Avian Medicine

Francois qualified from the University of Pretoria at Onderstepoort in 2009, where he was working for few years a clinician at Bird and Exotic Animal Hospital. Despite clinical work he was involved in various research projects as well as student mentorship. Avian and reptile field were always his main fields of interest, next to the zoological and wildlife field work around various zoos and nature reserves in South Africa.

After he left his home country, he started conservation medicine in Qatar at Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation founded by the Qatari Prince Saud bin Muhammed Al Thani. There he first joined the critically endagered Spix’s macaw reintroduction program – reproduction and reintroduction of the rarest parrots in the world.

He continued his Middle East chapter by moving to the United Arab Emirates to serve the Royal Family in Dubai with all their complex wildlife needs – from large mammals, through birds of prey, large reptiles to wild cats.

After over 2 years in Dubai, he decided to move to Germany to once again join the spix’s macaw breeding programme, where together with the team of avian experts he was responsible for their health, reproduction and care for chicks and then release of the spix’s macaws back into the wild in Brazil.

He has presented at multiple conferences around the world. Now he is stationed in Norway where he runs XOvet consulting – telemedicine second opinion service for exotic pet vets.

Dr Zoltan is the Director of Exotic Services at Concordia Pet Care, the largest exotic animal referral centre in Asia, and he is an Adjunct Professor at the City University of Hong Kong. 

He is an international speaker and a co-author of several books about exotic animal surgery and avian diseases. He has published over twenty articles in peer-reviewed veterinary journals and presented dozens of lectures at veterinary conferences. Dr Zoltan has special interest in microsurgery and promotes exotic pet medicine via social media. His motto is „No patient is too small to help.”

Dr Zoltan has six postgraduate degrees in exotic animal medicine from three countries. In the USA, apart from being a diplomate of the American College of Zoological Medicine, he is also a double-boarded diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners, specialising in Avian Practice and Exotic Companion Mammal Practice. In the United Kingdom, he is a Specialist of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in Zoo & Wildlife Medicine, and he received the General Practitioners Certificate in Exotic Animal Practice and the Certificate in Exotic Animal Medicine in Hungary.

Dr Zoltan had the opportunity to do research and work as a wildlife veterinarian in nine countries on four continents. Apart from Hong Kong, UK and Hungary, he worked at the Wildlife Institute of India; later, in South Africa, he had a project on African buffalo anaesthesia, and then he worked at the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Namibia. He was the field veterinarian of the Tambopata Macaw Project in Peru. Later he worked on an avian malaria project on the Galapagos Islands and was also a veterinarian and lecturer at the Belize Wildlife & Referral Clinic.