Shimongwe Veterinary EMS Placement

Meet your EMS criteria

This placement meets the Extra Mural Studies (EMS) requirements for veterinary undergraduate degree programmes. You’ll gain verified tracked hours under the supervision of qualified veterinarians.

Small group learning

You’ll work in small cohorts (typically 2–4 participants), ensuring direct engagement with some of Africa’s leading wildlife veterinarians. This structure allows for a highly personalised and immersive clinical experience.

Work with a diverse range of species

You’ll gain exposure to a diverse range of animals - enhancing your understanding of species-specific care. You’ll also observe and assist in the diagnosis, treatment and management of various conditions, furthering your knowledge of regional pathology.

Experience clinical procedures in the field

Depending on the case and your level of experience, you may assist with procedures including wound management, surgical interventions, sterilisation, diagnostic testing and disease management of notifiable diseases.

Assist with post-immobilisation procedures

Depending on the cases at the time, you may support expert vets working on large mammals that have been chemically immobilised. Under close supervision, you could help monitor vital signs, collect samples, assist with treatment, and prepare the animal for recovery.

Conservation-focused veterinary practice

Veterinarians play a vital role in supporting wildlife conservation through disease control, population management, and maintaining genetic diversity. Via your placement, you’ll contribute to the long-term viability of threatened species.

Real and ethical casework only

All procedures are medically necessary and aligned with best-practice ethical standards. The programme does not conduct procedures solely for training purposes. Interventions such as rhino horn trimming are performed only when they are in the animal’s best interest.

Exposure to African ecosystems and communities

Fieldwork involves travel across multiple reserves, offering you the chance to discover varied ecosystems. You’ll also gain insight into rural African communities and the cultural context in which veterinary services are delivered.

Field-based theoretical learning

In addition to practical experience, you’ll benefit from in-field instruction on topics such as wildlife physiology, pharmacology, anaesthetic risks (including stress-related mortality), capture techniques, chemical and physical restraint, translocation protocols and endemic disease profiles.

Support community and animal health

Your contributions directly fund veterinary services that would otherwise be inaccessible to local communities. This includes parasite management, treatment of injuries, and disease prevention programmes - extending the impact of your placement beyond your direct casework.

You’ll join a real veterinarian on their day-to-day casework. What you’ll do depends on which animals are being treated at the time, what kind of care they need, and your level of experience. Because this is a real veterinary environment and not set up for tourism, the work depends on what cases arise. Your veterinary priorities will include a range of the following activities.

Field clinical work

You will get to experience veterinary procedures in the field. You could observe or assist:

• Positioning immobilised animals for necessary procedures.
• Monitoring the animals’ breathing and heart rate.
• Drawing blood, taking DNA samples, giving injections and cleaning wounds.
• Practical techniques on wildlife and production animals, such as pregnancy testing and cleaning and stitching wounds.
• Autopsying deceased wildlife to determine cause of death.

Clinical work

You will get to experience a variety of veterinary procedures in a large clinic. You could observe or assist:

• Working within a busy clinic with four vets and two vet nurses.
• A wide variety of cases, including many diseases you won’t experience in other parts of the world, such as biliary, parvovirus, and canine distemper.
• Routine procedures on pets, such as sterilisations, inoculations, and clipping claws.
• Clinical work and aftercare, including wound clearing after operations.

Practical conservation work

You will get to experience practical conservation in the field during veterinary field clinical procedures. You could observe or assist:

• Darting and the sedation of larger animals.
• Setting up camps in the bush during extended capture operations.
• All aspects of capture operations and relocating animals.

Mass wildlife capture

Depending on the needs of the team during your stay, mass wildlife capture work could take place. When it happens, you could get to observe or assist:

• Setting up bomas, the canvas enclosures used in the field to catch large herds of animals such as antelope and zebra.
• Administering mild sedatives to reduce stress among captured wild animals.

You’ll learn about wildlife behaviour, biology and veterinary care, as well as broader conservation issues. Depending on the animals being treated, this will include a range of the following topics.

Behaviour

• How to monitor the health and behaviour of different species.
• How animals react to the stress of being captured.

Biology

• The effects of sedative drugs on different wildlife species.
• The impact of diseases on different species.
• The processes involved in wildlife care after treatment.
• Basic physiology and pharmacology of different wildlife species.

Conservation

• Disease management and the importance of maintaining healthy and genetically viable populations.
• Threats to animals, such as human-wildlife conflict and rhino poaching.
• The capture and transport of different species.

Lectures in the field

• Wildlife management practices in South Africa.
• Disease management and veterinary drugs used.
• Challenges of treating wild animals, including darting, immobilisation, game capture and relocation.
• Principles of chemical and physical restraint of wild animals.
• Anti-poaching methods in the field.

This project contributes to a variety of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. As part of the team, so will you.

No Poverty End poverty in all its forms everywhere

By offering paid student opportunities, the vets leading the EMS Placement attract international funding that provides a means for the vets to treat sick and injured animals and provide pro bono work to underprivileged communities.

Quality Education Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

All participants on the EMS Placement acquire knowledge of veterinary work, how human actions can affect wildlife and how they can minimise this effect - and have access to the same standard of education regardless of sex and background.

Gender Equality Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

The vets leading the EMS Placement provide equal employment opportunities for local women and men and equal studying opportunities for women and men outside the local community.

Decent Work and Economic Growth Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

The vets leading the EMS Placement routinely employ young people between 15 and 24 and provide equal employment opportunities for local men and women. Participants provide both economic and physical support, facilitating important conservation work and education within the local community.

Sustainable Cities and Communities Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

The vet practices are built sustainably and resiliently using materials that are locally sourced from within South Africa. The project also protects natural heritage through the conservation of iconic African species.

Responsible Consumption and Production Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

The vets leading the EMS Placement promote responsible tourism in a variety of ways: through the creation of local jobs; by educating international visitors how to live in harmony with nature; and in their vital conservation work.

Life on Land Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss

The vets leading the EMS Placement take significant action to halt the loss of biodiversity and prevent the extinction of threatened species. Through their involvement in anti-poaching strategies, wildlife disease management, and maintaining genetic diversity in wildlife populations, they play a powerful role in preventing the degradation of South Africa’s natural ecosystems.

The project also takes urgent action to prevent poaching by trimming rhino horns - an effective deterrent when combined with other wildlife management practices.

By offering paid student opportunities, the project increases its financial resources, enabling it to conduct wildlife relocation work, which is key for the conservation of threatened species.

Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

The vets leading the EMS Placement carry out rhino horn trimming procedures where they remove the exposed portion of the horn. Combined with other wildlife management measures, horn trimming deters poachers and reduces the unethical practices associated with their activities.

Partnerships for the goals Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

Through the vets’ partnership with us, they draw in financial resources that are used to fund conservation and provide support to their community partners in South Africa.