September 23, 2023 • 39 mins
Dr. Derr is a Professor of Veterinary Pathobiology and Genetics at Texas A&M University. He is the Director of the DNA Technologies Core Laboratory and served as the Chair of the Faculty of Genetics at Texas A&M University and the President of the Texas Genetics Society. For over 25 years, he has directed worldwide research projects in wildlife and livestock conservation genetics. This body of work has produced more than 75 scientific publications reporting original research on many different species. For example, his research program has produced articles on North American bison, bottlenose dolphins, domestic and wild cats, elk, pronghorn antelope, sheep, quail, white-tailed and mule deer, bowhead whales, domestic livestock and multiple fish species.
In addition, Dr. Derr is an impactful educator through his teaching efforts in undergraduate genetics courses to students interested in medicine (human and veterinary) and he has mentored over 100 graduate students in the fields of conservation/population genetics and animal health. One of Dr. Derr’s most popular courses is “Wildlife Conservation Medicine”. This course is designed for first- and second-year veterinary students to travel to South Africa and Botswana to learn how to chemically immobilize, treat and transport everything from African plains game to dangerous game. His efforts with these young veterinarians ensure they graduate with specialized knowledge and skills to handle health care and conservation issues with the tremendous number of exotic wildlife species here in the State of Texas on private ranches and preserves.
In addition, Dr. Derr is an impactful educator through his teaching efforts in undergraduate genetics courses to students interested in medicine (human and veterinary) and he has mentored over 100 graduate students in the fields of conservation/population genetics and animal health. One of Dr. Derr’s most popular courses is “Wildlife Conservation Medicine”. This course is designed for first- and second-year veterinary students to travel to South Africa and Botswana to learn how to chemically immobilize, treat and transport everything from African plains game to dangerous game. His efforts with these young veterinarians ensure they graduate with specialized knowledge and skills to handle health care and conservation issues with the tremendous number of exotic wildlife species here in the State of Texas on private ranches and preserves.
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(00:00):
The Houston Safari Club Foundation is afive zero one C three nonprofit organization that
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matters to us. This is HuntingMatters presented by Houston Safari Club Foundation.
Here's Joe Btar. Good morning everyone, and welcome back the Hunting Matters on
Pine. What is that A lotof coffee? Wow? Yeah, you're
intense boy. You know, thefaster you talk doesn't mean the show goes
faster. Well just yeah, peopleget make out what I'm saying. Then,
(01:14):
how are you this fine Saturday morning? I am, well, it
is good to be here. Ijust want you to know him a fool
in his money will soon depart orsoon we'll soon be parted. And would
you would you do? I paidthirty nine dollars for a professional calligrapher to
redesign my signature. Really, Ihaven't got it yet because it takes him
(01:37):
a couple of days. So walkme through this. You get the signature
back from them, and then that'show you're going to start writing your name.
Sign my name. Yeah, theygive you a little video of a
two to show you how you drawit, but it's very you pick the
style. There's different, you know, formats funds. They ask you do
you want it to be legible oryou know you've seen some athletes signatures doctors
(01:57):
for you? Okay, yeah,yeah, so they want you know,
they ask you fifteen questions, howdo you want you know? What's the
style? What are you looking for? Do you want any special characters,
any hidden symbol or anything? Andthirty nine bucks I'll get back. Why
you don't like your signature? No? I love my signature. I love
it but I saw this and Ithought, well, I liked my signature
(02:20):
because when I was eighteen or fifteenwhatever, that's just the way I started
signing things. And here we arethirty years later. I thought, well,
let me just see what a calligraphercould come up with regarding my name.
Are you back in the Witness Protectionprogram? Has wit sec taken over
this Stowe game? I mean,what's okay? Yeah, it's just you
know, live a little bitar Yeah, you know, well that's cool.
(02:42):
I'll have to get when I getit. I can't wait to see your
false falsified signature that I'll give himbefore and after. Why was it?
Why does it say Ronald ellor BThat's funny. Yeah, yep. Oh,
and I also got a gun,but yeah, I know, we
were looking at guns earlier. We'rein the home studio. By the way,
(03:04):
I don't want you out to thinkwe bring rifles to work. It's
not allowed. Tell tell folks whatyou got. It is a Ruger UH
integrated suppressed rifle bolt action chambered inforty four and the bullets travel out at
the front very quickly. It's goodthey go out of the front. Yeah,
I thought it was funny that wewere both messing around, passing back
and forth, and we came tothe realization we're both right handed, left
(03:28):
eye dominant, and you were talkingabout having to work with a right handed
bolt on a gun, and Iguess you know, over the years,
I've had so many right handed guns. Being a left eye dominant. It's
just second nature doesn't bother me eitherway. I mean, it's it's an
added Yeah, it's an added bonus. My brain automatically just goes over that
right handed bolt and no problem.So yeah, so yeah, you hold
the gun with your left hand whileyou cycle with your right. Yeah,
(03:50):
I reach around, yeah and cyclewith my left. And I've heard that
about you. You like a goodreason, man, We've you go on
because this is this is going downhillfast. Let's give a quick cupdate what's
happening with the course of our show. Sponsor Houston's fire Club Foundation's fire Club
Foundation is a five O one Cthree nonprofit. It is a membership based
(04:12):
organization that's all all about hunting,conservation, and the future of hunting.
And this organization does something probably justabout every month, sometimes twice a month.
We recently did two events, butcoming up is the annual Houston Fire
Club Foundation Sporting Clay's Tournament at GradyHouston Sports Club on October the fifth,
then November eighth at the HSCF offices. They're going to be working with US
(04:35):
Law Shield and they'll be providing afirst aid course for gunshot wound victims.
Unfortunately, that's something that, yeah, that we need in this day and
age, or should at least beprepared for. Unfortunately. But that's November
eighth. That He's Fire Club Foundation'scorporate offices, and you can go to
we Hunt we Give. That's weHunt we give dot org and check out
Houston's Fire Club and all the upcomingevents and sign up to become a member.
(04:59):
I messed up at this warning toclear the air. I didn't want
to get emails. It's a Rugerseventy seven because I was thinking the ammunition
ruger. Sorry, not that thatmatters to anybody but me, but I'm
just just stickling for Yeah, details, I like it. I'd like to
thank You've got the integrated suppressor onit. Yeah, that's the only bad
thing is when you're waiting on thestamp, you can't have the gun period
because it's integrated. It's not moving, so you had to just look at
(05:19):
it was like going into a nurseryand just waving at your baby. That's
what I was doing to pick itup when it actually think graduates kindergarten.
Thanks. Sometimes that's going nice,but not when you're waiting for a guy.
Yeah, all right, let's getto our guest today. Our guest
today is doctor James Dirt. DoctorDIRR is the professor of Veterinary Pathobiology and
(05:40):
Genetics. It takes Texas A andM University. I feel stupid already.
Yeah, doctor Dirt, thanks somuch for joining us. Hey, thank
you for having me. I'm intimidated, to be honest. There'll be a
quiz after the show. We'll haveto have a genetics, uh mid term
exam at the end of this andsay we learned anything. Doctor. You
(06:04):
and I have worked together off andon several years, and I'm quite familiar
with your program. But tell ourfolks who are listening kind of what your
role is at Texas A and MUniversity. So I'm a professor at Texasan
University in the School of Veterninary Medicine. I've been here for just about thirty
(06:24):
years. I'm a geneticist, andso I do genetics research primarily. Now
I do genetics research with wildlife aroundthe world. Okay, And what chose
you show? What led you tochoose that career path when you were a
kid coming up? Is it geneticsand something that's always of interest to you?
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Was it a veterinary medicine? Howdid you kind of head down that
path? You know? When Iwent to school as an undergraduate and I
went to college. I'm majored inbiology, and my dream job when I
started as a freshman in college wasto be a game warden. That's I
thought that was the ultimate job forunifying because you get to be with blahlah,
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you got to be outside, youget to be around hunters, and
I thought, and that would beso cool. And I spent every minute
I could in the field when Iwas a kid, and when I was
a freshman in biology, we hada guest speaker come to one of the
clubs I was in and he wasthe local game warden. And during the
question and answer period, somebody askedhim to see a hunter and he said,
(07:30):
yeah, yeah, yeah, I'ma hunter, but I don't get
to hunt much because the days Iwork or the day or hunting days,
and my days off are the day'sout of season. And I thought about
that. I thought, who waita minute, Yeah, that's not gonna
work for me. And so Istarted thinking right then when I was a
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freshman, I may need to tryto find something else, because if I
have to work on hunting days,I'm not going like that very much.
And then I said, then Itook a genetics class, and I realized
it just kind of clicked for mewhen I took that genetics class. Genetics
for me is the key to understandingjust about everything about biology. And so
(08:16):
I decided, you know what,I'm going to pursue genetics. I ended
up getting a PhD. And uh, take that course versus having to miss
all your hunting Daggs. We're goingto take a quick break here on Hunting
Matters KPRC nine fifty. We seeafter the break and he dogs and Nickel
and nickels no graduate assistant be thereis as Welcome back to Hunting Matters on
(09:20):
KPRC. Now I'm fifty. Thisis your host, Joe Batar. I
am Ramone Robelists, and our guesttoday is doctor James Dirt. Doctor Dirt
is the professor of veterinary pathobiology andGenetics at Texas A and M. Doctor
der welcome again to the show.Thank you good to be here. Doctor.
I was just looking at your CVand h our rs kind of marry
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each other pretty significantly cool. Yeah, just everything, but the whole education
part. Other than that, we'repractically kindred spirits. We are in step.
This is impressive. What have Idone with my life? Doctor?
(10:05):
You know, one of the thingsis we're gonna we're gonna dig into some
of the programs and things here aswe talk on the show. But I
at one time had a dream ofbeing a veterinarian actually a small and large
animal VET, and worked for aVET for about two and a half years
as a surgical technician and as aveteran technician. And the practice I worked
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for had three veterinarians. One wasfrom LSU, one was from Auburn,
and one was from Texas A andM. And that group was so competitive
versus on a day, you know, diagnosing surgical procedures that sort of think
it was hilarious. And the onething that really impressed me about the guy
from A and M that I workedfor was A There were a lot of
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people actually came in day to dayand said, oh, well we sought
you out because we and this wasback you know, this was back when
I was eighteen nineteen years old,so years ago. People walking to say,
oh, you went to A andM. Wow, well we sought
you out because the A and Mveterinary program has such a phenomenal reputation.
(11:07):
I mean I heard that several times. Do you guys, I know,
you know the program overall has suchis diverse, has many many offerings,
has such a great reputation worldwide.Correct, Oh, most certainly. We're
pretty proud of that. Yeah,I mean it's just it's just I hear
people that are like, well,we're we're in line to go to Texas
A and M. We my doghas a special cancer or something and they
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can't diagnose. And I mean Ihear that all the time from friends and
family. It's it's just amazing,and the reputation is just unprecedented. Now
the VET program works with and sharesdo you guys, I know you do
a lot of stuff internationally. Now, do you guys work with other veteranariy
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programs? Around the country and sharedata and research and all that sort of
thing. Oh, most certainly.I mean, you know, really the
veterinary community, at least at theVET school level, it's it's a pretty
small community really, you know,because for the most part, if the
state has a VET school, theyonly have one. Now we have two
VET schools here in Texas now becausethere's one, but that makes us a
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pretty unusual state to have two statessupported vet schools. Uh, you know,
there's there's a limited number of atschools. And yeah, sure we
all know each other from around thecountry, attend meetings on a yearly basis
and catch up with our colleagues fromaround the US and also from around the
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world, because all in all,you know, that community is a fairly
small community worldwide. How many studentsdo you guys graduate on average every year?
So our our classifieses have been inenlarging, they've been getting bigger every
year. I think that right nowit's about a hundred and eighty students or
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so in the incoming class that juststarted last month here the first year of
a school class around one hundred andeighty right now per class. Okay,
that's a pretty good size it's morethan I thought. I think back when
I was in college at Louisiana orLSU was doing I don't know, forty
or last sometimes. But is therestill a big demand for vets? But
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of all ILKs and practices across theUS, like they're like they used to
be. Oh, most certainly.Yeah, there's a large demand for vets.
Our students don't have any trouble gettingjobs once they graduate from here.
I do believe. I think we'rethe largest of at school in the country
as far as the number of studentsthat we have, you know, as
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you know, as highly competitive toget into our best school. So students
that get in here all you know, we refer to most of them,
all, all of them actually asover achievers. Do they all show up
here. They're all academic superstars andthey all show up here. Smart kids,
very enthusiastic, very interested in learningabout veterinary medicine and helping animals.
(14:05):
Right right, you know, I'mgonna ask you something totally all base here
talking about, you know, ourlove of our pets and how they're parts
of our family and things like that. My wife and I had my wife
and I have had this conversation severaltimes over the past several years. We've
got three Yorkies. I don't knowhow I got three Yorkis living at our
house. What we do, andwe constantly shake our heads and things.
(14:26):
You know, Back when we werekids and when our grandparents were growing up
with dogs, it was like throwa bone, or throw the leftovers in
the yard. Whatever, Oh,they've got worms here, let's do this
whatever. The business of veterinary medicine, especially in relation to household pets,
has skyrocketed, and I'm sure there'sa lot of science behind it and that
sort of thing. There's better dietarythings that aren't there for your dogs and
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things like that. But it's Imean, during the course of your career,
although I know this is not yourfocus, have you been as flabbergasted
as the average consumers about how,you know, household pet healthcare is changed?
Well, just like you. Imean, our dogs are part of
our family at my house, youknow, and so a whole lot of
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people are like that. I mean, they become not only pets, but
they become, you know, membersof your family, and you do things
with them, you include them andthings. When I was a kid,
we did had dogs. We hadhunting dogs, but for the most part
they were hunting dogs. They weren'tnecessarily inside the house pets. And now
people live with their animals, theyspend more time with them, and I
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think in general people are interested ingood medical care for those animals. And
it's probably more now than it was. Certainly was is more now than it
was when I was young. Itseems like, yeah, I don't recall
when I was a kid taking agood dog or cat in for a wellness
check, you know, but Imean they got their shots, and they
got wormed, and here you gotake this pop home. You know,
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the kind of deal, you know. I remember when I was a kid,
if we took an animal to thatmarian or the veterinarian came out to
treat an animal, usually that animalwas ready to die. Yeah, I
mean it was usually really bad shape, right, And preventative care woms not
something that I remember us doing alot of when I was a child,
but now it's certainly an important partof its. Two things. One,
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I can't believe that they have petinsurance now for health health pet insurance and
true doctor I love. I havethree dogs of my own. I love
them. But is there a lawor something we can do as a society
to prevent people from referring to dogsas fur babies? Yeah, we have
fur babies and we have pocket petsand they have all time. Yeah.
(16:42):
Absolutely, Well we're going to diginto this even more, but I kind
of want to kick it off beforewe got a couple of minutes left in
this segment. But Texas A andM University, and I'm sure a lot
of people don't know this, butwe know it. I know it because
I'm kind of close to the program. You guys have a program that offers
education abroad courses and I'm typically talkingabout the Africa Wildlife Medicine course. You
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kind of want to touch on thisjust a little bit before we going to
break When, how and why didthis program start? So this program,
I started this program African Whilife Medicine. It's been about ten or twelve years
ago. Like I, like Isaid earlier, I do wildlife genetics research
all over the world, and Iwas doing a lot of work in Africa,
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and I was going over there alot, collecting a lot of DNA
samples from all kinds of wildlife overthere and working with a lot of professional
hunters to do that. And youknow, one day I saw our former
dean in the hallway here at schooland she said, you know, I
signed off on all of year travelto go to Africa, and I'm pay
attention to all the research you're doing. She said, why don't you start
taking some veterinary students with you andyou know, give them some some education
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in exotic wildlife species. And Isaid, okay, So I started taking
some bet students with me, andthat was about ten or twelve years so,
and then after a year or twoof that, we decided to make
a formal education abroad class out ofit. That's pretty cool, that's very
cool. I wanted to learn moreabout this because it's it's I I've looked
at some information and date on it, and it's it's amazing what you guys
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are doing over there. We're gonnatake a quick break with our guest today,
doctor James Durr, Professor of VeterinaryPathobiology Genetics at Texas A and M
University. We'll be back on theother side on honey Matters KPRC nine fifty
okay seven seven seven. In joyjokes, he keeps seven and seven seven
(19:18):
into well, come back to Honeymatterson KPRC nine fifty. This is your
host, Joe Batar. I amRamone robeless, So Ramone, I promised
you have a bad veterinary Jokey mangoes into the veterinary and and he's got
his goldfish in a bowl and hesays, I think my goldfish is having
seizures. And the vet looks intothe bowl and says, well, he
(19:38):
looks okay to me. The guygoes, yeah, wait till I take
him out of the water. Thoughit's pretty funny, that's pretty bad joining
us today. I've insulted his intelligencewith that joke. In his profession,
Doctor James Derr, the Professor ofveterinary Pathobiology and Genetics at Texas A and
M University, Doctor Dirt, thanksonce again for joining us. Thank you
(20:00):
happy to be here. I'm sureRamona is going to ask us, so
I got to ask you this anyway. Do you have any bad veterinarian jokes
you can share on the air.You know I do, but I try
not have to tell them in comWell, we'll have to have we'll have
to have a beer, and youcan tell us tell us that one offline
we were talking about the Yeah,we were talking about the African Wilife Medicine
(20:22):
course that's offered at text same universityout Now, you take these trips once
twice a year, how often doyou go? So we take students to
Africa once a year, but wetake two different classes and the classes are
just back to back. So Igo over there and I stay over there
and teach both. And how manystudents are you usually teaching over there during
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those courses? So we've had differentnumbers over the years. We've taken sixteen
one time, We've taken twelve threeor four times fourteen. We're kind of
right now settled at twelve students perclass. Do you get any more than
that? It's hard to give studentsaccess to get to do all the things
that we do. Twelve students isplenty to keep track of. So I
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like twelve students, two classes atwelve students each. So in total we
take twenty four students a year toAfrica, and we're typically these students,
are they sophomores, freshmen? Whereare they in their education? So this
class was originally designed just to takeveterinary students, so it would be students
in their first or second year ofthat school. So that school is a
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four year program, and so thelast two years of the VET school program
they're all doing clinical work, sothey wouldn't have time to fill with this.
But then a few years ago wedecided to also include some really really
strong, academically strong undergraduate students inthis program with the VET students, and
so we take we take a fewjunior and senior level students that are academically
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really really strong and interested in betinarymedicine and insert them right in the class
with first and second year BET students. So you've got a pretty pretty diverse
student audience there in that in thatin that course. That's that's really neat
to hear. And you guys primarilygo to South Africa. Do you go
to other places? Does it veryyear to year? So we have in
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the past, we always go toSouth Africa, and so that our base
of operations is in South Africa,but we've we've traveled over before COVID.
We used to travel across the borderand go to Batauana in or a couple
of places of Batauana, particularly someRhino places that we went and worked.
I've also taken students to the Mabia. I really like going to the Maybia.
I really like the people and Ilike to work over there. But
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at this point now post COVID,the only place we go to South Africa
and we work in the Limpopo districtand we stay at a ranch. It's
called Seringa Ranch. It's owned bya former Texas A and M student and
it is absolutely spectacular place to takeWell, that's good that you've gotta that
you've got an AGGE contact down therethat has that place. That's that's phenomenal
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we do. He was an executivecorporate person and he bought this ranch in
South Africa and built it up andbuilt a really nice launch, great facilities
for the students and very comfortable andwarm and welcoming place for us in our
students. What are some of thegoals, I mean, what at the
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end of the day when these coursesare done, what are some of the
goals that you're hoping to achieve withinfor these students. You know, when
I look at the population of studentsthat we have in vandory and medicine here
at Texas A and M, orany other university. A lot of these
students going to vandinary and medicine.Honestly, the vast majority of these students
(23:51):
don't have any exposure to wildlife.They certainly for most part don't have any
exposure to it what we would callexotic wild life or Africa and wildlife.
And honestly, very few of thesestudents come to these programs with any experience
in hunting. And so my objectiveand teaching this class is to take students
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that are going to be veterinarians.They're veterinary students right now, but they're
going to be veterinarians and expose themto wildlife medicine in the field from some
of the best veterinarians in the world, and and just to give them some
exposures so that they understand the valueof healthy wildlife populations, They understand the
(24:34):
value of hunting for conservation, andthey understand how veterinarians can be very very
important in animal health, wildlife health, and human health all around the world,
not just here in Texas. Doyou guys, when you go there,
are there disease processes or conditions.I know you're dealing with different species
(24:56):
and exotic species. But there arethere some things there in South Africa that
these students are exposed to, notphysically, I mean from an educational standpoint,
that they would never see in theUS that you guys are treating or
dealing with over there. Oh yeah, that's as some of the fun part
of taking students to South Africa's becausewe get to see a lot of cool
(25:17):
stuff. So here in Texas,most people know that we have pretty much
almost completely eradicated screw worm from Texas, and screw worm is a really bad
larvae that is laid by flies ina wound, and screw worms actually eat
living tissue, the nasty, nastythings, and we've pretty much eradicated it
(25:38):
here in Texas. Occasionally it showsup, but it's pretty rare. Now
we go to South Africa, wesee screw worms over there often and treat
that often in long line and manytimes, these young veterinarians this may be
the only time they see that intheir entire career. Were also in South
Africa see put in mouth disease.We see the real cool disease over there
(26:00):
that doesn't occur here in the US, called mumpy skin disease caused by pops
virus. So yes, to answeryour question, there's a lot of really
interesting diseases. I hope these studentsdon't see things like footing mouth here ever
in Texas, but at least whenwe go to South Africa they get a
chance to see it. At leastthey will be a very very small group
(26:23):
of veterinarians that work here in theUS and the future that have seen those
kinds of diseases where they naturally occur. Yeah, and how impactful it must
be for them to treat it firsthand and see it first hand versus reading
about it online or in a book. I mean, I can't imagine that's
something that that'll stick with him forever. And if it does pop up,
heaven forbid in the US or insomething that they said, oh yeah,
(26:45):
I saw that, you know,and I know what to do with it.
Yeah, most definitely, at leastthey've had those those learned experiences.
In addition to that, we workwith five or six wildlife veterinarians in South
Africa. These guys are world class, all like veterinarians, and the students
I encourage them to build a relationshipwith these guys so that when you're back
(27:07):
here in Texas and you need tocapture Let's say you get a call or
you're you're a veterinarian and you geta call and you need to capture an
exotic wildlife species, maybe a draftor maybe a zebra or maybe a kudu,
and you know, somebody needs somehelp with it's out on the highway.
You need to go guard it.You need to get it back where
it needs to be in a safeplace. They have phone numbers. They
can call these guys in South Africa, or they can call me. We
(27:30):
can give them advice on the drugsto use. The drugs that are available
here in the US they can useto capture these animals because let's face it,
all these species are different and youcan't there's no one size fits all
when it comes to twenty or thirtyor forty different exotic widlife species. We
find that these vets may be askedto capture, transport, or treat.
(27:53):
And you know what you're saying here, the things that they're seeing over there,
and after you know, it's probablybecoming some of it's coming more relevant
as the the exotics species population expandsin Texas and across the US as well.
Oh my goodness. Yes, there'smore and more of these things,
more and more opportunities for vanary inmedicine to come in and intervene here in
(28:15):
Texas. And for the most part, most veterinary schools have not done a
very good job of educating students withexotic wilife spec especially big stock stuff.
So that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to give these students exposure
to these animals and their native nativeareas and working with wildlife vets are there
(28:37):
that work with them every day.So yeah, I think it's all good
because you know, in the end, at the end of the day,
I guess we all want healthy wildlifepopulations, whether they're in Africa or Asia
or Europe or here in Texas.Are rants. Yeah, absolutely, I
mean I think about all day,you know, these ranch owners and things
across Texas. You know, theythey've got draft, they got rhino,
and they got all these things now, and you're thinking, well, who
(29:00):
do they call? And thank goodnessfor people like you and the programs you
guys are having and teaching, youknow, abroad and at home, that
that people now have a resource topick up the phone and call a large
animal veto may actually have some answersto situations that you know, thirty years
ago, we were, twenty yearsago whatever, that you didn't have to
encounter in Texas. So that's that'sphenomenal, folks. We're talking to day
to our guest, doctor James Dry. He's the professor of veterinary pathobiology and
(29:23):
genetics at Texas and and University.Going to take a quick break here before
our last segment, Hunting Matters onKPRC nine fifty. Oh, you know
(30:12):
who produced this album, no ideabut Lang, former husband of Shania Twain.
Yea, yeah, and he calledI mean, he's called Mutt because
he is an ugly dude. Yeahhe is. Yeah, I mean really,
but he can produce the you knowwhat out of an album. Yeah,
yep. One of the biggest namesbehind the big hair bands of the
eighties and nineties. Welcome back toHunting Matters on KPRC nine fifty. This
(30:33):
is your host Joe Batar. Iam Ramone Robliss, and our guest today
is doctor James Der doctor R isa professor of veterinary pathobiology and genetics at
Texas A and M University. Doctorder once again, thank you for joining
us. Hey, thank you forhaving me. So one of the things
you guys get to do over there, which is you know that one of
the I think is one of thefun things is and we'll tell our tell
our audience. You know, you'vegot a lot of students who who,
(30:55):
like you said, have not beenexposed to the animals at some point and
definitely not to hunting. So that'skind of a part of your experience over
there when you're when you're learning inAfrica, tells about that. Well,
a whole lot of the wildlife populations, especially in South Africa and in the
Limpopo region. I mean, there'sa lot of breeding facilities there, there's
a lot of ranches that produce alot of animals. They distribute those animals
(31:17):
all over the place, and youknow, the bottom line is those animals
have to have some value in orderto be there, and somebody has to
has to afford to raise those animalsand breed those animals and deal with those
animals. So we take students,we take students here from Texas. Like
I mentioned, oftentimes these students reallydon't have an appreciation for hunting and how
(31:40):
hunting interacts with conservation of these wildlifespecies. So we take these students to
South Africa. They start learning howthings work as far as the economics of
these species. We invite speakers tocome and talk to them, like professional
(32:00):
hunters. We have a professional huntercome over one evening after dinner and there's
a presentation about how professional hunting contributesto the value of those species and the
controgation of those species. We havepeople from South African while I've Ranching Association
come and talk to the students.People from South African Predator Association come and
(32:23):
talk to the students. So youcan just watch and I do. I've
been doing this for ten years.I just set back and I watched the
students and I look at the questionsthey ask, these guys that are in
the hunting industry in South and SouthAfrica. I watch how the students you
can just almost see a lightbulb overtheir head and they start thinking about this.
(32:44):
You know, in order to stay, it's got to pay, and
there's got to be a value tothese species in order for people to be
motivated to conserve them and to preservethem and to propagate them. And it
is amazing to watch the transformation inmany of these students when they begin to
(33:05):
understand, Wow, this is notwhat I thought, This is not what
I thought hunting was. And thesepeople are passionate about these wildlife species,
especially professional hunters that come in andI have a couple of friends over there
that come and talk to the students. They know exactly how to present their
(33:25):
case, so the students understand howthis is all integrated together and how hunting
is absolutely crucial to the long termconservation of these species. And it's rewarding
to come back home, to comeback to Texas and meet and talk to
these students and just see how throughthis education process. And it's gentle because
(33:49):
nobody tells them they have to learnthis or they have to believe it.
It's gentle, but they start tounderstand how things are, how things work
in the whole brand scheme of wildlifeconservations. It's going. I like doing
it. Yeah, I mean youyou brought up so many things right there.
I think that's phenomenal that they getthat experience, they get to hear
that firsthand from people who are onthe ground there. We've talked Romona,
(34:12):
I talked to several guests before abouthow other countries try to legislate what's going
on in Africa as far as theirconservation practices and trophy hunting or just professional
hunting and those things. And it'sreally great that you're you're getting students that
are for the most part at animpressionable age to understand and be able to
reveal to them not only the financialaspect of hunting, but also more importantly,
(34:35):
the conservation aspect of hunting. Andlike you said, to see those
lights goes on go on in thesestudents who've never been exposed or never understood
that look, like you said,hunting. You know, these animals become
a commodity if there's no value placedupon them, and so it must be
very rewarding or at least kind ofa revelation to you guys, to be
able to impart that you know,that knowledge to them. You know,
(34:58):
the best way to teach their isto let them teach themselves and to give
them, give them the tools andthen let them take that mental journey down
that road to realize, you know, facts, and that's what we try
to do in this class. Wetry to give them the opportunity to think
about this independently and come up withsome conclusions about you know what, hundreds
(35:21):
are not just killers. They're justnot people out there bloodthirsty and want to
kill animals. These guys are actuallyreally really committed to the conservation of these
species. And you know, itworks. I think it works well,
and I think students really do appreciateit when we come back, even years
later, students come and talk tome about what their experiences were in South
(35:43):
Africa and how much they gain fromthat. You know, you kind of
push them almost back to a blankslate. I mean, if you think
about our clean canvas, you thinkabout it, you're taking these kids out
of their element. You're showing themnot only you know, educating them on
veterinary medicine and all the things youguys do over there, but also a
new culture, a new place,a new way of life, a new
value system. I mean, they'rethey're kind of got a re education from
(36:07):
top to bottom about life. Youknow, I really kind of put the
fear of God in them on thevery first day because I tell them this
is serious business. Guys. We'regoing to use the most powerful drugs in
the world, opioids, very verypowerful opioids to capture and transport and public
treat the most dangerous wildlife in theworld because it's part of our class.
(36:30):
We catch all the big five toshare. We even caught a couple of
wild leopards because lions elephants put collarson them. Lots of rhinos or the
twenty nine rhinos between those two classes. So the students get a lot of
exposure to these wildlife species, andthey get a lot of exposure to the
capture drugs that these colities of thosedrugs. Yeah, and some of these
(36:51):
students, I'm sure, and youknow, some of them have never been
out of college Brown Station or youknow, Brian College Station or their hometown.
And then you're dragging them and you'renot dragging them, but I mean
they're going they're going to a wholenew world. I mean, it's a
whole new world. More than halfof the students that we take every year
do not have a passport, andwe have to help them get a passport.
(37:14):
Yeah, those are the first timethose students have left the penpty.
Yeah, I didn't even think aboutthat. And you guys do a lot,
like you said, the pharmacology anddealing with these drugs and that sort
of thing and capturing animals. Andbut you guys are learning helicopters, helicopter
safety. I mean you're learning pathologyof these different animals and what else am
I missing here? I mean there'sa whole bunch of stuff you guys covered
(37:35):
during these courses. Yeah, it'spretty value packed. It's it's easily from
about five in the morning until aboutten at night every day for two and
a half weeks. You know,we can wear twenty two year old students
completely out and it's fun. It'sfun to keep them busy and keep them
on animals. Virtually every day thatwe're in South Africa have their hands on
(37:59):
an animal. And you're right,we do some helicopter work. We have
a helicopter available to us for bothof these classes, and we tell the
students, you know, they hitsome some dart gun education, they learned
how to shoot different kinds of darkguns, and then on that same day
we put them up in a helicopter. We have a four wheeler that we've
put a sheet metal over so thatthe guy driving it doesn't get killed.
(38:22):
They have a target on top ofit. We give them five darts and
we see who which students, competitionwhich students and put his most number of
darts in the target flying from thehelicopter. And it's a lot of fun.
