The Travelling Vet

Picture Section

Aged 2 with my grandparents’ dog Ben on holiday in the New Forest; we were inseparable.

Helping out with lambing in North Devon, aged 8.

Proud of my chicken-wrangling skills, aged 3.

A Brazilian three-banded armadillo – the nine-banded armadillo’s little cousin.

The Wildlife Vet’s capture team walking a giraffe to the trailer.

The head collar allows for some control as we drive the giraffe out of the bush to the waiting trailer and with a blindfold on and ear plugs in, he is much calmer, but I still had to be careful that he didn’t knock me off the platform with an effortless swipe of his neck.

Bjorn demonstrating successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a giraffe.

Leopards are very cuddly when they are asleep! This was a young female leopard we worked on out in Africa.

I had to get a quick photo with her before she was woken up.

No surprise that these Boer goats were more interested in their food than posing for a photo with me!

Job done! Elephants successfully sedated for relocation, there’s just time for a quick photo with Derek, Wayne and Lotter before they wake up.

Standing on the trailer with Lotter at our final destination, just before we unloaded and woke him and his fellow elephants.

The first elephant I ever worked on (a 30-year-old bull elephant), having just finished replacing his tracking collar.

Two beautiful, fully-horned rhinos. I took this in Kruger National Park in 2013. On my last two trips to Kruger I have not seen a single rhino; their absence a tragic reality and proof of how hard the park has been hit by poaching in the last decade.

A successful humane dehorning; a good team can carry out the procedure in about twenty minutes with minimal stress to the rhino, but sadly even dehorned rhinos are now being targeted by poachers.

Riding one of my grandparents’ donkeys, aged 7. Noddy, Tizzy and Carole gave me a real love for these wonderful animals from a young age.

A selfie with my famous friend Pollyanne.

This Simmental calf suffered a broken leg after his mother accidentally trod on him, but a month in a cast ensured the bone could heal fully.

Not the famous ferret Freddie, but still equally cute.

Large White sows can weigh up to 300 kg so need to be respected, particularly when they are nursing a litter.

At 4.6 metres long and weighing over 700 kg, this fella (an African Nile crocodile, which we were relocating) was seriously intimidating up close.

Conducting my clinical examination on a panda cub.

She took some persuading, but the bamboo shoots convinced giant panda Xi-Xi to pose for a photo with me.

My first encounter with a grey kangaroo was out in Australia. Little did I know then that I would be chasing one around a vet practice one day!

Final checks before taking off to dart some zebras.

Relieved and happy, posing with one of the male zebras I successfully darted.

Shane the sugar glider being positioned for surgery, pom-poms clearly on display, moments before the incident happened!

A Blue wildebeest, like any wild animal, is much less intimidating when it’s asleep. This one was from another capture.

Aerial view of the large tarpaulin enclosure, funnelling down towards the truck. Several of the curtains are closed, separating off the different sections.

Max and Mungo, my faithful companions.