My family migrated to the UK from India & Kenya, a typical story for many migrant families, they came to this country with very little, settled anywhere they could find work and a home, working long days in factories, high street shops, anywhere they could make enough money to feed their families and if they were lucky, send money back home to those they had left behind.

I was born and raised in Birmingham, we never had a lot growing up but my parents instilled a strong work ethic and a desire to always do well academically in order to make the most of what this country could provide for us.

Coming from where I come from, a working class family in a working class environment, becoming a vet never felt like a possibility that would be afforded for people like me, it always felt out of my reach, so it was never something I seriously considered growing up, even though like many of my peers today, I had a strong passion and desire for animals and the natural world. I didn't have access to animals growing up, no household pets, no stables to ride horses, no farm to work with livestock, all I had was books and TV. People like Steve Irwin and David Attenborugh took me with them around the world to show me what amazing wildlife was out there & all of the many beautiful landscapes around the world, I distinctly remember feeling that it felt like a whole different world that I was seeing on TV, I was in awe.

I knew deep down that working with animals and working with wildlife and in conservation was what my true calling in life was, I knew I had to do it, in my mind I was destined to do it.

But it was difficult, how does someone like me, a brown boy from Birmingham become an international wildlife vet, how does he even get into vet school?

I had no one I could look up to in that community, that looked like me, talked like me, acted like me, no one I could relate to, so it always felt so distant and unrealistic. I was told at school that a career in veterinary was not for someone like me, but despite this I knew I had to try, and thankfully I had the support of my family who believed in me all the way.

So through hard work, perseverance and a lot of blind faith in myself and the ‘path that Bhagvaan (God) had for me’ I kept going and got into vet school at the University of Bristol, graduated in 2017, and 6 years later I have worked in the UK, South Africa, Somaliland, Thailand, India & Bolivia helping treat some of the world’s amazing wildlife and domestic species. Safe to say, this profession really is for me.

Dr. Mahesh Bhatt BVSc MRCVS