What do you think?
Rate this book
Aiming to Save: A Vet's Life in Conservation
Pursuing a dream instilled by early David Attenborough television adventures, a young man from the industrial northwest of England is advised at school to become a veterinary surgeon as a first step towards a career working with wild animals in Africa.
His misgivings about the values and justification of domestic veterinary practice are contrasted with a passion for wilderness and wildlife conservation. Early experiences in the vivid Uganda of Idi Amin are juxtaposed with life in a grey Pennines veterinary practice.
Eventually arriving as a veterinary officer in newly independent Botswana he finds adventure with wild animals as a veterinarian and later as an ecologist, survey pilot, game capture operator and even a safari hunter, becoming a passionate conservationist… all while starting the first veterinary practice in the country.
Larry Patterson is a wildlife ecologist with a veterinary science degree from Glasgow University, and a master’s degree in Conservation from University College, London. Born in Bolton, he was inspired by David Attenborough to pursue a life in the African bush. Now a wildlife consultant, Larry established Botswana's first veterinary clinic and then a pioneering wildlife capture and translocation company.
His misgivings about the values and justification of domestic veterinary practice are contrasted with a passion for wilderness and wildlife conservation. Early experiences in the vivid Uganda of Idi Amin are juxtaposed with life in a grey Pennines veterinary practice.
Eventually arriving as a veterinary officer in newly independent Botswana he finds adventure with wild animals as a veterinarian and later as an ecologist, survey pilot, game capture operator and even a safari hunter, becoming a passionate conservationist… all while starting the first veterinary practice in the country.
Larry Patterson is a wildlife ecologist with a veterinary science degree from Glasgow University, and a master’s degree in Conservation from University College, London. Born in Bolton, he was inspired by David Attenborough to pursue a life in the African bush. Now a wildlife consultant, Larry established Botswana's first veterinary clinic and then a pioneering wildlife capture and translocation company.
516 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 25, 2022
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 31, 2024
Great chapters, mixed with very boring ones..
July 24, 2025
A must read for any aspiring conservationist
Humerous, delightful, intelligent and thought provoking. A must read if you truly desire an understanding of conservation at ground level.
Humerous, delightful, intelligent and thought provoking. A must read if you truly desire an understanding of conservation at ground level.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews