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Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital

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Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital

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Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital NPC is a dedicated wildlife ONLY veterinary hospital and rehabilitation center in Johannesburg

Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital (JWVH) is a registered non-profit organisation and dedicated to the rescue, treatment, rehabilitation, and release of indigenous South African wildlife. Founded by Dr Karin Lourens in 2017, JWVH was established to fill a crucial gap in wildlife care - providing a fully equipped, specialist veterinary facility that exists solely for wild animals, not domestic pets or livestock. Every patient that comes through our doors - from pangolins, eagles, and owls to genets, bushbabies, and tortoises - receives advanced veterinary care and compassionate treatment tailored to its species-specific needs. Our ultimate goal is always the same: to return each animal to its natural habitat, healthy and free. Our hospital works closely with law enforcement, conservation authorities, and partner organisations to combat the illegal wildlife trade, one of the most urgent conservation crises facing South Africa. Through expert veterinary reports, evidence documentation, and court testimony, JWVH plays an essential role in the enforcement of South Africa’s NEMBA and TOPS regulations, protecting threatened and protected species. Beyond the clinical work, we are deeply committed to education, collaboration, and research. JWVH provides training and mentorship to students and professionals, participates in ongoing scientific research (including pangolin health and post-release monitoring), and actively promotes awareness about the importance of wildlife welfare and conservation ethics. As a non-profit hospital, JWVH receives no government funding and depends entirely on donations, grants, sponsorships, and volunteer support to continue our work. Every contribution helps us save lives, rehabilitate wildlife, and preserve South Africa’s natural heritage. At the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital, true conservation is hands-on, relentless, and guided by compassion, science, and teamwork.

All donations are tax deductible as we are a public benefit organisation. Please email us for more information. Contact us:
071 248 1514 - 24 hours
[email protected]
101 MacGillivray Road, Midrand, Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA

Banking Details
Johannesburg Wildlife NPC
FNB Cheque account
Account: 62658400264
Branch Code: 255355

21/10/2026

We are incredibly grateful to TRANCEMISSION for choosing the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital as one of their beneficiaries.

Thank you for supporting the work we do for South Africa’s wildlife - every contribution truly makes a difference.

19/10/2026

Rocky: a small rise in a blood result, an enormous reason for hope.

When Rocky arrived at the end of September, he carried the devastating consequences of prolonged starvation and deep, infected wounds beneath his scales. We suspect he had spent more than three weeks without food, confined in his own urine and faeces.

After three long weeks of intensive veterinary care, we are cautiously optimistic that he may finally be turning a corner.

His care has involved constant reassessment, hours of reading and valuable discussions with trusted colleagues, including Dr Debbie English at Hoedspruit Animal Hospital - ProVet, as well as veterinary specialists. These complicated patients demand teamwork, careful observation and a willingness to keep learning.

Today’s reason for hope? A little protein called albumin.

Made by the liver, albumin transports substances around the body and helps keep fluid within the bloodstream. In critically ill pangolins, it is one of the blood results we watch particularly closely.
Dr K’s master’s research helped establish blood reference intervals for Temminck’s pangolins, providing a much-needed foundation for interpreting their results. The published albumin reference interval for the analyser we use is 27–41 g/L.

But that research was only the beginning. Almost a decade of caring for these extraordinary animals has continued to refine how we interpret those numbers.

A result within a reference interval does not, on its own, mean an animal has recovered. From our clinical experience, we look for albumin consistently above 30before considering a pangolin ready for release - alongside wound healing, sustained weight gain, independent feeding and its overall health.

Rocky’s deep, draining wounds have been a major source of protein loss. His albumin fell to 16 g/L, a dangerously low level.

Today, it was 19 g/L.

Still far too low. Still a very sick pangolin. But an upward trend that gives us hope.

Getting here has taken meticulous wound care, daily tube feeding, carefully tailored medications and supplements, and blood checks every two to three days. Using very small blood samples allows us to adjust treatment while limiting blood loss in an already anaemic patient.

Our investigations also look beneath the scales. Rocky’s CT scan revealed a large, deep abscess in his tail before it opened through the skin.

Assessing heart function with echocardiography - a cardiac ultrasound - has also been part of our approach for years, following our experience with dilated cardiomyopathy in pangolins suffering from prolonged starvation. This serious condition affects the heart’s ability to pump effectively and is one of the complications we investigate.

Rocky also needed a blood transfusion. We are deeply grateful to Umoya Khulula Wildlife Centre, who helped make blood from a healthy pangolin donor available to him.

