by Steve Osofsky, DVM

About His Story

"This could kill him, I thought. Putting this young white rhino bull in a pen with an adult male seemed crazy, but we were running out of options. I don’t think anyone had done this before—at least not intentionally."

About the Author

Steven A. Osofsky is a wildlife veterinarian with a long-standing focus on international conservation. His first experience in Africa was as a Harvard University Traveling Fellow in 1984. He attended veterinary school at Cornell University, receiving his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1989. Dr. Osofsky went to Botswana in 1991 to serve as the Government of Botswana’s first Wildlife Veterinary Officer, a post he left in 1994. He has also worked as a clinical zoological veterinarian, as an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow and biodiversity specialist for the U. S. Agency for International Development, and as Director of Field Support for the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF-US) Species Conservation Program. The author of more than 30 scientific papers and book chapters, he is currently Senior Policy Advisor for Wildlife Health for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), with a focus on the wildlife/domestic animal/human health interface. He and his veterinarian wife, Dr. Karen J. Hirsch, have two young children who so far seem to like animals!