To Dr. Elliott Simpson-Brown, being a zoo and wildlife vet is much more than a bread-and-butter job.
“As veterinary surgeons, we take an oath to champion the welfare of animals under our care, and I firmly believe this extends to wildlife. We are, by default, their ambassadors in many respects,” he says.
His level of engagement shines through in the range of different roles and projects he takes on as a vet. He works as a full-time zoo and wildlife vet for the International Zoo Vet Group in the UK, including remote injection of animals ranging from bison and bears to big cats, and sitatungas to otters.
“I work with a number of regular clients, performing routine or urgent visits for a range of zoo collections around the world, but mainly in the UK, providing additional consultancy support alongside the clinical care aspect,” he explains.
Training rangers in Belize
On the side, Dr. Elliott Simpson-Brown takes part in various international projects as a Wildlife Vets International Veterinary Partner.
“For instance, I work with the NGO ranger teams in Belize training darting, and safe firearms handling, as well as training in anaesthesia and clinical examination and sample taking. Belize has a healthy population of both jaguars and pumas, but there are instances, sadly, where there are cases of human conflict. This team is trained to respond to such cases to handle them safely and effectively, utilising DANiNJECT dart rifles as their choice of equipment. These cats are radio-collared and fully assessed at every opportunity, which will feed into a bigger project assessing the health status and general behaviour of the large felids in Belize.”
A vital day-to-day tool
Dr. Elliott Simpson-Brown graduated from Bristol University Veterinary School in 2014, and because of his passion for prey birds, he studied falcon medicine and surgery at the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital during his degree. Today, he is EAZA TAG Vet Advisor to the Raptor TAG.
Having worked in the field of zoo and wildlife medicine for the past ten years, Elliott has experience with a vast array of darting equipment, from blowpipes to rifles, in a number of challenging scenarios, with challenging species, in challenging climates.
“Remote injection systems are a vital day-to-day tool of the trade as a zoo vet, and it has to be a dependable system you can rely on whenever and wherever you need it,” he says.