His care has included treatments new to our pangolin patients, informed by research and carefully monitored throughout his recovery. We look forward to sharing more about these approaches and what we are learning in a separate post.

Behind all of this are the moments people seldom see: lying awake at two or three in the morning, reading, working through the possibilities and sometimes shedding quiet tears over an animal we are fighting so hard to save.

Almost a decade of dedication to pangolin medicine has brought us here: research informing our care, experience refining our decisions, and every patient teaching us something more.
Rocky is still not out of the woods.

But today, we can see a little sunlight through the trees.

13/10/2026

A little love for bats…

They may not have the best reputation, but bats are some of the most fascinating - and misunderstood - animals we treat.

This little face belongs to an Egyptian free-tailed bat (Tadarida aegyptiaca), a remarkably adaptable species that has learned to live alongside us. In fact, they’re described as “urban exploiters”, happily making use of human-altered environments.

Their long, narrow wings are built for fast, open-air flight, and they often hunt well above the vegetation canopy, feeding on flying insects such as flies, beetles, bugs and moths. In other words, while we’re sleeping, bats are providing us with a completely free nocturnal pest-control service!

Bats are generally harmless animals that want nothing to do with us, despite their rather undeserved reputation as scary, disease-spreading creatures.

And if you’re a regular Kruger Park visitor, you may already know another characteristic of free-tailed bats - their very distinctive smell! If you’ve spent time around the restaurant and shop area at Olifants Rest Camp, chances are you’ve smelled a free-tailed bat colony before you’ve seen it.

Bats are also incredibly important to ecosystems. Some species are pollinators and seed dispersers - there’s even a bat nicknamed the “tequila bat” (The lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae)) because it pollinates agaves, the plants used to make tequila and mezcal.

And one of our favourite facts: Egyptian free-tailed bat females generally have just one baby a year, usually born around November or December - can you imagine the cuteness!

So perhaps it’s time we gave bats a little more appreciation and a lot less fear.

Every little life matters.

Found a bat and not sure what to do?
Please give us a call on 071 248 1514 - our wildlife assistance line is available 24 hours a day.

12/10/2026

Meet Mama Nonsense

Of the hundreds of laughing doves we have hand-raised and released over the years, Nonsense decided that leaving was… well, nonsense.

We raised her from a tiny hatchling, and although she was perfectly free to go, she apparently decided that life at the hospital suited her just fine.

She has since appointed herself an unofficial member of the JWVH team. Her duties mostly involve sitting (and pooping) on Dr K’s computer, supervising our work and providing emotional support whenever she feels it is required.

We did occasionally wonder whether perhaps Nonsense was a little too imprinted on humans.

Turns out we needn’t have worried.

Because look who we found nesting on one of our bookshelves…

Mama Nonsense - with two absolutely tiny, brand-new babies.

Needless to say, the entire JWVH team is now behaving like ridiculously proud grandparents.

And perhaps there is a little reminder in Nonsense’s story too.

Every little life matters.

Not only the rare ones.
Not only the endangered ones.
Not only the charismatic, impressive or “cool” ones.

Sometimes it’s a common little garden dove who steals your heart, chooses your hospital as her home… and starts a family on your bookshelf.

And, in keeping with their mother’s rather unconventional name, we would like to introduce the newest members of the JWVH family:

Mischief and Mayhem.

Welcome to the world, little ones. We are all ridiculously proud grandparents.

07/10/2026

From research to real-world conservation

This week, we are privileged to be attending the 15th Oppenheimer Research Conference (ORC) - a gathering that brings together researchers, conservationists and practitioners from across Africa and beyond to share knowledge, challenge ideas and explore how science can translate into meaningful conservation action.

For us, research and clinical practice have always gone hand in hand.

Dr Karin Lourens is presenting a poster entitled “From Data to Survival: Applying Clinical Baselines to Improve the Rehabilitation of Temminck’s Pangolins.”

Over the years, Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital has treated more than 200 confiscated Temminck’s pangolins. Every patient has taught us something. By combining this extensive clinical experience with species-specific research, we have been able to continually refine how we assess, treat, monitor and rehabilitate these extraordinary animals.

Our work has helped establish species-specific blood reference values for Temminck’s pangolins - giving veterinarians an objective baseline against which to interpret the health of an animal whose outward appearance can be remarkably misleading.

And that matters.

A pangolin may appear bright, responsive and even clinically well while serious disease is developing internally. Blood results, daily weights and trends over time can reveal what outward appearance alone cannot - allowing treatment to be adapted earlier and release decisions to be based on evidence rather than appearance.

