After 27 years as Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s chief veterinarian, Dr Dave Cooper has retired.
Responsible for overseeing hundreds of wildlife relocations, Cooper, 65, has worked closely with white and black rhinos, relocating the critically endangered animals to safe zones across the globe.
“I’ve had a wonderful innings and enjoyed every moment of it. There have been a lot of highs and lows, especially in recent times due to the uprise in poaching. We’ve achieved a lot over the years. I’ve watched how things have improved in terms of game capture,” he said.
“In the past we saw a lot of animals dying during game capture, but these days [the survival rate is] something we pride ourselves on and I’d like to think that is what I have contributed to.”
Listing some of his highlights after almost three decades with Ezemvelo, Cooper said: “The most memorable one is those large animal translocations that I’ve been involved in. They go all the way back to India in 2010, when we relocated 50 gaur (Indian bison), 25 each on two separate occasions, from Bandhavgarh National Park to Kanha using elephants as transport — that’s got to be one of my main highlights.”
He recalled a daunting trip to Rwanda in 2019, when they transported 31 white rhino in one aircraft, and another operation in which a black rhino was flown over the Indian Ocean after the pilot spotted a pod of whales.
“There was a black rhino that was moved from the eastern shores of Lake St Lucia. It was the last we moved and it was airlifted by helicopter out of the area. There were two helicopters, one for the darting and one for the airlifting.
“I heard the one pilot mention to the other pilot that he wanted to go and see some whales. So they took this rhino out over the ocean in a net and there is a photograph of this rhino suspended over a pod of whales. That’s just unbelievable.”
While Cooper has been up close and personal with almost every wild animal native to SA, his favourite is the black rhino.
Cooper, the founder of African Wildlife Vets, a non-profit organisation with the primary aim of assisting wildlife organisations by providing essential veterinary support, said while he had retired from Ezemvelo, he would continue to assist the organisation and other conservation entities.
“I will still be working on black-rhino relocations and assisting Ezemvelo and other organisations with elephant and rhino relocations.”
One thing he won't miss is poaching.
Asked how many rhino poaching scenes he had attended, he said: “It’s well into the hundreds. In 2019 alone we had more than 200 rhinos poached in HiP [Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park] and I think I attended every one of those scenes.
“I’m really glad I don’t have to look at another rhino with bullet holes. That has not been pleasant at all, it puts a lot of strain on you mentally and the people around you. I realised what post-traumatic stress disorder is all about. It’s very real and I’m glad I won’t have to deal with that any more.”
Cooper said he’s also witnessed dramatic changes at SA’s national parks.
“Everybody is under pressure at the moment. If it’s not poaching pressure, it’s budget cuts and finance. I’ve seen how we’ve battled to keep our trucks maintained. As African Wildlife Vets we [assisted] Ezemvelo for six years and to be quite honest, the game capture and veterinary units in particular would not be able to function without that support.”
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