Had a student. I had astudent last year who wrote in her
(38:43):
journal that day, this young ladywho wrote, I can almost quote what
she said. She said, neverin my life had I flown and a
helicopter, were shot a gun,And today I did both of those things
at the same That's a pretty goodfirst line in your journalist. That's that's
(39:06):
pretty cool. That's pretty cool.Well, folks, we are unfortunately at
a time today our guest has beendoctor James Dearr, the Professor of vetinary
path Pathobiology and Genetics at Texas Aand M University. Doctor, thank you
guys so much for for your dedicationand for what you guys do over the
university. And I guess we'll seeyou guys next week here on Hunting Matters
KPRC nine fifty, I've got ashot gun arrival.
The Houston Safari Club Foundation is afive zero one C three nonprofit organization that
supports the future of hunting and conservation. Wildlife and habitat, conservation, youth
education and outdoor experiences, scholarships,and anti poaching efforts are just a few
of the programs supported by this organization. Monthly events, an annual convention,
award winning publications, networking opportunities,and valuable resources for hunting knowledge or just
(00:21):
a few of the benefits of beinga member of Houston Safari Club Foundation.
If you're searching for a group ofpeople dedicated to protecting the future of hunting,
look no further. Join Houston SafariClub Foundation today at we Hunt weegive
dot org or call seven one threesix two three eight eight four four.
Tradition, conservation, family, theoutdoors. It matters to you, It
(00:47):
matters to us. This is HuntingMatters presented by Houston Safari Club Foundation.
Here's Joe Btar. Good morning everyone, and welcome back the Hunting Matters on
Pine. What is that A lotof coffee? Wow? Yeah, you're
intense boy. You know, thefaster you talk doesn't mean the show goes
faster. Well just yeah, peopleget make out what I'm saying. Then,
(01:14):
how are you this fine Saturday morning? I am, well, it
is good to be here. Ijust want you to know him a fool
in his money will soon depart orsoon we'll soon be parted. And would
you would you do? I paidthirty nine dollars for a professional calligrapher to
redesign my signature. Really, Ihaven't got it yet because it takes him
(01:37):
a couple of days. So walkme through this. You get the signature
back from them, and then that'show you're going to start writing your name.
Sign my name. Yeah, theygive you a little video of a
two to show you how you drawit, but it's very you pick the
style. There's different, you know, formats funds. They ask you do
you want it to be legible oryou know you've seen some athletes signatures doctors
(01:57):
for you? Okay, yeah,yeah, so they want you know,
they ask you fifteen questions, howdo you want you know? What's the
style? What are you looking for? Do you want any special characters,
any hidden symbol or anything? Andthirty nine bucks I'll get back. Why
you don't like your signature? No? I love my signature. I love
it but I saw this and Ithought, well, I liked my signature
(02:20):
because when I was eighteen or fifteenwhatever, that's just the way I started
signing things. And here we arethirty years later. I thought, well,
let me just see what a calligraphercould come up with regarding my name.
Are you back in the Witness Protectionprogram? Has wit sec taken over
this Stowe game? I mean,what's okay? Yeah, it's just you
know, live a little bitar Yeah, you know, well that's cool.
(02:42):
I'll have to get when I getit. I can't wait to see your
false falsified signature that I'll give himbefore and after. Why was it?
Why does it say Ronald ellor BThat's funny. Yeah, yep. Oh,
and I also got a gun,but yeah, I know, we
were looking at guns earlier. We'rein the home studio. By the way,
(03:04):
I don't want you out to thinkwe bring rifles to work. It's
not allowed. Tell tell folks whatyou got. It is a Ruger UH
integrated suppressed rifle bolt action chambered inforty four and the bullets travel out at
the front very quickly. It's goodthey go out of the front. Yeah,
I thought it was funny that wewere both messing around, passing back
and forth, and we came tothe realization we're both right handed, left
(03:28):
eye dominant, and you were talkingabout having to work with a right handed
bolt on a gun, and Iguess you know, over the years,
I've had so many right handed guns. Being a left eye dominant. It's
just second nature doesn't bother me eitherway. I mean, it's it's an
added Yeah, it's an added bonus. My brain automatically just goes over that
right handed bolt and no problem.So yeah, so yeah, you hold
the gun with your left hand whileyou cycle with your right. Yeah,
(03:50):
I reach around, yeah and cyclewith my left. And I've heard that
about you. You like a goodreason, man, We've you go on
because this is this is going downhillfast. Let's give a quick cupdate what's
happening with the course of our show. Sponsor Houston's fire Club Foundation's fire Club
Foundation is a five O one Cthree nonprofit. It is a membership based
(04:12):
organization that's all all about hunting,conservation, and the future of hunting.
And this organization does something probably justabout every month, sometimes twice a month.
We recently did two events, butcoming up is the annual Houston Fire
Club Foundation Sporting Clay's Tournament at GradyHouston Sports Club on October the fifth,
then November eighth at the HSCF offices. They're going to be working with US
(04:35):
Law Shield and they'll be providing afirst aid course for gunshot wound victims.
Unfortunately, that's something that, yeah, that we need in this day and
age, or should at least beprepared for. Unfortunately. But that's November
eighth. That He's Fire Club Foundation'scorporate offices, and you can go to
we Hunt we Give. That's weHunt we give dot org and check out
Houston's Fire Club and all the upcomingevents and sign up to become a member.
(04:59):
I messed up at this warning toclear the air. I didn't want
to get emails. It's a Rugerseventy seven because I was thinking the ammunition
ruger. Sorry, not that thatmatters to anybody but me, but I'm
just just stickling for Yeah, details, I like it. I'd like to
thank You've got the integrated suppressor onit. Yeah, that's the only bad
thing is when you're waiting on thestamp, you can't have the gun period
because it's integrated. It's not moving, so you had to just look at
(05:19):
it was like going into a nurseryand just waving at your baby. That's
what I was doing to pick itup when it actually think graduates kindergarten.
Thanks. Sometimes that's going nice,but not when you're waiting for a guy.
Yeah, all right, let's getto our guest today. Our guest
today is doctor James Dirt. DoctorDIRR is the professor of Veterinary Pathobiology and
(05:40):
Genetics. It takes Texas A andM University. I feel stupid already.
Yeah, doctor Dirt, thanks somuch for joining us. Hey, thank
you for having me. I'm intimidated, to be honest. There'll be a
quiz after the show. We'll haveto have a genetics, uh mid term
exam at the end of this andsay we learned anything. Doctor. You
(06:04):
and I have worked together off andon several years, and I'm quite familiar
with your program. But tell ourfolks who are listening kind of what your
role is at Texas A and MUniversity. So I'm a professor at Texasan
University in the School of Veterninary Medicine. I've been here for just about thirty
(06:24):
years. I'm a geneticist, andso I do genetics research primarily. Now
I do genetics research with wildlife aroundthe world. Okay, And what chose
you show? What led you tochoose that career path when you were a
kid coming up? Is it geneticsand something that's always of interest to you?
(06:46):
Was it a veterinary medicine? Howdid you kind of head down that
path? You know? When Iwent to school as an undergraduate and I
went to college. I'm majored inbiology, and my dream job when I
started as a freshman in college wasto be a game warden. That's I
thought that was the ultimate job forunifying because you get to be with blahlah,
(07:08):
you got to be outside, youget to be around hunters, and
I thought, and that would beso cool. And I spent every minute
I could in the field when Iwas a kid, and when I was
a freshman in biology, we hada guest speaker come to one of the
clubs I was in and he wasthe local game warden. And during the
question and answer period, somebody askedhim to see a hunter and he said,
(07:30):
yeah, yeah, yeah, I'ma hunter, but I don't get
to hunt much because the days Iwork or the day or hunting days,
and my days off are the day'sout of season. And I thought about
that. I thought, who waita minute, Yeah, that's not gonna
work for me. And so Istarted thinking right then when I was a
(07:53):
freshman, I may need to tryto find something else, because if I
have to work on hunting days,I'm not going like that very much.