This is what we believe good wildlife medicine should be: never static.

We learn from every patient. We measure. We question. We research. We adapt. And as the science evolves, so does the way we care for the animals entrusted to us.

Because better data leads to better decisions - and ultimately, better outcomes for wildlife.

From data to survival. From research to rehabilitation.
Opp-Gen Research and Conservation

28/09/2026

This is what wildlife trafficking looks like.

For security reasons, all pangolins in our care are housed off-site at a secure, undisclosed location.

We admitted this adult male Temminck’s pangolin yesterday.

We cannot show you all of his injuries, but these two photographs tell enough of the story. His face is severely swollen and bruised. He has a deep wound on his head and injuries to his nails. He is severely dehydrated and emaciated.

He has been bruised, battered and broken because someone saw him not as a living, sentient wild animal, but as something to be captured, carried and sold.

This is what greed does.

He is in critical condition, and our team is doing everything we possibly can to save him.

Please keep this beautiful boy in your thoughts. He has already endured far more than any animal should.

24/09/2026

20 tortoises. One journey home.

This Heritage Day, 20 leopard tortoises woke up in the Eastern Cape to the sounds, tastes and smells of home.

For some, the journey back took months. For others, years.

Each arrived at Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital with a different story. Some came to us because people recognised that a wild animal does not belong in a back garden. Others were confiscated by law enforcement after being found in cruel or illegal possession, or caught up in the illicit wildlife trade.

Whatever brought them through our doors, each deserved the same thing: the chance to be a wild tortoise again.

Our team cared for them until they were healthy, strong and ready for release. But rehabilitation isn’t simply about getting an animal well enough to go back into the wild. Where they return matters too.

Genetic testing through SANBI showed that all 20 belonged to the southern genetic clade of leopard tortoises, tracing their natural origin to a specific area of the Eastern Cape.

And suddenly, after everything they had been through, we knew where home was.

Getting 20 rather large leopard tortoises from Johannesburg back where they belong, however, takes a village.

It takes our monthly supporters. People who collect wild melons. People who donate kennels. Aunty Cheryl arriving with bags and bags of fresh grass and succulents for our fussier patients. Corporate supporters who don’t only arrive with funding, but with scrubbing brushes, willing hands and plenty of enthusiasm when 20 tortoises need final health checks and preparing for an early-morning departure.

A very special thank you to Virbac for sponsoring the microchips that allow each of these tortoises to remain permanently identifiable after release.

And then there are the people who quite literally helped us get them home.

A huge thank you to Airlink and Airlink Cargo for once again helping our wildlife get where they belong, and for flying these 20 very precious - and rather heavy! - passengers safely from Johannesburg to the Eastern Cape.

At the other end, the Conservation Landscapes Institute was waiting to help complete the final part of a journey that, for some of these tortoises, had begun years before.

From veterinarians, geneticists and conservation ecologists to law-enforcement officers, donors, drivers, pilots, cargo teams, corporate supporters and the people protecting the land to which these animals returned - every person played a part.

And perhaps that is what Heritage Day means to us.

Our natural heritage isn’t only something we inherit.

It is something entrusted to us.

The wild places, animals and ecosystems that make South Africa extraordinary are ours to protect - so that one day, they can be inherited by our children and theirs.

Today, 20 leopard tortoises are back where they belong because a remarkable number of people chose to care, to help and to work together.

Twenty little pieces of South Africa’s natural heritage are home.

Happy Heritage Day from all of us at Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital.

07/09/2026

214 RESCUED WILD ANIMALS ARE NOW IN OUR CARE - AND WE URGENTLY NEED YOUR HELP.

Hundreds of animals were recently removed from a property during a joint law-enforcement operation, following serious concerns regarding illegal possession and the conditions in which they were being kept.

214 reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates were admitted into the care of Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital.

Their arrival came with virtually no warning. Many required immediate veterinary attention and emergency stabilisation, while our team simultaneously had to identify, capture, assess, transport, treat and establish appropriate housing for an extraordinary number and diversity of species.

Our new patients include snakes, lizards, geckos, tortoises, frogs, spiders and other species. Many are vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered, and all now require appropriate specialist care.

As this matter is the subject of ongoing legal proceedings, we cannot disclose further details about the circumstances of the case.

What we can tell you is that their rescue was only the beginning.

These animals cannot simply be placed into enclosures and fed. Different species have highly specific veterinary, nutritional and environmental needs. Providing the correct temperatures, humidity, UV lighting, diets, supplements, medication and housing for so many animals is an enormous undertaking - and one we could never manage without your support.

