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10 January 2019 | Story Leonie Bolleurs
Animal Conservation
A giraffe after a successful immobilisation capture being prepared for safe relocation.

From 2007 to 2014, the country experienced an exponential rise in rhino poaching – a growth of over 9,000%. Most illegal activities occur in the Kruger National Park.

 

Contributing to fight this battle is a group of five former students and colleagues from the UFS Department of Chemistry, now in the employment of Wildlife Pharmaceuticals. Situated in the Nelspruit area, Dr Inus Janse van Rensburg, Head of Research and Development; Lizette Janse van Rensburg, Head of Operations; Leo Kirsten, API expert; Dr Rikus Peens, API chemist; and Dr Chris Joubert, Laboratory Specialist, are working at this pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. The company specialises in the development, manufacturing, and end use of wildlife medicines.

 

With the medicines they develop, they are able to immobilise animals. Prof André Roodt, Discipline Head of the UFS Division of Inorganic Chemistry, who attended Indaba 9 with members of his research team in Skukuza, Kruger National Park, said wildlife species are being chemically immobilised for different reasons.

 

Prosecution of poachers

 

One example is of a rhino which was immobilised after a successful dehorning procedure by veterinarians and personnel of Wildlife Pharmaceuticals. As part of a programme to discourage poaching, selective DNA data collection is also conducted by some veterinarian groups for future use in the possible prosecution of individuals who are dealing with rhino horn. As soon as a rhino that was killed during poaching has been discovered, samples of the animal are obtained for a full analysis.

 

These samples are then stored on a database. Wherever rhino horn is confiscated (even internationally), the DNA is analysed, and the database may be consulted to see where the specific rhino was killed. The person in possession of the rhino horn may then be charged with the ‘killing’ of the original rhino.

 

Prof Roodt explained that the foundation of all medicines is based on active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) present in the finished pharmaceutical product, be it tablets, capsules, a syrup or a sterile injectable liquid. In accordance with local and international regulations and guidelines, chemists at API facilities are manufacturing these APIs globally.

 

Wildlife conservation

 

The APIs are respectively incorporated into registered finished pharmaceutical products, which are then used by registered veterinarians for chemical immobilisation and reversal of immobilisation in wildlife species.

 

According to Prof Roodt, the importance of developing appropriate chemical agents and the role of chemical manufacturing are crucial for animal conservation, with a scope far beyond the field of animal immobilisation, thus extending it to animal health, treatments, and vaccinations.

 

Besides saving our rhinos, wildlife species require immobilisation for different reasons. This can include, for example, wound treatment, relocation, and surgical procedures. “It is critical that the animals be immobilised to ensure limitation of stress to the animal, mitigate self-harm, allow safe handling of the animal, and for operator safety. These activities will be impossible to execute without chemical immobilisation of the animal,” said Prof Roodt.

 

Dr Janse van Rensburg, who received his PhD in the UFS Department of Chemistry in 2008, said the department, through exposing its students to, among others, complex equipment in labs as well as work in international labs to critically assess and benchmark their work against others, contributed to the success of his career at Wildlife Pharmaceuticals.

News Archive

UFS hockey teams crowned as Free State hockey champions
2009-09-21

The University of the Free State’s (UFS) men’s and women’s hockey teams were recently crowned as the Free State hockey champions during the championship that took place on the university's astro fields in Bloemfontein.

Kovsie women defeated Raiders (the defending champions) 6-0 and the Kovsie men’s hockey team successfully defended their title against Tweespruit. During a penalty shootout UFS Reds beat the team of the Central University of Technology (CUT 1) 8-7, thereby ending in the third position.

Very early on the Kovsie women’s hockey team showed that they wanted to break the five-year drought without a trophy and within the first ten minutes they took the lead with 2-0 against Raiders. Liza Dreyer scored her first two goals out of four and from that moment on the Raiders were with their backs against the wall. With the score of 4-0 at halftime it was clear that Kovsies would have a second trophy in their cupboard after their recent success during the USSA championships. After halftime, Odie Swart scored another goal from a penalty corner and Liza scored her fourth goal, to bring the end score to 6-0. Malisa Kala was the other Kovsie who scored a goal.

Odie Swart, captain of the Kovsies played her last match for the Kovsies with Cat van Zuydam. She excelled in the attack as well as in the defence.

The Kovsies men’s hockey team has now done it three out of three times! Within the first twenty minutes the Kovsies men’s hockey team defeated Tweespruit with brilliant hockey by scoring three goals. Luke Sanan (2) and Kurt Henzberg (1) scored the goals. All three the goals were well-executed field goals. The current Kovsie team is surely the best-rounded hockey team that the Free State has had over the last ten years. In the past three years the students played in more than 45 club matches and they did not lose one match!

With the joy also comes sadness. For Braam van Wyk it was his last match as coach of a Kovsie team. For the past 17 years Braam has been involved with Kovsie hockey, in which he led the girls to twelve victories in the Free State league. The last three years he managed the men’s team, who won the league for the past three consecutive years, indeed an achievement. With Braam, three other senior players of the past three years made their last appearance for Kovsies. They are Morne Odendaal, Renaldo Ogle and Braam van Wyk (jr.).

Literally during the last moments of their game against CUT 1, the UFS Reds, who were 1-4 behind, scored a goal, which brought the final score to 4-4. The Kovsie students won the penalty shootout with 4-3, thereby winning 8-7 and thus ending third in this year’s men’s Free State league. 
 

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