Odd jobs
We all have to make a living. But while most of us make do with something fairly conventional that brings in a steady income, others colour way outside the lines. Meet the women who are defying tradition and making a name for themselves in weird and wonderful ways. Who knows – they may inspire you to rethink your own career path…
Walk on the wild side
Dr Bernice van Huyssteen Exotic-animal vet after studying to become a vet in Australia (where everything is trying to kill you – of the 25 most dangerous snakes in the world, 21 call Australia home), Dr Bernice van Huyssteen wasn’t satisfied with treating just cats and dogs when she returned home to SA. (Not that she doesn’t love them: she has a goldendoodle named Teddy, a galah cockatoo called Ella and Violet, a rabbit.) ‘When I came back I was working in a general vet practice, and I opened and ran an avian and exotic wing within it,’ she says. ‘But we knew there was a need for a dedicated exotic-animal hospital.’ She and her husband, Martin Botha, took a leap and opened the Cape Exotic Animal Hospital, the first of its kind in the Western Cape, in 2018.
As you can guess from a hospital that deals with references.’ They’ve performed C-sections on snakes, eye surgery on a leopard gecko and operated on a goldfish; the list goes on.