Right now, monetary donations will help us most.

They allow us to purchase exactly what is needed, when it is needed, and to adapt as each animal's veterinary and husbandry requirements change.
Whether you can give R50, R100, R500, R10 000 or more, every contribution helps us give these animals the specialist care they need and, wherever possible, work towards their eventual release or repatriation.

BANKING DETAILS
Johannesburg Wildlife NPC
Bank: FNB
Account number: 626 584 00264
Branch code: 255355
SWIFT code: FIRNZAJJ
Reference: REPTILE RESCUE + YOUR NAME

Please send proof of payment to [email protected] if you require an acknowledgement or Section 18A donation receipt.

If you cannot donate, please share this post. Reaching someone who can help is valuable too.

214 lives have suddenly become our responsibility. Please help us give every one of them the chance they deserve.

02/09/2026

PYRAMIDING IS NOT JUST COSMETIC

This female leopard tortoise was recently brought to the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital by SAPS.

Her shell was profoundly deformed by severe pyramiding. It had become so thick and misshapen that she could no longer withdraw her head and both front legs into her shell at the same time.

But what we could see on the outside was only part of the disease.

Swipe through the photographs.

Radiographs showed that despite the extraordinary thickness of her shell, the underlying bone was abnormal and porous, with areas of reduced density and small pathological fractures, including abnormalities involving bones of the skull.

Thicker did not mean stronger.

She was also carrying eggs. Egg production places significant additional calcium demands on a female tortoise - particularly concerning when calcium metabolism and skeletal mineralisation are already severely compromised.

After assessing the extent of her disease and prognosis, we made the hard decision to humanely euthanise her.

The post-mortem examination revealed just how sick she was. Her liver was profoundly abnormal - enlarged, uniformly yellow and extremely friable. She had virtually no body-fat reserves, and the sac surrounding her heart contained a large volume of fluid.

This was not an otherwise healthy tortoise with an ugly shell.

She was severely ill, and she was suffering.
Tortoises are remarkably stoic. They naturally move slowly and do not express pain and illness in ways that people readily recognise. Chronic deterioration can therefore go unnoticed for a very long time.

Still walking does not mean healthy.
Still eating does not mean pain-free.

Early metabolic bone disease can often be treated. But years of severe skeletal deformity and advanced systemic disease cannot simply be reversed by correcting the diet and adding UVB.

Please don't dismiss severe pyramiding as cosmetic.
Sometimes the shell is telling us what the tortoise cannot.

For more information about severe pyramiding, metabolic bone disease and the science behind this case, please see our comment below.

01/09/2026

BEHIND THE CARE
THANK YOU, EmerAidVet, EmerAid

There are some incredible veterinary and animal-health companies behind the scenes at Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital whose support helps us care for our patients every single day.

Over the next few weeks, we'd like to introduce you to some of them and say a very public THANK YOU. We'll be doing it alphabetically – simply because every company supports us in a different way, and every contribution matters.

First up is EmerAid

Nutrition is an incredibly important part of wildlife medicine. Many of the animals arriving at our hospital are sick, injured, severely compromised or simply too young to feed themselves, and providing the right nutritional support can be every bit as important as medication or surgery.

And when you treat hundreds of different indigenous species, one diet certainly doesn't fit all!
From the tiniest baby birds to reptiles, mammals and some of our most critically ill patients, we use different EmerAid formulations throughout the hospital as part of our nutritional support and rehabilitation protocols.

And here's the really special part: EmerAid/Lafeber sponsors ALL of the EmerAid we use.
That is an extraordinary contribution to a wildlife hospital where every patient is treated completely free of charge.

These two photographs perhaps say it better than we ever could – two very different patients, both benefiting from specialised nutritional support.
Thank you, EmerAid, for helping us give our wild patients the nutrition they need to heal, grow stronger and, ultimately, return to where they belong – the wild.

We are incredibly grateful to have you behind our care.

Address

101 MacGillivray Road, Midrand
Johannesburg

Opening Hours

Monday	08:00 - 16:00
Tuesday	08:00 - 16:00
Wednesday	08:00 - 16:00
Thursday	08:00 - 16:00
Friday	08:00 - 16:00
Saturday	09:00 - 16:00
Sunday	09:00 - 16:00

Telephone

+27712481514

Website

https://www.johannesburgwildlifevet.com/, https://www.johannesburgwildlifevet.com/make-a-donation.html

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