SAVC Registration Examination · South Africa · South African Veterinary Council
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersHealth care of zoo and free-ranging wild animals: management and nutrition, chemical immobilisation, the major wildlife diseases, wildlife law and forensics.
In the exams: SAVC wildlife 10; ACZM and ECZM specialist colleges
SAVC Registration Examination (South Africa)
Paper 4 gives wildlife its own marks. Expect capture and immobilisation principles and their complications, capture myopathy, buffalo as maintenance hosts of SAT foot-and-mouth disease, corridor disease and bovine tuberculosis, anthrax in parks such as Kruger and Etosha, rabies in jackals and kudu, game movement controls and the Animal Diseases Act, and the national biodiversity law.
How our questions for SAVC Registration Examination spread across the units of Wildlife, Zoo Animal & Conservation Medicine. Difficulty: 11 easy, 18 medium, 0 hard.
| Rabies and FMD in wildlife | 6 | |
| Zoo animal management | 5 | |
| Chemical immobilisation | 5 | |
| Capture myopathy | 4 | |
| Zoo animal nutrition | 3 | |
| Tuberculosis and anthrax in wildlife | 3 | |
| Wildlife legislation | 3 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Young lions fed only boneless muscle meat develop lameness and folding fractures. What is the cause?
B. Nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism from a low calcium to phosphorus ratio
Muscle meat is very low in calcium and high in phosphorus; growing carnivores fed it alone mobilise bone and develop soft bones and folding fractures. Whole prey or a calcium source prevents it. Hypervitaminosis A follows liver-rich diets, taurine deficiency affects the heart, and thiaminase is a problem of certain fish.
Further reading: Kleiman, Thompson & Kirk Baer, Wild Mammals in Captivity
A juvenile green iguana kept without an ultraviolet B lamp and fed mostly lettuce has a soft, swollen jaw and swollen limbs. What is the diagnosis?
B. Nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism (metabolic bone disease)
Lack of UVB prevents skin synthesis of vitamin D3, and lettuce is low in calcium, so the iguana mobilises bone, producing fibrous osteodystrophy with a soft jaw and swollen limbs. Hypovitaminosis A affects chelonians' eyes and airways, inclusion body disease affects snakes, and gout is a protein-excess disease.
Further reading: Miller & Fowler, Fowler's Zoo and Wild Animal Medicine
Where should a dart be placed when immobilising a large ungulate?
A. Into a large muscle mass of the hindquarter or shoulder
Darts are placed into large muscle masses of the hindquarter or shoulder for reliable absorption and least risk of injury. Neck shots risk the airway, vessels and spine; flank and chest shots can penetrate the abdomen or thorax and cause fatal injury.
Further reading: West, Heard & Caulkett, Zoo Animal and Wildlife Immobilization and Anesthesia
What is the main reason captures of wild ungulates are planned for the cool part of the day?
C. To reduce the risk of hyperthermia and capture myopathy
Heat from exertion, environment and drug effects causes hyperthermia, which also predisposes to capture myopathy, so captures are timed for cool hours. Dart flight, sunlight inactivation and sleeping animals are not the reasons.
Further reading: West, Heard & Caulkett, Zoo Animal and Wildlife Immobilization and Anesthesia
A translocated impala walks with a dropped hindquarter and hyperflexed hocks three days after capture. Which muscle is classically ruptured?
D. Gastrocnemius
Ruptured muscle syndrome involves rupture of large hind-limb muscles, classically the gastrocnemius, giving a dropped hindquarter and hyperflexed hocks. The back, diaphragm and jaw muscles are not the classic site.
Further reading: West, Heard & Caulkett, Zoo Animal and Wildlife Immobilization and Anesthesia
Which wild species is the main maintenance host of Mycobacterium bovis in Kruger National Park?
A. African buffalo
Buffalo maintain bovine tuberculosis in Kruger; lions, kudu, baboons and other species are spillover hosts infected from buffalo.
Further reading: Williams & Barker, Infectious Diseases of Wild Mammals
What is the WOAH reference test for rabies diagnosis in a dead animal?
C. The direct fluorescent antibody test on fresh brain tissue
The direct fluorescent antibody test on fresh brain tissue is the reference test. Negri bodies are found in neurons, not the liver, and histology is less sensitive; serum tests do not diagnose rabies in the dead animal, and the virus does not grow on bacterial media.
Further reading: Williams & Barker, Infectious Diseases of Wild Mammals
Which statement about CITES Appendix II is correct?
B. Trade needs an export permit issued after a non-detriment finding
Appendix II species may become threatened unless trade is controlled; the exporting country issues an export permit after its scientific authority finds the trade not detrimental. Commercial trade is not banned, permits are required, and control starts with the exporter.
Further reading: CITES text
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