Esther Bernal
Qualifications
Degree in Veterinary Science
Position
Internship in Wildlife Population Health 2025-26
Overview
Throughout my professional life, my conception of the world and how to help the richness of the world's biodiversity has gone changing. During my university years, I started doing internships in several veterinary clinics with small animals. Nevertheless, in my third year, I did an internship in Chile for 11 months that changed my mind. It was a very enriching experience in which I not only grew as a person but also learned that working with non-domestic species was possible. My enthusiasm and my desire to help animals and nature never changed, but my purpose became different. After that, since I returned to my university, I made the most of the opportunities I could, trying to gain as much knowledge and experience as I could to work with wildlife and now it is mainly the reason that involved me as an intern at WildCoM.
Background
During my academic period, I was a student assistant in infectious diseases and a student assistant in the department of surgery and anaesthesiology. At the same time, I interned at the faculty hospital to gain experience and practice in medicine; first with horses and then with small animals. I complemented my training with some courses such as ecology and biomedicine of wild felines, introduction to primatology or formative sessions in One Health. In addition, I participated in the III Congress of Veterinary and Food Science and Technology of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the UCO and attended the Zoo and Wildlife Health International Congress organized by the EAZWV.
The last academic year, I did my final degree work in conservation genetics of the Barbary macaque, which fostered my interest and concern for non-human primates. During this time, I volunteered at a rescue centre in Spain (AMUS) and did an internship at Oasis Wildlife of Fuerteventura and finally completed a wildlife veterinary course and conservation experience in South Africa.
After finishing my degree at the University of Córdoba, I remained connected to the University through various grant programmes. I embarked on the adventure of an Erasmus work placement in Cameroon where I spent 9 months working with the veterinary team at a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre.
I then did an externship at Jersey Zoo (United Kingdom) and, shortly afterwards, decided to gain further clinical experience through a rotational internship at a referral hospital. Where will the next step take us?
