The passionate wildlife vet fighting to save wild beasts

Dr Lufuno Netshitavhadulu still recalls his father carrying him on his shoulders in the Kruger National Park since he was seven years old, and teaching him and his siblings about the different animals. Little did he know his father was imparting his love for animals on him.

Netshitavhadulu, 34, who is the only young black male veterinarian at the country’s national park, has attributed his love for his job and animals to his father’s passion for animals.

He was born and raised in Tshipise, a small village in Venda, but attended Mopani Intermediate School, a boarding school. He matriculated in Tengwe secondary in Limpopo.

“My dad has always inspired me. I’ve never told him this but he has grown and nurtured my love for animals to a point where my path just led me to where I am now,” Netshitavhadulu said.

“I don’t know much about fate but I believe it brought me here. Sometimes you just want to run away from things not knowing that you’d end up gravitating towards them anyway.”

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Netshitavhadulu said while it may sound like a cliché, his father’s love for animals determined his fate. He said from the time he was nine years old, his father took the whole family to the Kruger National Park during the December holidays and never missed a year until he started working.

“Every year I used to go to Kruger… and every year he would take the time to teach us about the animals and tell us about his experiences at the park,” he said.

Netshitavhadulu – who describes himself as fun, misunderstood and very passionate – has been working at the Kruger for more than three years as a resident vet, fighting to save animals.

Despite the daunting and demanding responsibilities he has carried, it was not difficult to see the passion he has for his work.

“People always say I’m too attached to my patients. But I’ve always shown positivity and love for them to even fight for them when no one else would,” he said.

“I remember a while back a hyena was caught in a snare and it was severely hurt on the neck people couldn’t believe I would find it and after travelling for five hours from the Boma to where it was, my students and I found it within 30 minutes.”

He said when they found the animal, which was badly hurt, they had to battle a pride of lions which attacked the darted hyena.

“I screamed at the ranger with tears in my eyes because I saw the lions shaking the hyena to confirm it was dead or just to finish it off. He fired warning shots and only the male lions ran, the female lions just stood there waiting for us to leave,” he said.

“I don’t remember what got into me but I drove towards the lions to scare them off and as soon as they ran, we grabbed the hyena, put it in the car and drove to a secure area to treat the snare wound.

“And when we started treating it we saw how strong it was and how after all that it had been through, it was still alive. After a couple of months we saw it again and it had completely healed, including that lion bite mark.”

Netshitavhadulu said he initially wanted to study electrical engineering or biomedical sciences, but eventually pursued veterinary sciences at the University of Pretoria.

“When I chose veterinary sciences, I never thought I’d work in wildlife. I just thought it would be the normal domestic animals because I loved pets.”

After graduating, he worked at the Vision Africa Wildlife and the Limpopo department of agriculture and rural development before he began his journey at the Kruger National Park.

Part of his vision and mission involves paving a way for more young black children to enter the field of nature conservation, and to also explore more career opportunities.

“My goal is to now teach children in schools, especially in rural areas, about the different career opportunities there are out there to help them broaden their horizon,” he said.

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za