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Operation Wildlife Specialized Interdiction Unit & Project Unicorn:
Learn more about US Army Special Forces Green Beret veteran & TV Host & Star Mykel Hawke, along with TV Host, Producer & Adventurer Marsh Mokhtari and their support of the Unit. Project Unicorn, together with the Operation Wildlife Specialized Interdiction Unit, aims to stop the poaching crisis in South Africa through the innovative use of tactical technology and the power of documentary film. Wildlife poaching in South Africa is currently at crisis level. Help support and equip the team to combat this war on wildlife.
Benefit Wines
Silent Heroes presents Benefit Wines! Proceeds benefit the Silent Heroes Foundation.
SHF Welcomes New Project
Silent Heroes supports the Vet Books for Africa project through the provision of veterinary textbooks and educational materials to distribute at Veterinary Universities throughout Africa.
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Join Team RunWild!
Want to raise money for Silent Heroes and truly make an impact? Then join us and RunWild! Whether you enjoy running, biking, swimming, walking, or any combination in between, you can participate in our RunWild! campaign to help raise money and awareness for our mission in Africa. >>read more
SHF Scholarship for Deserving Equine Vet in Congo
Silent Heroes has provided a stipend to support Dr. Etienne Mwamba in an equine internship with the Blue Cross Veterinary Hospital situated in Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa.
Dr. Vital Etienne Kasongo Mwamba was born in Kamina, Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and qualified as a veterinarian in 2002 from the University of Lumbumbashi, DRC. From a young age Etienne was drawn to working with animals, due in large part to the influence he received from his father’s farming lifestyle, and due to the abuse he witnessed to farm animals in his community. As a child he decided that he would like to make a difference in the lives of animals. Unfortunately abuse and neglect are common in many rural areas of Africa, including DRC. Dr. Mwamba reports that in the DRC there is only one equine practice in all of the country. With a population of over 71 million people, many with a dependency on horses and donkeys in the country as work animals, it is clear to see the importance of his training. Dr. Mwamba hopes to return to DRC upon completion of his internship to start a mobile equine veterinary clinic, in order to provide educational outreach and seminars for Congolese equine owners about welfare issues, in addition to providing better health care for these animals. Due to the ongoing war and instability in the region, Dr. Mwamba and his family moved from his country to Cape Town, South Africa, where he currently lives with his wife and three daughters.
The Blue Cross Veterinary Hospital serves as the oldest private veterinary practice in South Africa. The practice consists of six veterinarians treating both large and small domestic animals, including a large focus on equine medicine. With three veterinarians specializing in equine care, the practice welcomes a wide variety of equine cases for interns in-training such as Dr. Mwamba. While at the practice, Dr. Mwamba will work with hack horses, competition horses, race horses, & stud horses, as well as work with equine welfare organizations in the area (cart horses and the Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals). Dr. Mwamba receives supervision from all three equine veterinarians on staff: Dr. Nic Augustyn, a general practitioner; Dr. Francois Triegaardt, a general practitioner with special interest in lameness and surgery; and Dr. Cynthia Donnellan, an equine internist.
Silent Heroes would like to thank Dr. Cynthia Donnellan for the opportunity to support Dr. Mwamba in his equine veterinary internship.
Veterinary Student Externships
Silent Heroes welcomes eight veterinary student externs to our projects in Africa for 2012! Each student will spend several weeks experiencing life as a veterinarian/conservationist in-training at one of our 11 projects in Africa, where students will become immersed in caring for animals, participating in research to benefit the project, and learning the challenges unique to international veterinary medicine in a developing country.
Several students received scholarships for their participation in the extern program, and many students will conduct valuable research to benefit the projects, as well as to contribute to the pool of greater scientific knowledge related to wildlife conservation and One Health medicine in Africa. Silent Heroes will highlight the work of each student in E-news bites to come, and will be sharing their personal experiences through blogs and pictures that we will make available later this summer. Follow along with our externs on their adventures in Africa, and be a part of the excitement as they care for orphan elephants, immobilize rhinos, bleed buffalos, vaccinate village dogs, educate villagers about humane care of donkeys, and protect the endangered mountain gorillas!
Silent Heroes accepts applications to our veterinary student externship program on a year-round basis, and we offer placement at nine of our 11 veterinary and wildlife projects in Africa. For more information please contact Dr. Adams at: adams@thesilentheroes.org.
