- How can a self-governing territory in Africa where
wildlife crime is a way of life, be expected to take abandoned and
neglected wild animals seriously? To them it is a non-issue.
Intent
to help change attitudes, at the same time accomplishing concrete
conservation goals, the Namibia-based Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF)
this week announced it has put together an international partnership
between African and eastern European institutions to help the people of
Somaliland treat and care for confiscated wildlife.
Somaliland,
formerly part of Somalia, is a self-governing territory in the Horn of
Africa which declared UDI in 1991. It is a major route for trafficked
wildlife from the African interior through the Gulf of Aden to rich Arab
households in the Middle East.
The international
partnership engineered by the CCF between Vétérinaires Sans Frontières
Czech Republic (VSF-cz), USAMV Cluj-Napoca (Romania), the University of
Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno (UVPS, Czech Republic), the
University of Hargeisa and Heritage Somaliland, officially started on 01
November 2018.
USAMV and UVPS researchers signed a
partnership agreement with the two Somaliland universities in September
2018. Researchers will provide additional tuition for the students of
the Faculties of Veterinary Medicine and Human Medicine, The eastern
European researchers will also contribute to establish parasitological
diagnostic laboratories, and conduct training for teaching and
laboratory staff.
“We will initiate a new
discipline of wildlife veterinary medicine and species conservation
medicine to protect endangered mammals,” said USAMV Vice-Rector for
International Relations, Prof. Dr. Andrei Daniel Mihalca. “This will be
implemented in collaboration with UVPS and VSF-cz, with which the USAMV
has a long history of collaboration.”
This
volunteer programme is designed to improve the ability an capacity to
treat wild animals, especially those under duress after having been
confiscated from smugglers.
“Seeing the need to
improve knowledge in these areas, the partners joined forces with CCF
based on its decades of experience in caring for rescued cheetahs. The
collective knowledge and capabilities of the partner institutions will
enable students and volunteers to become immersed in wild animal care,”
the foundation stated this week when it announced the Somaliland
partnership.
“Somaliland currently lacks wildlife
medicine and husbandry specialists as there is a lack of interest in
working with wildlife. Currently we only have one caregiver o look after
the confiscated animals,” said Dr. Laurie Marker, the CCF’s Executive
Director. The caregiver, a 5th year veterinary student, is sponsored by
the VSF-cz for specialized training at a wildlife rehabilitation centre
in Jorda.
Caption: Nujuum Jimi, CCF cheetah keeper and veterinary student, receives training at Al Ma’wa for Nature and Wildlife in Jordan
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