Webinar

Wildlife veterinary challenges: Insights and anecdotes from the experts

Veterinary professionals
Pharmacists

Wildlife Veterinary Medicine

This engaging webinar highlights challenging and memorable cases from the field of wildlife veterinary practice. Covering chemical immobilisation, anaesthesia, conservation medicine, and zoo health management, it explores the complexities of wildlife care, key lessons learned, and insights that inform the future of veterinary practice and conservation efforts.
 English only
  Veterinary professionals (target audience), Pharmacists
Write your awesome label here.

Why should I take this course?

  • Learn from real-life cases and expert field stories that reveal the unexpected complexities of wildlife immobilisation
  • Understand how preparation, teamwork, and decision-making impact animal outcomes in high-risk and remote scenarios
  • Gain practical insights into equipment use, sedation protocols, and crisis management from top wildlife veterinarians

Course Lessons

Meet your instructor

Dr. Cobus Raath

Dr. Cobus Raath earned his BVSc degree from the University of Pretoria’s Onderstepoort Veterinary Faculty in 1985. He began his career as Head Veterinarian for SANParks in Kruger National Park, where he spent 11 years developing systems and management plans still in use today. After establishing a private wildlife veterinary practice, he recognised the global need for conservation medicines and founded Wildlife Pharmaceuticals (Pty) Ltd in 1997. Committed to advancing wildlife health and conservation, Dr. Raath remains actively engaged in research, industry development, and international training, sharing his expertise through wildlife immobilisation courses worldwide.


Meet your instructor

Dr. Aleksandr Semjonov

Dr. Aleksandr Semjonov is a veterinary anaesthesiologist, senior lecturer, and chief clinical officer at the Estonian University of Life Sciences. Based in Estonia, he works globally with zoo and wildlife species, focusing on novel anaesthetics and long-term anaesthesia for surgical procedures. His PhD research investigated the use of a butorphanol-azaperone-medetomidine combination in African wildlife. Dr. Semjonov specialises in the anaesthesia of carnivores, large ruminants, giraffes, elephants, and marine mammals.


Meet your instructor

Dr. Joel Alves

Dr. Joel Alves graduated from the University of Pretoria’s Onderstepoort Veterinary Faculty in 2016 and completed his community service in the Lowveld in 2017. He later joined WildlifeVets.com before co-founding Wildscapes Veterinary & Conservation Services in Hoedspruit with Dr. Ben Muller. Passionate about conservation beyond veterinary practice, Dr. Alves is a member of the African Lion Working Group and serves on the board of trustees for the Lion Management Forum of South Africa. His career highlights include leading a large-scale dehorning operation of over 230 white and black rhinos in private reserves adjacent to Kruger National Park and collaring forest elephants in the Republic of Congo.


Meet your instructor

Dr. Martine van Zijll

Dr. Martine van Zijll Langhout is a wildlife and zoo veterinarian with experience in both free-ranging and captive wildlife. After completing an MSc in Wild Animal Health, she managed a gorilla conservation project in Gabon for ZSL and worked at a primate rescue centre in Cameroon. From 2008, she worked in South Africa with WildlifeVets.com, gaining extensive experience with African wildlife species. Since 2013, she has been based in the Netherlands, serving as a veterinarian at Amsterdam Zoo and the AAP Rescue Centre for Exotic Animals. An EBVS® European Veterinary Specialist in Zoo Health Management, she lectures internationally, has co-supervised doctoral research at Ghent University, and recently published her first book, Over Leven in het Wild, on nature conservation and the lessons we can learn from wild animals.