And then I said, then Itook a genetics class, and I realized
it just kind of clicked for mewhen I took that genetics class. Genetics
for me is the key to understandingjust about everything about biology. And so
(08:16):
I decided, you know what,I'm going to pursue genetics. I ended
up getting a PhD. And uh, take that course versus having to miss
all your hunting Daggs. We're goingto take a quick break here on Hunting
Matters KPRC nine fifty. We seeafter the break and he dogs and Nickel
and nickels no graduate assistant be thereis as Welcome back to Hunting Matters on
(09:20):
KPRC. Now I'm fifty. Thisis your host, Joe Batar. I
am Ramone Robelists, and our guesttoday is doctor James Dirt. Doctor Dirt
is the professor of veterinary pathobiology andGenetics at Texas A and M. Doctor
der welcome again to the show.Thank you good to be here. Doctor.
I was just looking at your CVand h our rs kind of marry
(09:41):
each other pretty significantly cool. Yeah, just everything, but the whole education
part. Other than that, we'repractically kindred spirits. We are in step.
This is impressive. What have Idone with my life? Doctor?
(10:05):
You know, one of the thingsis we're gonna we're gonna dig into some
of the programs and things here aswe talk on the show. But I
at one time had a dream ofbeing a veterinarian actually a small and large
animal VET, and worked for aVET for about two and a half years
as a surgical technician and as aveteran technician. And the practice I worked
(10:26):
for had three veterinarians. One wasfrom LSU, one was from Auburn,
and one was from Texas A andM. And that group was so competitive
versus on a day, you know, diagnosing surgical procedures that sort of think
it was hilarious. And the onething that really impressed me about the guy
from A and M that I workedfor was A There were a lot of
(10:46):
people actually came in day to dayand said, oh, well we sought
you out because we and this wasback you know, this was back when
I was eighteen nineteen years old,so years ago. People walking to say,
oh, you went to A andM. Wow, well we sought
you out because the A and Mveterinary program has such a phenomenal reputation.
(11:07):
I mean I heard that several times. Do you guys, I know,
you know the program overall has suchis diverse, has many many offerings,
has such a great reputation worldwide.Correct, Oh, most certainly. We're
pretty proud of that. Yeah,I mean it's just it's just I hear
people that are like, well,we're we're in line to go to Texas
A and M. We my doghas a special cancer or something and they
(11:30):
can't diagnose. And I mean Ihear that all the time from friends and
family. It's it's just amazing,and the reputation is just unprecedented. Now
the VET program works with and sharesdo you guys, I know you do
a lot of stuff internationally. Now, do you guys work with other veteranariy
(11:52):
programs? Around the country and sharedata and research and all that sort of
thing. Oh, most certainly.I mean, you know, really the
veterinary community, at least at theVET school level, it's it's a pretty
small community really, you know,because for the most part, if the
state has a VET school, theyonly have one. Now we have two
VET schools here in Texas now becausethere's one, but that makes us a
(12:13):
pretty unusual state to have two statessupported vet schools. Uh, you know,
there's there's a limited number of atschools. And yeah, sure we
all know each other from around thecountry, attend meetings on a yearly basis
and catch up with our colleagues fromaround the US and also from around the
(12:35):
world, because all in all,you know, that community is a fairly
small community worldwide. How many studentsdo you guys graduate on average every year?
So our our classifieses have been inenlarging, they've been getting bigger every
year. I think that right nowit's about a hundred and eighty students or
(13:01):
so in the incoming class that juststarted last month here the first year of
a school class around one hundred andeighty right now per class. Okay,
that's a pretty good size it's morethan I thought. I think back when
I was in college at Louisiana orLSU was doing I don't know, forty
or last sometimes. But is therestill a big demand for vets? But
(13:22):
of all ILKs and practices across theUS, like they're like they used to
be. Oh, most certainly.Yeah, there's a large demand for vets.
Our students don't have any trouble gettingjobs once they graduate from here.
I do believe. I think we'rethe largest of at school in the country
as far as the number of studentsthat we have, you know, as
(13:43):
you know, as highly competitive toget into our best school. So students
that get in here all you know, we refer to most of them,
all, all of them actually asover achievers. Do they all show up
here. They're all academic superstars andthey all show up here. Smart kids,
very enthusiastic, very interested in learningabout veterinary medicine and helping animals.
(14:05):
Right right, you know, I'mgonna ask you something totally all base here
talking about, you know, ourlove of our pets and how they're parts
of our family and things like that. My wife and I had my wife
and I have had this conversation severaltimes over the past several years. We've
got three Yorkies. I don't knowhow I got three Yorkis living at our
house. What we do, andwe constantly shake our heads and things.
(14:26):
You know, Back when we werekids and when our grandparents were growing up
with dogs, it was like throwa bone, or throw the leftovers in
the yard. Whatever, Oh,they've got worms here, let's do this
whatever. The business of veterinary medicine, especially in relation to household pets,
has skyrocketed, and I'm sure there'sa lot of science behind it and that
sort of thing. There's better dietarythings that aren't there for your dogs and
(14:48):
things like that. But it's Imean, during the course of your career,
although I know this is not yourfocus, have you been as flabbergasted
as the average consumers about how,you know, household pet healthcare is changed?
Well, just like you. Imean, our dogs are part of
our family at my house, youknow, and so a whole lot of
(15:11):
people are like that. I mean, they become not only pets, but
they become, you know, membersof your family, and you do things
with them, you include them andthings. When I was a kid,
we did had dogs. We hadhunting dogs, but for the most part
they were hunting dogs. They weren'tnecessarily inside the house pets. And now
people live with their animals, theyspend more time with them, and I
(15:33):
think in general people are interested ingood medical care for those animals. And
it's probably more now than it was. Certainly was is more now than it
was when I was young. Itseems like, yeah, I don't recall
when I was a kid taking agood dog or cat in for a wellness
check, you know, but Imean they got their shots, and they
got wormed, and here you gotake this pop home. You know,
(15:54):
the kind of deal, you know. I remember when I was a kid,
if we took an animal to thatmarian or the veterinarian came out to
treat an animal, usually that animalwas ready to die. Yeah, I
mean it was usually really bad shape, right, And preventative care woms not
something that I remember us doing alot of when I was a child,
but now it's certainly an important partof its. Two things. One,
(16:17):
I can't believe that they have petinsurance now for health health pet insurance and
true doctor I love. I havethree dogs of my own. I love
them. But is there a lawor something we can do as a society
to prevent people from referring to dogsas fur babies? Yeah, we have
fur babies and we have pocket petsand they have all time. Yeah.
