Dr Johan Marais - Early Exposure to These Iconic and Magnificent Animals Like Elephants, Lions, and Rhino, Made a Huge Impression on Me (Founder "Saving the Survivors" From The United Kingdom)

One of the biggest challenges of working with animals like elephants, rhino, and giraffes that sustained a poaching injury, is to be able to treat these wounds effectively in these large, wild animals. One has to think completely out of the box when treating these animals, as you cannot confine them to a stable afterward and change your dressings or bandages daily.  

1. What was your earliest memory of interacting with animals and empathizing with them?

This was when I was 5 years old, and I clearly remember two things

1. Feeding orphaned lion cubs in Etosha and 

2. Feeding an orphaned White rhino also in Etosha where we lived.

2. How did the experiences of your childhood impact you to become the person you are today?

I think partly growing up in a National Park like Etosha in Namibia had a huge impact on me when I was a child. Spending time with my father in the bush and seeing the vast landscape of Etosha that is both so unique and varied and home to a wide variety of animals, cemented my love for wildlife already from a young age. 

In the dry season, we use to have gatherings on the massive Etosha pan in the middle of nowhere, and it almost felt like we were camping on the moon, with the odd giraffe and elephant casually strolling by. This all nurtured a love within me for wildlife and the great outdoors, and that love for nature, whether it is in Africa, Asia, or the Americas, has never left me.

3. What inspired you to become a veterinary surgeon?

I think the early exposure to some of these iconic and magnificent animals like elephants, lions, and rhino, made a huge impression on me. Also seeing my father working with wildlife as a game ranger, motivated me to want to work with animals. He asked me when I was 7 years old, what I want to be, and my answer was "a Game Ranger, like you”. Eventually, I opted to become a veterinarian, as my scope of work would be so much bigger to work with both wildlife and domesticated animals.

4. Would you like to share the story of how you started dealing with the poaching crisis and treating injured animals? How did “Saving the Survivors” begin?

Saving the Survivors was started in 2012 after we realized that something needed to be done to try and save some of these rhino survivors, after a poaching incident. The reason was twofold: - 

1. Most of these injuries were so severe that it took several months to years to heal with the appropriate treatment, and one could not expect owners to pay for that, and 

2. Believe it or not, there is almost no scientific evidence out there on rhinos, except that the horn is made of keratin and the anatomy of the reproductive system has been researched. 

There is no info on the anatomy of the rhino, which painkillers and antibiotics work in rhino, or even the physiology of the rhino. It was and still is, therefore problematic to treat rhino  However, STS has contributed significantly to develop several groundbreaking techniques over the last 9 years to be able to treat facial injuries, fractures, and gunshot wounds in rhino successfully. 

5. “Saving the Survivors” has been of help to a lot of injured animals since 2012. Do you have any specific targets you wish to achieve in the coming years?

There has been a downward trend in the amount of rhino poached over the last few years, and the reason for this is that the amount of rhino is much less, unfortunately. It is clear that we do not nearly have the number of rhino anymore, that we had back in 2008. For instance, Kruger National Park had 10,500 White rhino in 2008, and that diminished to 3500 in 2019. 

Apart from still focusing on treating injured, endangered wildlife like lion, rhino, and elephant, we aim to start a breeding project with both Black and White rhino, as well as to start working with communities next to reserves to 

a. Educate them about the environment and wildlife and, 

b. To have them benefit from these reserves so they can assist with the protection and well-being of our heritage.  

6. Poaching remains to be a serious problem all over the world to date in spite of it being illegal. What do you think can be done by the public as well as the governments in order to better the situation?

The general public has the power to firstly create awareness of what is currently happening with these iconic animals like rhino, elephant, giraffe, and tigers, (to name but a few), by sharing content on social media and talking between themselves, so that more and more people get to know about the dire situation.  Secondly, the general public can support organizations like Saving the Survivors to enable us to save more animals and to put measures in place that will prevent poaching and injury to these animals. 

7. Your profession requires you to both travel in the wilderness, as well as create awareness in public. What are the biggest challenges you have dealt with, both on and off-field?

Firstly, one of the biggest challenges of working with animals like elephants, rhino, and giraffes that sustained a poaching injury, is to be able to treat these wounds effectively in these large, wild animals. One has to think completely out of the box when treating these animals, as you cannot confine them to a stable afterward and change your dressings or bandages daily.  

It, therefore, forces you to come up with new and innovative ways to treat these injuries like fractures, facial wounds of a rhino after the horn has been hacked off, and gunshot wounds.

Secondly, the other challenge off-field is to try to work with people and get conservationists to all work together for the betterment of our planet.  None of us can work in silos, so we need each other to assist and support each other, whether it is across borders in Africa, or across oceans. We have all got something to contribute and if we can put our egos, greed, and politics aside, I believe we can properly tackle some of our biggest challenges we currently face in conservation worldwide.   

8. Who are your role models and why?

Has to be my Father, for instilling, encouraging, and supporting my love for animals, wildlife, and nature. 

Then also Nelson Mandela, as a person that gets locked away for 27 years, but comes out and with his intelligence, intellectual curiosity,  strategic vision, and tactical nous, unites a country that is probably on the brink of civil war. 

That is not to say everybody is perfect and does not make mistakes, but then again, we have to remember none of us are perfect. 

Dr. Johan Marais - Founder "Saving The Survivors" 

Interviewed By: Nishad Kinhikar