Know your bucks from your does? Know your American cinnamons from your American minks? Come along to hear Mary Giles talk to us about pet rats then meet the rats afterwards!
Mary is a fancy rat breeder from the Cambridge area and has a wealth of experience with fancy rat varieties, husbandry, health, diet, breeding and behaviour. This will be a fantastic opportunity to learn more about these increasingly popular pets!

Simon Shore is a partner at Ash Croft Veterinary Surgery and has a passion for reptile medicine, seeing reptile cases on a regular basis and offering medical and surgical treatments. He hopes to instil us with some of his wisdom, providing a guide on how to approach diagnosis and treatment in reptile cases, illustrating this with common problems seen and how to avoid them!

Andrea is a comparative wildlife nutritionist responsible for menu-planning for 450+ species at Chester Zoo, a leading zoological collection with an international reputation for conservation, research and education. Based there since 2002, Andrea remains the only full-time nutritionist employed by a UK zoo and has lectured at universities and zoos in Europe, North America, South Africa, India and China.
Following her Zoology degree, she conducted research on endangered species, completed an MSc in nutrition and PhD in avian ecology and designed specialist software for university teaching and zoos. Her specialist expertise was recognised this year by an invitation to join the World Conservation Union's Captive Breeding Specialist Group.

Saturday 9am - 5am, Sunday 9am - 2pm at the vet school
£40 for CUVZS members, £45 for non-members
includes 3 course black tie dinner with the speakers at a Cambridge college

Join CUVZS for a weekend of talks and practical demonstrations given by experts at the cutting edge of animal conservation. See the different ways vets can be involved in this field, fill in some gaps which are lacking from your vet course, and be inspired to consider a career in conservation or wildlife medicine!

For further information, see the CUVZS Symposium Poster.

Andrew Cushings is coming to talk to us about how he got into working as an exotics and zoo vet in the Norfolk area and how any other aspiring wildlife vets could do the same. Featuring advice on how to gain experience and even jobs working in zoos, safari parks, exotics practices and wildlife clinics!

Come along to hear more about the exciting programs offered by Bush Direct in South Africa and Botswana. Students work in small groups under the guidance of an experienced local wildlife vet and have the opportunity to actively participate in the capture and care of wildlife.
Bush Direct is a not for profit organization and unlike many other companies works with only small groups of students at a time.
For more info have a look at the Bush Direct website

As parrot breeders, editors of the parrot society magazine and owners of many birds themselves, David Coombes and Lesley Rance are going to enlighten us on parrot husbandry, breeding, species differences, nutrition and more.

George Duncalf has been rescuing and rehabilitating raptors at Fenland rescue for over 10 years and is has kindly agreed to bring his expertise, and a few of his birds, up to the vet school for a morning of talks and demonstrations!
This is an amazing opportunity to learn more about raptors, and to see these amazing birds close up. He will be sharing his extensive knowledge on identifying species, differences in hunting technique, raptor anatomy, basic care, handling, rehabilitation and more!

Julian Drewe, research fellow in Veterinary Epidemiology at RVC, is coming to talk to us about his recent work on TUBERCULOSIS IN WILD MEERKATS IN THE KALAHARI and the role of social interactions in transmission. He is particularly interested in the epidemiology of zoonotic diseases that may pass between wildlife, domestic animals and humans, and is currently working in this field in the UK looking at wildlife- domestic animal interactions in TB.

Jill Pearson is lecturing in exotics veterinary medicine at the University of Cambridge as well as working in private practice specialising in reptiles, birds and small furries.

John and Margaret Cooper are a husband and wife team, from the United Kingdom. John E Cooper trained as a veterinary surgeon and is now a specialist pathologist with particular interests in wildlife and exotic species, tropical diseases and comparative medicine. Margaret E Cooper is a lawyer who trained originally as a British solicitor and has made the study of animal and conservation law her special interest. The Coopers have travelled widely and lectured together in many countries. They have spent nearly ten years living in Africa, including a period in Rwanda working with the mountain gorillas. Until July this year, they were based at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago where they combined their medical and legal backgrounds in the promotion of an interdisciplinary approach to veterinary and biological education, wildlife conservation and forensic science.

• Mobile Zoo - featuring snakes, frogs, lizards, creepie crawlies and a meerkat!
• Free Pimms, cake, icecream and more
• Giant Games, Volleyball