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It has been a long time since we sent you any news, and I trust this finds you well wherever in the world you find yourself!
The reason for our silence and lack of communication in many aspects has been due to a dilemma we have been faced with since June 2010. Please allow me to explain.
As many of you will know there has been a massive increase in poaching of rhino in South Africa over the past 3-4 years. Last year this took a very sad and bizarre twist when several Veterinarians were implicated in being involved in the illicit trade in rhino horn – not necessarily poaching (it is illegal to sell horn derived from dead animals/dehorned animals). Their cases are still pending but needless to say, whether they will be found guilty or not, this was (and still is) very bad publicity for the Veterinary profession. In addition it made the veterinary authorities that control our profession very jumpy, including the South African Vet Council (SAVC – our legal regulatory body). At the time there was already ongoing discussion about declaring a practice known as Green Hunting unethical – this is where a hunter darts an animal, under the supervision of a veterinarian, rather than shoot it, and then has his photo taken with it once immobilised. There is supposed to be a valid veterinary/conservation reason for the immobilisation, but the practice was being abused and what started off as a good idea with good intentions, was indeed becoming an unethical procedure. The nett result was that this practice (Green Hunting) was in fact declared unethical by the SAVC. The poaching and this decision pretty much co-incided with each other, and unfortunately they threw “Veterinary Safaris” in with this decision too.
On enquiry I was able to confirm that the SAVC in fact did not know or understand what a Veterinary Safari entailed, and considered it the same as a Green Hunt. They also acknowledged that the matter has never been discussed with the profession, despite their initial claim that it had been. At no point were the SAVC able to present any accurate claim, evidence or argument to show that there is anything wrong with the concept of an African Vet Safari, or the way we run them.
After much arguing, going backwards and forwards, lawyers and sleepless nights for me, we were invited to a meeting with an ad-hoc investigation committee of the SAVC on 25 March 2011. Yes, 9 months later, thanks to our persistence! The committee was made up of very high profile veterinarians (including a past President of the SAVC and well known high profile South African wildlife vets) and after several hours, we were given permission to resume our business as normal. The committee will still present their findings and recommendations to the full SAVC for a final decision, but we expect they will endorse the findings of the committee which they elected. We also expect that some rules/regulations pertaining to veterinary safaris will be instituted in the process, a decision we welcome since any regulations designed to keep the practice ethical, legal and to the benefit of wildlife, as it was intended, would strengthen our veterinary safaris! After slowly building up the business over the past 9 years with a very strong focus on ethics, this was a very tough time for me personally. We thank the Lord for blessing us with this outcome after many months of faith testing!
However, it has of course had implications for us, as some of you already know. We have had to decline some enquiries in adhering to the ruling while the debate continued, and we also had to release many departures.
Thus, if you have any new African Vet Safari enquiries, or enquiries you would like to resume, please contact us immediately, we have permission to continue as before, now that the SAVC understands what it is we actually do.
We have also updated our website with re-instated safaris, so please visit our Safari Planner to see what we have planned. This includes a new safari focusing on rhino and elephant down here in the Eastern Cape and also safaris for any veterinarians/para-veterinarians planning to visit the World Veterinary Congress in Cape Town in October of this year (pre- and post-congress safaris, congress accommodation and an immobilisation course to follow too!).
As before, our services in terms of more Traditional Tours & Safaris remain the same and we would be happy to tailor a trip anywhere in Africa for you. Just email Sue on info@brotherssafaris.com and you can be rest assured of an excellent offering in line with your request!
If anyone has any enquiries regarding the above explanation, please do not hesitate to contact me for more information. I have obviously not been able to include all the details here.
I apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused, but please be assured that the matter was outside our control for the most part and that we did everything in our power to rectify the situation as quickly as possible once we were aware of what had transpired. We have been fighting the decision ever since and could not speed up the process any more than we have done.
We look forward to continuing our relationship with you and assure you of our best service at all times in providing you with “traditional” travel and safari services, as well as legal and ethical African Vet Safaris that support wildlife conservation.
Peter Brothers
Wildlife Vet and Director
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