The Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust laboratory tests for zoonotic and transboundary animal diseases to determine what diseases are circulating in different species of wildlife and domestic animals. The laboratory is a registered veterinary laboratory in Zimbabwe, and maintains standards in line with ISO 17025. Presently the laboratory is expanding its capacity to do wildlife forensics.
The Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust laboratory is the only wildlife disease and forensics laboratory in the KAZA region.
Some of the functions of the laboratory are serology, haematology, biochemistry, parasitology, molecular biology (PCR), histology and pathology. The laboratory is also in the process of developing toxicology testing. As one of the only wildlife veterinary laboratories in the region, the Trust works with wildlife authorities to determine why animals are sick, dying or not healthy. Unfortunately with the recent trends in wildlife trafficking and poaching the laboratory has started to undertake analysis in wildlife forensic cases.
The Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust do as much of the disease diagnostics as possible on site and then collaborate with other respective laboratories to send out for specific tests done at outside labs. We work with other laboratories around the world to ensure proper quality control is maintained that that the results of each function are qualified.
If you have a disease question or need samples tested, please E-mail our lab at lab@vicfallswildlifetrust.org or phone +263 782 799 007
If you would like to submit a sample for testing, please download the Submission Form, fill this out and send it with the sample for analysis.
Disease Surveillance and Monitoring
The Trust screens for zoonotic diseases in different species of wildlife and domestic animals. As many of the diseases that are present in wildlife can be transferred to domestic animals and in some cases to humans, this project helps make assessments as to what diseases are circulating. Sampling is done on wildlife as well as domestic animals to look at prevalence rates of a range of diseases. Click the button to Learn More:
Wildlife Forensics
Wildlife populations are under increasing pressures stemming from the illegal trade of wildlife and wildlife products. Questions that arise from these cases of wildlife crime include: What is it? Is it male or female? Where did it come from? How old is it? Is it from a domestic animal or a wild animal? Penalties for many wildlife crimes depend on being able to answer these questions. The Trust is a member of the African Wildlife Forensics Network and is developing capacity to be able to assist wildlife authorities in identifying wildlife crime, training of authorities on wildlife crime scenes, and wildlife crime evidence collection and submissions of samples for wildlife forensic testing. Click the button to Learn More:
