Ane López
Qualifications
Degree in Veterinary Science
Internship in Wildlife Population Health 2021-22
​
Current Position
PhD Student, NEIKER, Spain
Veterinary and Laboratory Assistant, Taï Chimpanzee Project, Ivory Coast
​
​
​
Overview
Ever since I was a little girl I have shown a great curiosity and interest in all the animals around me. So it was no surprise that I decided to study veterinary medicine. My passion for nature and wildlife pushed me to become more and more interested in wildlife.
I am currently undertaking the Wildlife Population Health internship with the Wildcom research group at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). Throughout this year I am looking forward to training specifically in areas related to conservation medicine. In the longer term, I would love to be able to make this passion my way of life and improve as much as possible the health, not only of wild animals, but of humans and the environment in which we cohabit. In addition, I see the need to work as much as possible on educating and raising awareness among the population on this issue.
Background
I completed my Degree in Veterinary Science at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona this year (2021). During my final degree project I studied the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in bats of north-eastern Spain.
In addition, throughout my degree I have tried to educate myself in those areas that interested me and that are not studied in depth during the degree. Thus, I was part and eventually president of the association of veterinarians for the care of exotic and wild fauna (AVAFES) of Barcelona and I collaborated with the service of wildlife ecopathology (SeFAS) of the university. During some summers I also did extracurricular internships in different wildlife recovery centres or in CITES centres, where I gained experience in the handling and clinical management of these animals.
Finally, in the last year of the degree, I started to collaborate as a student with the wildcom group, which allowed me to do my final degree project and to participate in various studies. The friendly atmosphere and the opportunity to learn were what finally made me decide to undertake this internship.
