Featured Staff – Asma Bile – Veterinarian CCF in Somaliland

My Dream Came True at CCF in Somaliland

Since I started college and began studying Veterinary Medicine, I’ve had a great urge to work with wild animals. In November 2018, I started helping with CCF-Somaliland for the first time. It felt like a dream come true when I first started working with wild animals, particularly cheetahs rescued from wildlife traffickers and human wildlife conflict.

I’ve been closely working with CCF in Somaliland since 2018, and I’ve been a part of eight confiscations ranging from the west to the east of Somaliland. During the confiscations, being a woman and providing basic health care for cubs was also a challenge. However, rescuing 12 cheetah cubs and one leopard cub was a tremendous honour and pleasure. During my journey, the majority of the Pastoral community and MoERD employees wondered why the life of an animal was so investable and why saving cheetahs was so crucial when smugglers needed money the most, given that we were in a poor country and it was a way of getting paid back for the losses these predators caused to their livestock.

In addition to rescue efforts, I assisted CCF by connecting them with local veterinarians. I was a part of the first training given to local veterinarians training in wildlife, basic medical care, and cheetah confiscation safety measures and management. Furthermore, the training emphasized the importance of community and local veterinarian participation in the conservation of local wildlife resources mobilization and best practice care of their livestock.

During my stay at CCF in Somaliland, my networking and relationships with other partners have increased. Thanks to the assistance I received from CCF CEO Dr. Laurie Marker, who accompanied me on my journey to the university, as I am a scholarship recipient at OXFORD University’s department of Zoology (her alma mata), where I am majoring in International Wildlife Conservation Practice.

On this journey, I wish to educate Somaliland communities about the importance of cheetah and wildlife conservation on the one hand, and to exert influence over Somaliland government policymakers and decision-makers on the other, to ensure that supportive policies and practices for cheetah and wildlife conservation are developed and implemented throughout the country.