(16:42):
Absolutely, Well we're going to diginto this even more, but I kind
of want to kick it off beforewe got a couple of minutes left in
this segment. But Texas A andM University, and I'm sure a lot
of people don't know this, butwe know it. I know it because
I'm kind of close to the program. You guys have a program that offers
education abroad courses and I'm typically talkingabout the Africa Wildlife Medicine course. You
(17:03):
kind of want to touch on thisjust a little bit before we going to
break When, how and why didthis program start? So this program,
I started this program African Whilife Medicine. It's been about ten or twelve years
ago. Like I, like Isaid earlier, I do wildlife genetics research
all over the world, and Iwas doing a lot of work in Africa,
(17:25):
and I was going over there alot, collecting a lot of DNA
samples from all kinds of wildlife overthere and working with a lot of professional
hunters to do that. And youknow, one day I saw our former
dean in the hallway here at schooland she said, you know, I
signed off on all of year travelto go to Africa, and I'm pay
attention to all the research you're doing. She said, why don't you start
taking some veterinary students with you andyou know, give them some some education
(17:52):
in exotic wildlife species. And Isaid, okay, So I started taking
some bet students with me, andthat was about ten or twelve years so,
and then after a year or twoof that, we decided to make
a formal education abroad class out ofit. That's pretty cool, that's very
cool. I wanted to learn moreabout this because it's it's I I've looked
at some information and date on it, and it's it's amazing what you guys
(18:14):
are doing over there. We're gonnatake a quick break with our guest today,
doctor James Durr, Professor of VeterinaryPathobiology Genetics at Texas A and M
University. We'll be back on theother side on honey Matters KPRC nine fifty
okay seven seven seven. In joyjokes, he keeps seven and seven seven
(19:18):
into well, come back to Honeymatterson KPRC nine fifty. This is your
host, Joe Batar. I amRamone robeless, So Ramone, I promised
you have a bad veterinary Jokey mangoes into the veterinary and and he's got
his goldfish in a bowl and hesays, I think my goldfish is having
seizures. And the vet looks intothe bowl and says, well, he
(19:38):
looks okay to me. The guygoes, yeah, wait till I take
him out of the water. Thoughit's pretty funny, that's pretty bad joining
us today. I've insulted his intelligencewith that joke. In his profession,
Doctor James Derr, the Professor ofveterinary Pathobiology and Genetics at Texas A and
M University, Doctor Dirt, thanksonce again for joining us. Thank you
(20:00):
happy to be here. I'm sureRamona is going to ask us, so
I got to ask you this anyway. Do you have any bad veterinarian jokes
you can share on the air.You know I do, but I try
not have to tell them in comWell, we'll have to have we'll have
to have a beer, and youcan tell us tell us that one offline
we were talking about the Yeah,we were talking about the African Wilife Medicine
(20:22):
course that's offered at text same universityout Now, you take these trips once
twice a year, how often doyou go? So we take students to
Africa once a year, but wetake two different classes and the classes are
just back to back. So Igo over there and I stay over there
and teach both. And how manystudents are you usually teaching over there during
(20:44):
those courses? So we've had differentnumbers over the years. We've taken sixteen
one time, We've taken twelve threeor four times fourteen. We're kind of
right now settled at twelve students perclass. Do you get any more than
that? It's hard to give studentsaccess to get to do all the things
that we do. Twelve students isplenty to keep track of. So I
(21:07):
like twelve students, two classes atwelve students each. So in total we
take twenty four students a year toAfrica, and we're typically these students,
are they sophomores, freshmen? Whereare they in their education? So this
class was originally designed just to takeveterinary students, so it would be students
in their first or second year ofthat school. So that school is a
(21:32):
four year program, and so thelast two years of the VET school program
they're all doing clinical work, sothey wouldn't have time to fill with this.
But then a few years ago wedecided to also include some really really
strong, academically strong undergraduate students inthis program with the VET students, and
so we take we take a fewjunior and senior level students that are academically
(21:57):
really really strong and interested in betinarymedicine and insert them right in the class
with first and second year BET students. So you've got a pretty pretty diverse
student audience there in that in thatin that course. That's that's really neat
to hear. And you guys primarilygo to South Africa. Do you go
to other places? Does it veryyear to year? So we have in
(22:21):
the past, we always go toSouth Africa, and so that our base
of operations is in South Africa,but we've we've traveled over before COVID.
We used to travel across the borderand go to Batauana in or a couple
of places of Batauana, particularly someRhino places that we went and worked.
I've also taken students to the Mabia. I really like going to the Maybia.
I really like the people and Ilike to work over there. But
(22:44):
at this point now post COVID,the only place we go to South Africa
and we work in the Limpopo districtand we stay at a ranch. It's
called Seringa Ranch. It's owned bya former Texas A and M student and
it is absolutely spectacular place to takeWell, that's good that you've gotta that
you've got an AGGE contact down therethat has that place. That's that's phenomenal
(23:07):
we do. He was an executivecorporate person and he bought this ranch in
South Africa and built it up andbuilt a really nice launch, great facilities
for the students and very comfortable andwarm and welcoming place for us in our
students. What are some of thegoals, I mean, what at the
(23:30):
end of the day when these coursesare done, what are some of the
goals that you're hoping to achieve withinfor these students. You know, when
I look at the population of studentsthat we have in vandory and medicine here
at Texas A and M, orany other university. A lot of these
students going to vandinary and medicine.Honestly, the vast majority of these students
(23:51):
don't have any exposure to wildlife.They certainly for most part don't have any
exposure to it what we would callexotic wild life or Africa and wildlife.
And honestly, very few of thesestudents come to these programs with any experience
in hunting. And so my objectiveand teaching this class is to take students
(24:12):
that are going to be veterinarians.They're veterinary students right now, but they're
going to be veterinarians and expose themto wildlife medicine in the field from some
of the best veterinarians in the world, and and just to give them some
exposures so that they understand the valueof healthy wildlife populations, They understand the
(24:34):
value of hunting for conservation, andthey understand how veterinarians can be very very
important in animal health, wildlife health, and human health all around the world,
not just here in Texas. Doyou guys, when you go there,
are there disease processes or conditions.I know you're dealing with different species
(24:56):
and exotic species. But there arethere some things there in South Africa that
these students are exposed to, notphysically, I mean from an educational standpoint,
that they would never see in theUS that you guys are treating or
dealing with over there. Oh yeah, that's as some of the fun part
of taking students to South Africa's becausewe get to see a lot of cool
(25:17):
stuff. So here in Texas,most people know that we have pretty much
almost completely eradicated screw worm from Texas, and screw worm is a really bad
larvae that is laid by flies ina wound, and screw worms actually eat
living tissue, the nasty, nastythings, and we've pretty much eradicated it
(25:38):
here in Texas. Occasionally it showsup, but it's pretty rare. Now
we go to South Africa, wesee screw worms over there often and treat
that often in long line and manytimes, these young veterinarians this may be
the only time they see that intheir entire career. Were also in South
Africa see put in mouth disease.We see the real cool disease over there
(26:00):
that doesn't occur here in the US, called mumpy skin disease caused by pops
virus. So yes, to answeryour question, there's a lot of really
interesting diseases. I hope these studentsdon't see things like footing mouth here ever
in Texas, but at least whenwe go to South Africa they get a
chance to see it. At leastthey will be a very very small group
(26:23):
of veterinarians that work here in theUS and the future that have seen those
kinds of diseases where they naturally occur. Yeah, and how impactful it must
be for them to treat it firsthand and see it first hand versus reading
about it online or in a book. I mean, I can't imagine that's
something that that'll stick with him forever. And if it does pop up,
heaven forbid in the US or insomething that they said, oh yeah,
(26:45):
I saw that, you know,and I know what to do with it.
Yeah, most definitely, at leastthey've had those those learned experiences.
In addition to that, we workwith five or six wildlife veterinarians in South
Africa. These guys are world class, all like veterinarians, and the students
I encourage them to build a relationshipwith these guys so that when you're back
(27:07):
here in Texas and you need tocapture Let's say you get a call or
you're you're a veterinarian and you geta call and you need to capture an
exotic wildlife species, maybe a draftor maybe a zebra or maybe a kudu,
and you know, somebody needs somehelp with it's out on the highway.
You need to go guard it.You need to get it back where
it needs to be in a safeplace. They have phone numbers. They
can call these guys in South Africa, or they can call me. We
(27:30):
can give them advice on the drugsto use. The drugs that are available
here in the US they can useto capture these animals because let's face it,
all these species are different and youcan't there's no one size fits all
when it comes to twenty or thirtyor forty different exotic widlife species. We
find that these vets may be askedto capture, transport, or treat.
(27:53):
And you know what you're saying here, the things that they're seeing over there,
and after you know, it's probablybecoming some of it's coming more relevant
as the the exotics species population expandsin Texas and across the US as well.
Oh my goodness. Yes, there'smore and more of these things,
more and more opportunities for vanary inmedicine to come in and intervene here in
(28:15):
Texas. And for the most part, most veterinary schools have not done a
very good job of educating students withexotic wilife spec especially big stock stuff.
So that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to give these students exposure
to these animals and their native nativeareas and working with wildlife vets are there
(28:37):
that work with them every day.So yeah, I think it's all good
because you know, in the end, at the end of the day,
I guess we all want healthy wildlifepopulations, whether they're in Africa or Asia
or Europe or here in Texas.Are rants. Yeah, absolutely, I
mean I think about all day,you know, these ranch owners and things
across Texas. You know, theythey've got draft, they got rhino,
and they got all these things now, and you're thinking, well, who
(29:00):
do they call? And thank goodnessfor people like you and the programs you
guys are having and teaching, youknow, abroad and at home, that
that people now have a resource topick up the phone and call a large
animal veto may actually have some answersto situations that you know, thirty years
ago, we were, twenty yearsago whatever, that you didn't have to
encounter in Texas. So that's that'sphenomenal, folks. We're talking to day
to our guest, doctor James Dry. He's the professor of veterinary pathobiology and
(29:23):
genetics at Texas and and University.Going to take a quick break here before
our last segment, Hunting Matters onKPRC nine fifty. Oh, you know
(30:12):
who produced this album, no ideabut Lang, former husband of Shania Twain.
