Wildlife Vets Namibia

17/06/2026

🥶 Cold front alert - protect your animals! 🥶

Namibia is expecting a strong cold front in the coming days. Farmers should prepare now to reduce losses and keep animals healthy.

Animals in poor body condition, young calves, lambs, and sensitive wildlife species (like kudu and nyala) are most at risk. Cold stress can quickly lead to weakness, pneumonia, and even death if not managed properly.

It is important to keep your animals in a good body condition. Animals in poor condition will have minimal body reserves (fat is a source of energy), but they also will have no physical protection against the cold (fat works as an insulator). If you are aware of severe cold coming in, consider giving your animals a late afternoon meal of good quality roughage. You are not just supplying the animals with food, roughage fermentation by rumen micro-organisms results in substantial heat production.

Read the entire article here:
👉 https://tinyurl.com/Animals-and-Cold-Weather 👈

16/06/2026

📞 Weird call of the week… 'An elephant has his GPS collar stuck in his mouth!'

Yes, you read that right 😅 We were called out for an elephant bull who somehow managed to get his GPS collar wedged inside his mouth. The collar was very tight and the screws were slightly bent. The only way to get the collar off was by cutting the belt. Fortunately the rangers had spotted him quickly, and no damage was done.

How it happened? No idea! Our best guess is that he was in a fight with another elephant, who got hold of the collar and pulled it. From the helicopter Dr Ulf saw that the bull also had a slight limp before he darted, another indication that he might have been in a fight.

12/06/2026

Have a wonderful weekend ahead!

11/06/2026

Immobilizing giraffes is always a special challenge and truly revolves around teamwork. Their size, long necks, and sensitivity to drugs does not make it easy.

We use a mix of two potent opioids to safely get the giraffe immobilized. Once the giraffe is down, the team supports the head and neck upwards. At the same time, an antidote is administered and a mask, halter, and ear plugs are fitted. When the giraffe is ready, it stands up.

We are not fans of using many ropes. With just a halter rope in front, and a single rope at the back to gently tap the ankles, the giraffe walks forward on its own. This giraffe was relocated to another farm.

09/06/2026

⚠️ Warning - Abscess - Don’t watch if you are about to have dinner! ⚠️

This young roan bull developed an abscess on his cheek. An abscess is a pocket of pus that forms inside tissue. It usually starts when bacteria enter through a wound or infection. The immune system repsonds by sending white blood cells to that area. As these cells, bacteria, and damaged tissue build up, they form pus. To contain the infection, the body creates a capsule around it; this is a visible swelling which we call an abscess.

The abscess was lanced, throughouly cleaned and flushed, and the roan was injected with long-acting antibiotics. We are not sure what caused the abscess, it may have been due to a horn clash with another bull, or a foreign body somehow entered. His teeth were checked and fine 😁. After treatment, this young bull, together with some other youngsters, was relocated to another part of the game farm where he can't be crossing horns with the big dominant bull...

04/06/2026

Recently we teamed up with Bergzicht Game Lodge and Simon Wildlife Services for a big operation. The goal was to strengthen Namibian genetics by moving animals from Bergzicht to other game reserves, which will ensure strong healthy herds on these reserves.

A mass capture boma was set up, and first a herd of roans, and later sables, were herded inside. Once the herd was safely in, certain animals were selectively darted, while the rest were released again. This method has several huge advantages! Normally, when several animals in a herd need to be darted, the helicopter has to go in again and again. By the time the last animal is darted, the herd has been running for a long time. With a boma, the herd only runs once. This means less stress, and less risk of injuries. It also allows for better herd management, since you can assess the animals together and make decisions on the spot. Once in the boma, the team could carefully select which animals needed to be darted and relocated.

With two vets, Dr Ulf and Dr Max on site, we were done in record time! The darted animals were relocated to their new homes, and feedback that Bergzicht received was that all are in good condition and adapting well.

A huge thanks to the Bergzicht team for your trust in our services, it is always a pleasure to work with you all! And of course a big thank you to Raymund Simon and his professional team for the flying and setting up the boma!

02/06/2026

The most effective way to protect your kudus and eland against rabies is by dart vaccinating them.

📽️ Curious to see how we do it? Watch our video 👉https://youtu.be/hWBxxDheBKg?si=9g4578Dk3Zl8-_qc

Feel free to contact us directly for more information, or have a look at our rabies articles on our website: https://www.wildlifevetsnamibia.com/documentation/articles

Simon Wildlife Services

Rabies is a fatal viral disease that attacks the central nervous sy...

30/05/2026

Our first article was published on the BBC Wildlife Magazine website! The article is about a rhino orphan that was rescued last year after his mother was poached, and now is thriving under the care of Annette Oelofse from the Mount Etjo RHINO Trust.

''This calf’s fight for survival, seen against the backdrop of ongoing rhino poaching, is a story of hope. It also highlights the immense challenges faced by rhino owners in Southern Africa. Beyond the emotional toll of losing rhinos to poaching, they have to carry the heavy financial burden of feeding them through droughts, providing veterinary care and security and orphan rehabilitation. The private rhino owner usually does this with little, if any external support.''

👉 https://www.discoverwildlife.com/people/orphan-rhino-tale

28/05/2026

🦏 Sometimes a rhino needs a good smack 😉

Here you see Dr Max in action during a rhino collaring operation. The rhino is heavily affected by the immobilizing drugs, and was heading straight into a bush.

Why the smack on the bum? If a rhino lies down in a thorny bush, we cannot work with him properly; the thorns make it unpleasant for everyone, we cannot monitor his sedation properly and he might end up on a sharp stump. A good smack on the bum makes him step forward and out into the open. Here, the Aru Game Lodges and collaring team could safely fit the GPS foot collar on, and we could monitor him.

27/05/2026

Our May newsletter is online! In this edition:

🦁👅 Did you ever see a lion's tongue from up close? Its like your cat's tongue, but then a bit more extreme! Cat tongues are covered with sharp hooks, and in the newsletter we explain why.
🦌🦠 We have received reports of rabies outbreaks in the Dordabis and Wilhelmstal areas. In the newsletter we give some key points that all farmers should know. If you encounter rabies on your farm, please send us a message so we can warn others.
📞📶 Both Ulf and Max continue to battle with long-standing MTC network issues on their farms, so if you cannot get a hold of them by phone, please try WhatsApp or leave an SMS.
❄🇳🇦 Winter is here! We share some practical tips to help your animals cope with the coming winter.

You can read and download the May newsletter here: https://www.wildlifevetsnamibia.com/documentation/newsletters