian students living and working in Africa. “South African conservation is more advanced than ours” she said. “We must learn from them, and explore different ways to incorporate new ideas into our own conservation ways. We have to pass these ideas on to the next generation.”
Eilish talked about the vivid sunrises and sunsets over the African landscape, about the elephants and monkeys and predators who wandered freely around the university camp.
“Sometimes it all felt unreal,” she said, “as if I was in a movie. But these were animals living and acting in the wild.”
Her favourite animal of them all?
“The warthog,” she laughed. “When they run, their tails automatically go up. I saw them as cute. And their abundant numbers make them a good meat source for poorer people.”
Eilish Conners has no doubts about her future. “I’m even more determined to work with animals. I am determined to be a vet.”
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