Yea, yeah, and he calledI mean, he's called Mutt because
he is an ugly dude. Yeahhe is. Yeah, I mean really,
but he can produce the you knowwhat out of an album. Yeah,
yep. One of the biggest namesbehind the big hair bands of the
eighties and nineties. Welcome back toHunting Matters on KPRC nine fifty. This
(30:33):
is your host Joe Batar. Iam Ramone Robliss, and our guest today
is doctor James Der doctor R isa professor of veterinary pathobiology and genetics at
Texas A and M University. Doctorder once again, thank you for joining
us. Hey, thank you forhaving me. So one of the things
you guys get to do over there, which is you know that one of
the I think is one of thefun things is and we'll tell our tell
our audience. You know, you'vegot a lot of students who who,
(30:55):
like you said, have not beenexposed to the animals at some point and
definitely not to hunting. So that'skind of a part of your experience over
there when you're when you're learning inAfrica, tells about that. Well,
a whole lot of the wildlife populations, especially in South Africa and in the
Limpopo region. I mean, there'sa lot of breeding facilities there, there's
a lot of ranches that produce alot of animals. They distribute those animals
(31:17):
all over the place, and youknow, the bottom line is those animals
have to have some value in orderto be there, and somebody has to
has to afford to raise those animalsand breed those animals and deal with those
animals. So we take students,we take students here from Texas. Like
I mentioned, oftentimes these students reallydon't have an appreciation for hunting and how
(31:40):
hunting interacts with conservation of these wildlifespecies. So we take these students to
South Africa. They start learning howthings work as far as the economics of
these species. We invite speakers tocome and talk to them, like professional
(32:00):
hunters. We have a professional huntercome over one evening after dinner and there's
a presentation about how professional hunting contributesto the value of those species and the
controgation of those species. We havepeople from South African while I've Ranching Association
come and talk to the students.People from South African Predator Association come and
(32:23):
talk to the students. So youcan just watch and I do. I've
been doing this for ten years.I just set back and I watched the
students and I look at the questionsthey ask, these guys that are in
the hunting industry in South and SouthAfrica. I watch how the students you
can just almost see a lightbulb overtheir head and they start thinking about this.
(32:44):
You know, in order to stay, it's got to pay, and
there's got to be a value tothese species in order for people to be
motivated to conserve them and to preservethem and to propagate them. And it
is amazing to watch the transformation inmany of these students when they begin to
(33:05):
understand, Wow, this is notwhat I thought, This is not what
I thought hunting was. And thesepeople are passionate about these wildlife species,
especially professional hunters that come in andI have a couple of friends over there
that come and talk to the students. They know exactly how to present their
(33:25):
case, so the students understand howthis is all integrated together and how hunting
is absolutely crucial to the long termconservation of these species. And it's rewarding
to come back home, to comeback to Texas and meet and talk to
these students and just see how throughthis education process. And it's gentle because
(33:49):
nobody tells them they have to learnthis or they have to believe it.
It's gentle, but they start tounderstand how things are, how things work
in the whole brand scheme of wildlifeconservations. It's going. I like doing
it. Yeah, I mean youyou brought up so many things right there.
I think that's phenomenal that they getthat experience, they get to hear
that firsthand from people who are onthe ground there. We've talked Romona,
(34:12):
I talked to several guests before abouthow other countries try to legislate what's going
on in Africa as far as theirconservation practices and trophy hunting or just professional
hunting and those things. And it'sreally great that you're you're getting students that
are for the most part at animpressionable age to understand and be able to
reveal to them not only the financialaspect of hunting, but also more importantly,
(34:35):
the conservation aspect of hunting. Andlike you said, to see those
lights goes on go on in thesestudents who've never been exposed or never understood
that look, like you said,hunting. You know, these animals become
a commodity if there's no value placedupon them, and so it must be
very rewarding or at least kind ofa revelation to you guys, to be
able to impart that you know,that knowledge to them. You know,
(34:58):
the best way to teach their isto let them teach themselves and to give
them, give them the tools andthen let them take that mental journey down
that road to realize, you know, facts, and that's what we try
to do in this class. Wetry to give them the opportunity to think
about this independently and come up withsome conclusions about you know what, hundreds
(35:21):
are not just killers. They're justnot people out there bloodthirsty and want to
kill animals. These guys are actuallyreally really committed to the conservation of these
species. And you know, itworks. I think it works well,
and I think students really do appreciateit when we come back, even years
later, students come and talk tome about what their experiences were in South
(35:43):
Africa and how much they gain fromthat. You know, you kind of
push them almost back to a blankslate. I mean, if you think
about our clean canvas, you thinkabout it, you're taking these kids out
of their element. You're showing themnot only you know, educating them on
veterinary medicine and all the things youguys do over there, but also a
new culture, a new place,a new way of life, a new
value system. I mean, they'rethey're kind of got a re education from
(36:07):
top to bottom about life. Youknow, I really kind of put the
fear of God in them on thevery first day because I tell them this
is serious business. Guys. We'regoing to use the most powerful drugs in
the world, opioids, very verypowerful opioids to capture and transport and public
treat the most dangerous wildlife in theworld because it's part of our class.
(36:30):
We catch all the big five toshare. We even caught a couple of
wild leopards because lions elephants put collarson them. Lots of rhinos or the
twenty nine rhinos between those two classes. So the students get a lot of
exposure to these wildlife species, andthey get a lot of exposure to the
capture drugs that these colities of thosedrugs. Yeah, and some of these
(36:51):
students, I'm sure, and youknow, some of them have never been
out of college Brown Station or youknow, Brian College Station or their hometown.
And then you're dragging them and you'renot dragging them, but I mean
they're going they're going to a wholenew world. I mean, it's a
whole new world. More than halfof the students that we take every year
do not have a passport, andwe have to help them get a passport.
(37:14):
Yeah, those are the first timethose students have left the penpty.
Yeah, I didn't even think aboutthat. And you guys do a lot,
like you said, the pharmacology anddealing with these drugs and that sort
of thing and capturing animals. Andbut you guys are learning helicopters, helicopter
safety. I mean you're learning pathologyof these different animals and what else am
I missing here? I mean there'sa whole bunch of stuff you guys covered
(37:35):
during these courses. Yeah, it'spretty value packed. It's it's easily from
about five in the morning until aboutten at night every day for two and
a half weeks. You know,we can wear twenty two year old students
completely out and it's fun. It'sfun to keep them busy and keep them
on animals. Virtually every day thatwe're in South Africa have their hands on
(37:59):
an animal. And you're right,we do some helicopter work. We have
a helicopter available to us for bothof these classes, and we tell the
students, you know, they hitsome some dart gun education, they learned
how to shoot different kinds of darkguns, and then on that same day
we put them up in a helicopter. We have a four wheeler that we've
put a sheet metal over so thatthe guy driving it doesn't get killed.
(38:22):
They have a target on top ofit. We give them five darts and
we see who which students, competitionwhich students and put his most number of
darts in the target flying from thehelicopter. And it's a lot of fun.
Had a student. I had astudent last year who wrote in her
(38:43):
journal that day, this young ladywho wrote, I can almost quote what
she said. She said, neverin my life had I flown and a
helicopter, were shot a gun,And today I did both of those things
at the same That's a pretty goodfirst line in your journalist. That's that's
(39:06):
pretty cool. That's pretty cool.Well, folks, we are unfortunately at
a time today our guest has beendoctor James Dearr, the Professor of vetinary
path Pathobiology and Genetics at Texas Aand M University. Doctor, thank you
guys so much for for your dedicationand for what you guys do over the
university. And I guess we'll seeyou guys next week here on Hunting Matters
KPRC nine fifty, I've got ashot gun arrival.
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