7 minute read
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
International veterinary course takes students to Tanzania
Story by Joe Montgomery
Lions lounge on the Serengeti in Tanzania, while veterinary students observe from the safety of a safari vehicle. The group traveled to Africa in May 2023 as part of an elective course on international veterinary studies, where they learned about wildlife conservation efforts and local veterinary practices and customs. All photos courtesy of Drs. Rose McMurphy and Walter Renberg.
“People who are patient do better,” says Dr. Rose McMurphy, gauging the likelihood of seeing wildlife while on safari in the Serengeti.
This observation holds greater relevance in describing the International Veterinary Study Tours class, an elective course offered to veterinary students at K-State.
Patience is needed to learn about the chosen destination, to arrive safely at the destination and to reap the most benefits from the overall experience the destination has to offer.
“The class rotates to a different country every year,” says Dr. Walter Renberg, a small animal surgeon and Doughman professor in the veterinary college. “We try to move to a different continent, sequentially, every year. This year we went to Africa, so it was time to go to Tanzania.”
Class preparations
“The classroom component and the travel component both have academic rigor,” Dr. Renberg says. “We want the students to learn something. This is not a vacation.”
Dr. Renberg says the students look at different topics ranging from how to travel wisely and efficiently — and safely — to country-specific topics like history of the country, politics, the culture, the language, etc.
“We’ll talk about breeds of livestock or agricultural systems in that country,” Dr. Renberg says. “Sometimes the students are giving presentations on these topics and sometimes I’m speaking on them — or we’ll have guests come in.”
Dr. McMurphy, who is an anesthesiology professor, was one of the guest speakers who shared her extensive familiarity with Tanzania.
Class of 2026
Dr. Renberg, who has taught the class for more than 10 years, says the international tours class has two different components. One part is in the classroom during the spring semester.
“Dr. McMurphy co-led the class this year because she has a lot of experience and connections in Tanzania,” Dr. Renberg says. “It’s a developing country, and some of these students had not been in that setting before. The chance to see wildlife in their natural setting is a unique and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but seeing how veterinarians operate in a developing world situation is also unique.”
“I had already been to Tanzania, maybe five or six times before I ever took students,” Dr. McMurphy says. “I had always wanted to go to places in Africa ever since I was a little kid watching National Geographic, so that was the first country in Africa I went to, and it’s still one of my favorites.”
Dr. McMurphy enjoys wildlife photography and travel, but she also says she’s learned some of the local language: Kiswahili.
“I can get by in some situations when I talk to people, they have to really slow their Kiswahili,” Dr. McMurphy says.
In addition to the language being different, Dr. McMurphy stresses how there are differences in veterinary medicine.
“Most veterinarians there are employed by the government and put in rural places,” Dr. McMurphy says. “Their jobs are not like what our jobs are — they are not even remotely similar. There are few small animal clinics and they really cater to vaccinating dogs or maybe doing a spay — they may or may not even be able to take an X-ray, so it’s very different than what we can do here.”
36 hours, one way
When the spring semester ends, the travel component begins, which was in mid-May. Dr. Renberg says the amount of travel time and time allotted for the visit varies from country to country.
“We want to visit a private practice, visit some farms, visit a veterinary school — and we want to visit some government facilities along with things that are unique to the country,” Dr. Renberg says. “For example, in Tanzania we spent some time in the Serengeti [to see wildlife]. Obviously when we go on a trip to Europe, we don’t have an opportunity to go somewhere like the Serengeti.”
For each year’s trip, the class is usually in the country 10 to 14 days. For Tanzania, the total tour, including travel time, took over two weeks. Dr. Renberg says it took 36 hours through a series of different flights just to get to Tanzania. While in Tanzania, a couple of vehicles were needed.
“Since there were 10 students on the trip, we were using multiple cars,” Dr. McMurphy says. “We were in Toyota Land Cruisers that have been modified to be safari vehicles and interestingly, they cut them in half, lengthen them and then put on a roof that pops up so that you can push it up and look out of the top. One carried seven people and the other one carried five.”
Dr. McMurphy says parts of the visit to Tanzania were time consuming.
“What people don’t realize is that it’s a long way from the north, where the Serengeti is, to the south, where the veterinary school [Sokoine University] is,” Dr. McMurphy says. “That was a two-day drive for us. The mileage isn’t that much, but when you’re only going 50 to 80 kilometers an hour, you can’t get there all in one day — and you cannot drive at night because it’s just too dangerous.”
A full agenda
The aforementioned safari was one part of a series of local experiences planned for the students. Tanzania has much more to offer. Dr. Renberg says the class visited a dairy and a couple of nonprofit organizations.
“One day, we were able to help out with a donkey clinic where people could come and get care for their donkeys for free,” second-year student Ashley Anderson says. “It was such a hectic day but so, so, so rewarding because we were able to make a difference in these animals’ welfare while also increasing productivity for the people.”
Dr. Renberg says the students took up a collection and bought a trough for the organization to use for donkeys.
“Learning about veterinary medicine and animal welfare initiatives in Tanzania showed how important veterinarians are to maintain the health of animals that are relied on by families,” third-year student Kaitlyn Megee says. “There are several conservation efforts such as the rhino sanctuary and painted-dog breeding facility that opened our eyes to the importance of conservation work. We, as future veterinarians, can contribute to work like this and have an impact on animal conservation.”
“We went to a facility where they are training giant rats to sniff for land mines,” Dr. Renberg says. “It’s an organization that works all over the world. They’re in Cambodia and wherever there’s mine clearance issues.”
“I believe that this trip had so many great opportunities and eye-opening experiences,” Ashley says. “Overall, I would go on this trip 10 more times and I appreciate everything that Dr. Renberg and Dr. McMurphy did for us.”
